Rt Hon Bill English
Prime Minister
16 March 2017 Media Statement
PM announces appointments to APEC council
Prime Minister Bill English today announced the appointments of Phil O’Reilly and Tenby Powell to the APEC Business
Advisory Council, through to December 2019.
The Prime Minister also confirmed the extension of Katherine Rich’s appointment through till March 2019.
“Mr O’Reilly and Mr Powell both bring important skills to the organisation and will strongly represent the interests of
New Zealand businesses on important trade and economic issues in the Asia Pacific,” Mr English says.
“I am also pleased to extend Mrs Rich’s term. She is leading important work on addressing non-tariff barriers, including
in the food sector, which is a key priority for New Zealand, and this will allow her to continue in that role.”
Mr O’Reilly is the Founder and Director of Iron Duke Partners Ltd, a former CEO of Business New Zealand, and the current
chair of the Business and Industry Advisory Committee to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
(OECD).
Mr Powell is the co-founder of Hunter Powell Investment Partners Ltd and has been an active champion of small business
issues, in particular by founding the NZ SME Business Network, and has been the Chair of the Small Business Development
Group since 2012.
ABAC is a network of business representatives from each of the 21 APEC economies. It provides advice from a business
perspective to APEC Leaders each year on the implementation of APEC’s work towards economic prosperity in the Asia
Pacific region.