Sir Ralph Norris KNZM
Chairman and Independent Non-Executive Director
Term of office: Appointed director 12 November 2015, last elected 2015 annual meeting.
Board committees: Chairman of the Remuneration and Nominations Committee
Sir Ralph Norris has over 40 years of business and banking experience, having led large organisations through transformational change in both New Zealand and Australia. He is the chairman of Fletcher Building Limited and RANQX Holdings Limited, along with holding directorships on the Advisory Boards of New Zealand Treasury and Tax Management NZ. He is a former director of Fonterra Limited and Origin Energy Limited. He was managing director and chief executive of Commonwealth Bank of Australia for six years until 2011, and prior to that served as chief executive of Air New Zealand and ASB Bank. Sir Ralph was made a Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2009 and a Distinguished Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to business in 2006. In 2012 he had conferred on him an Honorary Doctorate of Business by the University of New South Wales.
Victoria Crone
Independent Non-Executive Director
Term of office: Appointed director 12 November 2015, last elected 2017 annual meeting.
Board committees: Member of the Health, Safety and Environment Committee and member of the Remuneration and Nominations Committee
Victoria has over 20 years’ experience in the communications and IT sectors. Her experience spans from start-ups to mature products across consumer, small business and enterprise sectors. She is chief executive of Callaghan Innovation and chair of Figure.NZ. A former managing director of Xero New Zealand, Victoria also held senior management roles in sales and marketing at Chorus and Telecom. She is a passionate kiwi and a member of NZ Global Women. Victoria holds a Master’s degree in Commerce and Administration (Marketing and Management) from Victoria University.
Whaimutu Dewes
Independent Non-Executive Director
Term of office: Appointed director 22 February 2010, last re-elected 2016 annual meeting.
Board committees: Chairman of the Health, Safety and Environment Committee and member of the Audit Committee
Whaimutu Dewes is of Ngati Porou and Ngati Rangitihi descent and lives in Gisborne. He is the chairman of Aotearoa Fisheries Limited and Sealord Group Limited, and is a director on the Treasury Board. His former directorships include the Housing New Zealand Board, Television New Zealand Limited and the AMP New Zealand Advisory Board, and he was deputy chairman of Sealord Group between 1992 and 2008. Whaimutu has also held senior management roles at Fletcher Challenge and the Department of Maori Affairs. Whaimutu has a Master’s degree in public administration and degrees in arts and law.
Rob McDonald
Independent Non-Executive Director
Term of office: Appointed director 12 November 2015, last elected 2017 annual meeting.
Board committees: Member of the Audit Committee
Rob’s finance career spans over 30 years, having worked overseas before joining Coopers and Lybrand in the corporate advisory and valuations practice in 1985. He is a director of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand, and was formerly the chief financial officer with Air New Zealand. He is a former board member of the Institute of Finance Professionals New Zealand Inc. and the former vice chairman of the IATA Financial Committee. Rob has a Bachelor of Commerce from Auckland University and in 1999 completed the Program of Management Development at Harvard Business School. He is a Fellow of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand.
Sue Sheldon CNZM
Independent Non-Executive Director
Term of office: Appointed director 16 March 2009, last re-elected 2016 annual meeting.
Board committees: Chairman of the Audit Committee and member of the Remuneration and Nominations Committee
Sue Sheldon is a professional company director. She is the chairman of Freightways Limited and a director of Real Journeys Limited. Sue has previously held the roles of chairman of Chorus Limited, Paymark Limited, NZ Global Women and the Board of Trustees of the National Provident Fund, deputy chairman of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand and Christchurch International Airport Limited, and director of Smiths City Group Limited. Prior to moving into a professional director role, Sue practised as a chartered accountant. She is a former president of the New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants and was made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List in 2007 for services to business.
Elena Trout
Independent Non-Executive Director
Term of office: Appointed director 3 October 2016, last elected 2016 annual meeting.
Board committees: Member of the Health, Safety and Environment Committee
Elena is an experienced company director and a professional engineer who has held a number of leadership positions in the transport, infrastructure and energy sectors. She has over 30 years of experience in the management, planning and delivery of large projects. She is a director of Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority, Harrison Grierson Holdings Limited and Marsden Maritime Holdings Limited. Her former directorships include Electricity Authority and Transpower New Zealand Limited. She is the immediate Past-President of the Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand (IPENZ) with membership status of Fellow as well as Fellow of Engineers Australia, and is a chartered member of the Institute of Directors. Elena holds a Master's of Civil Engineering degree from Canterbury University.
Dennis Barnes
Chief Executive Officer
Dennis Barnes was appointed Chief Executive Officer in April 2011. Prior to joining Contact, he was General Manager Energy Risk Management at Origin, based in Sydney. Dennis started with Origin in 1998 and over that time has led sales, systems development, gas trading and generation operations departments. Dennis has guided Origin's significant and expanding operations in wholesale markets. Before that, Dennis worked in a number of positions operating in international energy markets, including managerial roles at Scottish and English electricity companies.
Graham Cockroft
Chief Financial Officer
Graham Cockroft was appointed as Contact Energy's Chief Financial Officer in June 2012. Prior to this he spent three years as Contact's Chief Operating Officer in which he was responsible for the operation of Contact's wholesale and generation functions, including generation development. Before joining Contact, Graham worked for nearly two decades for BG Group in senior strategy, business development and operational roles.
Venasio-Lorenzo (Vena) Crawley
Chief Customer Officer
Vena joined Contact in October 2014 in a newly created role of Chief Customer Officer. Vena oversees all of Contact's functions that have been aligned to build the delivery of a best in class customer experience through our Retail, Commercial and Industrial channels, these include; marketing, sales, product and services management, retail operations and metering, customer insight, pricing, networks and reconciliation, LPG cylinder delivery, performance management and business intelligence and customer change.
James Kilty
Chief Generation & Development Officer
Appointed to the newly created role of Chief Generation & Development Officer in October 2014, James is tasked with managing our commercial end-to-end activities of development, fuel, generation and trading. In 2013 James was appointed General Manager, Sales and Customer Experience, in addition to his role of General Manager, Trading Development and Geothermal Resources. James was previously Contact's General Manager, Generation Development.