The Quorum directors have had successful business careers, gaining significant
experience in leading large and complex organisations. Critical to those leadership roles was the need to assure the continued effectiveness of the businesses operation. As directors of Quorum they now leverage this experience to provide their clients with practical and pragmatic insights, identifying opportunities for an organisation to improve its game.

Peter Robertson

Peter has had a diverse career. He worked for Ernst & Young as an Audit Partner and Consultant for 14 years and held senior executive roles at Transpower NZ Ltd over a period of 12 years. Peter joined Transpower as Chief Finance Officer, at the time of the company’s separation from ECNZ, to establish the company’s corporate finance and treasury capability. A highlight of this period was the effective establishment of Transpower’s $1.5 billion debt portfolio. After 6 years in this role Peter was appointed General Manager Network. In this capacity he was responsible for business strategy and the development and implementation of asset management strategies for the critical national power infrastructure involving annual asset related expenditure of $385 million. Amongst other things this involved; consideration of the economic and technical character of the assets, maintenance regimes and the development and maintenance of preferred supplier relationships. He was also responsible for the annual valuation of the transmission assets and the development and implementation of pricing methodologies for the transmission service.

Peter left Transpower after 12 years to take up the position of CEO at BRANZ Ltd. BRANZ is an independent building and construction sector research, consulting and testing organisation which also has extensive knowledge transfer activities embracing publishing and education services. At BRANZ Peter was tasked with orchestrating a rapid upgrade of the organisation’s operating capability. This involved the introduction of new people, new systems and a substantial shift in culture.

Peter has had considerable experience in:

• organisational dynamics and design
• strategic and operational planning methodologies including the use of scenario planning techniques
• the development and implementation of asset management strategies
• financial planning and analysis
• negotiation of complex commercial arrangements
• corporate governance, having worked extensively with Boards of Directors; as an Audit Partner, as an Executive reporting to the Board in his roles at Transpower and BRANZ, and as a Director. Peter is a member of the Institute of Directors.

Peter Cowper

Peter has been a leader in developing and implementing Telecom New Zealand’s operational structures and processes over the last 15 years. As General Manager, Network Delivery, he was responsible for a wide range of Telecom NZ Business group operational aspects. This included all network deployment (design and build), property management including divestment, acquisition and statutory requirements, managing all outsource contracting organisations, network supply and logistics, surveillance and control functions (NZ and Australia), in-house 2nd level support, 2nd tier customer support, provisioning new services, service development, and Information Systems planning. He was responsible for an annual operational budget of $264M, and 900+ staff. In addition Peter was accountable for a substantial capex portfolio comprising infrastructure and ICT projects with a combined value of approximately $270M. These all underpinned the ongoing improvement of business capability, particularly in the delivery of services to customers.

Peter also successfully developed and implemented new contracting (Service Contract) models for the provision of field services for Telecom and has had significant experience in developing and negotiating complex commercial arrangements.

In addition for 3 years Peter was Head of Science and Engineering at BRANZ Ltd. In this role Peter was accountable for delivering research, testing and consultancy services to building and construction sector clients across Australasia. The role also involved Peter leading BRANZ’s developing Australian Operations.

Peter also established The BDH Group Ltd in 2003 where he provided clients with strategic advice along with the coaching and mentoring of executives. He is a professional company director, and until recently, served on the board of Infinity Solutions Ltd.

Peter has had considerable experience in:

• organisational dynamics and design
• leadership coaching and mentoring
• strategic and operational planning
• complex business process improvement and the development and implementation of pragmatic information technology strategies
• negotiation of complex commercial arrangements
• corporate governance, having worked extensively with Boards of Directors; as an Executive involved with Boards in his role at BRANZ, and as a Director. Peter is a member of the Institute of Directors.