Otago University council members reappointed

  • Steven Joyce
Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment

Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Minister Steven Joyce today confirmed the reappointments of the four current ministerial appointees to the newly reconstituted University of Otago council. The appointments are effective from 1 January 2016, the date of the University council’s new constitution.

“I welcome the reappointment of these council members in recognition of the high-quality governance and leadership they have been providing to the University of Otago,” Mr Joyce says.

The reappointments to the University of Otago council are:

John Ward- the Chancellor, Stephen Higgs, Dr Royden Somerville, and Donna Matahaere-Atariki.

John Ward is a Chartered Accountant and businessman who is a director of various companies in the banking, finance, tourism and retail sectors. He is the Chair of SBS Bank, H&J Smith Holding Limited and the A.J. Hackett Bungy Group. He also chairs the University of Otago Foundation Trust, Otago Innovation Limited, and the Finance and Budget Committee of the University. Mr Ward has been the elected Chancellor since 2009. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants and the Institute of Directors.

Stephen Higgs is a Partner of Polson Higgs, a Dunedin-based firm of business advisers and chartered accountants.  Mr Higgs is an experienced director with previous and current roles across a range of industries. He is currently, among other positions, Chair of Motor Trade Finances Ltd, Mt Difficulty Wines Limited, and Polson Higgs Wealth Management Ltd, and is a director of Otago Innovation Limited and a trustee of the University of Otago Foundation Trust.  Mr Higgs has a BCom from the University of Otago, is a fellow of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand and chartered fellow of the Institute of Directors in New Zealand.

Dr Royden Somerville QC is a Dunedin-based barrister, appointed as Queen’s Counsel in 1998.  In a distinguished career, Dr Somerville has specialised in public and environmental law and has served on boards of inquiry on environmental issues.  He is a trustee of the University of Otago Foundation Trust and a Fellow of Knox College, Dunedin.  His academic qualifications include LLM and PhD (Otago) and he is an Associate of the Arbitrators’ and Mediators’ Institute of New Zealand.

Donna Matahaere-Atariki is a management consultant, as owner of VIII (8) Limited. She has a background in education, health and social services, at both community and national levels and is an experienced chief executive. Ms Matahaere-Atariki’s current governance roles include Trustee of the Southern Primary Health Organisation, Commissioner of the Gambling Commission, board member of Arai Te Uru Whare Hauora and Chair of Ōtākou Runanga. Ms Matahaere-Atariki has held significant national and social roles including with the New Zealand Council of Legal Education, and a national committee for the study of the New Zealand non-profit sector, the Family Services National Advisory Council, is the Chair of the Ministry of Health’s NGO Working Group and the National Taskforce for Action on Violence within Families.