Industry experts pledge support for NZ companies

Five new high calibre business and industry experts have been recruited to support companies entering the Beachheads Programme.

Mai Chen has been appointed to the New Zealand Advisory Board. Rick Thomas, Ben Anderson, Christopher Lynch and Lorna Smith have been appointed to the Americas Advisory Board.

The Beachheads Programme provides a customised services package that includes input and expertise from experienced industry luminaries in New Zealand and offshore. The Advisory Boards comprise highly successful local business leaders who have developed a wealth of knowledge and are committed to assisting New Zealand companies to be prepared to go global and to succeed in their target markets. Beachheads Advisory Board members around the world now include some of the world’s leading sector specialists and more are being brought on board as the programme expands.

Mai Chen

Mai is a founding partner of Chen Palmer, Barristers and Solicitors, Australasia’s first public law specialist firm, which she co-founded in 1994 with Sir Geoffrey Palmer. The firm specialises in managing regulatory and Government risk, in public policy and legislation, and in public law litigation. Formerly a senior lecturer at Victoria University Law School, Mai has also worked at the United Nations International Labour Office in Geneva. She is a member of the New Zealand Securities Commission, and a member of the Asia New Zealand Foundation Society. She is a fellow of the New Zealand Institute of Management and President of the Harvard Alumnae Association. She graduated with a Law Honours Degree from Otago Law School, and has a Master of Laws Degree from Harvard Law School. Mai was born in Taiwan, and immigrated with her family to New Zealand in 1970.

Rick Thomas

Rick Thomas has been recruited specifically to assist NZ company McKay Electrical, a recent entrant to the Beachheads Programme in the Americas. Rick is the founder of Nautical Structures, which designs and manufactures high-end yacht equipment. The nature of his business allows him to work directly with almost all of the larger production and custom yacht builders in the world and to visit a large number of shipyards every year. Since 2004 Rick has served as an executive board member on the International Superyacht Society. Rick's knowledge of the marine industry adds to the experience pool and diversity of the board. Rick enjoys the opportunity to give back to an industry that has provided him with so much opportunity over the past twenty years.

Ben Anderson

Ben Anderson is an experienced global executive and a Partner with premier executive search firm Christian & Timbers. A member of the firm’s Global Technology, Media & Telecom Practice, Ben serves clients across the industry at the senior management level. Most recently, Ben was founder and CEO of Renoir Partners, a boutique executive search firm specializing in technology and telecommunications that he merged with Christian & Timbers in 2005. Ben’s corporate experience includes being president of IT company Intellimark, where he was responsible for operations in 18 nations spanning North America, Asia Pacific, and Europe and successfully re-engineered 22 business units in 28 markets, creating a cohesive, competitive company. Ben is a graduate of New Zealand’s Auckland University. Ben was previously a member of the UK Advisory Board.

Christopher Lynch

Christopher Lynch serves as Chief Marketing Officer for Beam Wine Estates, a $300 million U.S. super-premium wine company, which he joined in 2007. Christopher’s twenty years’ experience in the global fine wine business includes senior marketing roles at leading fine wine companies including Allied Domecq, Chandon Estates and Kendall-Jackson Winery. Most recently, Christopher served as Managing Director of Pernod Ricard’s New Zealand business. Formerly a member of the New Zealand Advisory Board, Christopher is based out of Healdsburg, California, where he resides with his wife, Brenda.

Lorna Smith

Lorna Smith has been involved in the field of Higher Education for over 30 years. She is currently the Director of the International Education programme at Mount Royal College in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, a position which she initiated in 1988. Prior to this, Lorna was a faculty member teaching ESL and Spanish and worked in higher education institutions in Ontario, Texas and Germany. She was also co-owner and of private consulting company Smith-Holmes Language Consultants. Lorna has served on the Board of a number of provincial, national and international organizations and has served as a special advisor to the International Education department of Advanced Education for the provincial government. In 1990, Lorna received the YWCA “Woman of Distinction” award in the category of Education, for the city of Calgary. She is fluent in a number of European languages.

ENDS

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