Our Board

Alison is the General Manager of Corporate and Legal Affairs for gold miner OceanaGold’s New Zealand operations and has been with the company since 2004.

A lawyer by trade, Alison is currently the Chair of Straterra, and is responsible for maintaining the company’s permits, approvals and agreements reached with its various stakeholders within government, iwi and the wider community.  Alison is based in Dunedin, where OceanaGold has had mining operations for over 25 years.

Alison places a high value on the company’s ability to contribute as an environmentally and socially responsible member of the communities in which it operates.  She sees the extractives industry, and gold mining in particular, as well-placed to lead a business model that considers in depth its effects on communities, the environment and future generations as an integral part of doing business. She is also a trustee on the Mines Rescue Service Trust Board.  She aims wherever possible to promote permitting and planning processes that make a meaningful contribution to that approach.

Since starting his career in the 1970s, Richard has worked in almost every role in the coal mining industry. Richard studied at the Otago School of Mines in New Zealand.

His first job in the industry was at Greymouth’s Liverpool State Mine, owned by the New Zealand Government. He moved to Australia to further his mining career and went on to hold several management roles in coal mines around Australia, working his way from undermanager to General Manager.

Richard has held senior leadership roles in the coal sector for the past decade. After living and working in Australia for 32 years, Richard returned to New Zealand to take up the position of Chief Operating Officer with Bathurst in 2012. He was appointed to the role of Chief Executive Officer in March 2015. Richard holds first, second and third class coal mining qualifications and studied at the Otago School of Mining. He has also spent 15 years on a rescue crew, making him familiar with the principles and practice of mine safety. Richard is an ex secretary for the Australian Mine Managers Association and sits on the board of the New Zealand Mines Rescue Trust.

Commencing mining in 1982 in the Southland fields, Brent has extensive experience in operational and marketing areas. NZCC is an active exporter of coals from the West Coast of New Zealand and has been since 1989. Brent is the director of various private entities including Deputy Chairman of Crusaders Rugby.

Jayden has been in the industry for 20 years, starting at Stevenson Laboratory in 1993. Jayden was a Founding Member of Civil Engineering Testing Association New Zealand (CETANZ) in 2008 and has been president since 2010. He is a member of AQA’s Technical Committee and is particularly interested in aggregate product development, quality assurance, and quality control testing of aggregates. Jayden would like to see more utilisation of marginal aggregates in construction and an increased understanding of our resources and their geological properties. He also sits on the National Pavement Technical Group (NPTG) and the Cement and Concrete Association New Zealand (CCANZ) Technical Group. Jayden likes boating and fishing and watching a good movie is always good if the weather’s too stormy.

Barry had a 20 year executive career at Solid Energy and was Chief Operating Officer from 2003 until 2013.

Barry is Deputy Chairman at Stevenson Group Limited. He is of Ngāi Tahu descent and joined the Ngāi Tahu Property Board in 2009 and was Chairman until July 2019 and is now Chairman of Ngāi Tahu Farming. His other directorships include a Director of Verum Group, Deputy Chair of the Canterbury West Coast Air Rescue Trust and is a CDHB Board Member chairing the Quality, Audit & Risk Committee.

He is currently Managing Director of Nuenz Limited an advanced materials start-up company.

He is also a Chartered Accountant Fellow and a member of the NZ Institute of Directors. Barry completed the INSEAD International Executive Programme in France and Singapore in 2002.

Phil holds a BSc and BCom from Otago University and has been living on the West Coast for over 10 years. He has previously been involved in the monitoring of large scale mining activities all over the ‘Coast including Stockton and the Globe Progress Mine at Reefton and was previously employed as the Compliance Team Leader at the West Coast Regional Council.

Simon is an accomplished risk executive with a proven track record in the leadership of business support functions in mining, heavy industry, and the emergency management sector.

He has worked in the mining industry for more than 20 years, focusing on health and safety, environment, risk, and stakeholder engagement in Australia, New Zealand, North and South America and Asia Pacific.

He joined Federation Mining in 2020 and is a member of the leadership team developing the Snowy River gold mine in New Zealand. Simon enjoys plenty of time on the fabulous West Coast engaging with stakeholders and at Snowy River.  Simon is passionate about sharing the work the mining sector is doing in the environment and sustainability space in New Zealand and beyond.

Simon holds a Bachelor of Applied Science (OHS & Environmental Management), Master in Business Administration, and Master in Emergency Management.

Outside of his work in the mining industry he has 30 years’ service as a volunteer fire fighter in Australia and has also been the Head Technical Rescue Adjudicator for the Minerals Council of Australia mine rescue competitions for over a decade.