Events

Chris will be talking to us about his experiences while touring on a motorbike around Russia and through Europe on his way to Britain.

Howick Coastguard have invited our club members and their partners to enjoy their hospitality and join them for an evening down at Howick Beach. This is an "inbetween" meeting and members are encouraged to attend and strengthen our relationship with a like-minded community organisation.

Please contact John Osborne (0272 161925, or jwosborne@gmail.com) to advise attendance numbers no later than Monday 17 Feb, 11am.

Rod Smith will talk about the story behind his book “Guinness Down Under” – how the famous brew and the family came to New Zealand and Australia in the 1850s. He will cover the background history of the brewing and exporting businesses out of Ireland, the move to local production, and the stories of the four grandsons of Arthur and Olivia Guinness who came “down under”.

Biography

Laurence has been NZIER’s Chief Executive since 2014. Before NZIER he lived in Europe for 25 years, and held a series of commercial and strategic roles for FTSE-100 companies active in international markets.

Laurence’s career has spanned the ICT, telco, aviation, infrastructure and energy sectors, and has included roles in in strategy, economics, regulation, country management, operations, business development and general management. He has worked with clients in both the public and private sectors at all scales, and has advised on issues ranging from the formation and execution of commercial strategy to public policy and regulation.

After a series of financial and commercial roles for BP Amoco, Shell and SITA, Laurence joined BT Group in 2000 and was appointed Head of Economic Analysis for BT Global Services in 2003. BT Global Services is the international division and largest business within BT, active in 170 countries and a ICT top-50 company in its own right. He was then successively Head of Products, Head of UK and, in 2010, Director of Global Competition and Regulation, leading multi-disciplinary and multinational competition strategy and regulatory teams across Europe, the US, Africa and Asia. He was also Chair of the Working Groups for Economics and Business Services for the European Competitive Telecommunications Operators Association (ECTA) in Brussels for seven years.

In addition to his role at NZIER, Laurence is Chair of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and Trustees Executors Ltd, and  A Director of Northpower.