More directors for Games committee

Press, 22 January 1988, Page 16

More directors for Games committee

Five new directors have been added to the board of directors of XlVth Commonwealth Games, Ltd. They are: Dame Cath Tizard, D.8.E., Mayor of Auckland; Mr John Davies, former star middle-distance runner and Olympic medallist; Mr Allan Martin, 0.8. E., former director-general of T.V.N.Z.; Mr John Ede, Chief executive and managing director of the Winstone Group, and Mr David Johnson, chairman of First City Corporation, Ltd.

The new additions bring the total number of directors to 16 and, according to the chairman, Sir Earl Richardson, provide what he sees as an excellent balance.

Sir Earl said the staging of an event like the Commonwealth Games required a blend of business acumen, sport and entrepreneurial flair and each area of expertise, already present in the board, was strengthened with the new appointments.

He said it required exceptional business and organisational skills to manage a venture which would employ hundreds of people, undertake major capital works and administer tens of millions of dollars. All these skills would be directed toward producing what was a major world sporting event while at the same time being live television entertainment. “We could have had no better choice on the sporting side than John Davies. He is a star runner of the Halberg/Snell era; an Olympic and Commonwealth Games medallist and is still today at the forefront of athletics through his coaching activities,” Sir Earl said. “We will be broadcasting these Games to perhaps hundreds of millions of people around the world and few people in New Zealand would understand the nature of television better than Allan Martin does. “I welcome John Ede and David Johnson, both

of them businessmen par excellence whose abilities will be invaluable to us. “John Ede has been with tinstones for many years, working his way to the top of what is one of our largest companies. He has also held many positions in industry, economic and trade development groups. “David Johnson, meanwhile, is one of the most widely experienced financiers in the country. His pioneering work helped establish the commercial bill market, the first of the modern merchant banks and New Zealand’s commercial expansion across the Tasman. He’s also been a professor in management studies, a law reformer, writer and broadcaster,” Sir Earl said.

“Finally, I salute Dame Cath who needs no introduction. She was a leading player when the Games were first won and is still enthusiastically helping us, particularly in the local body and political arenas.”