Lawyer Jonathan Ross and Bridget Liddell, who has a background in venture capital and investment, have been appointed as new directors to the Reserve Bank board.
Appointed by Minister of Finance Bill English, the two replace the departing Chris Eichbaum and outgoing chairman Arthur Grimes.
The seven member board will be chaired by Rod Carr, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Canterbury, from September 19 when Grimes, an economics consultant, departs.
Ross, who joins from today, is a barrister and solicitor with experience in corporate, securities, capital markets and banking transactions law.
Liddell joins on 1 October. She has a venture capital and investment background, with international governance experience across a range of global companies and enterprises, the Reserve Bank says. Eichbaum is a lecturer at Victoria University.
Reserve Bank directors are appointed for five-year renewable terms.
The Reserve Bank has provided the following biographies for Ross and Liddell
JONATHAN ROSS is a barrister and solicitor with experience in corporate, securities, capital markets and banking transactions law. He is a member of a panel of experts at P.R.I.M.E. Finance – the Panel of Recognised International Market Experts in Finance based in The Hague to assist judicial systems in the settlement of disputes on complex financial transactions.
Jonathan is former Co-Chair of the International Bar Association’s Securities Law Committee. Jonathan was a partner for 23 years of Bell Gully, one of New Zealand’s leading corporate law firms, and is admitted to the New Zealand Bar.
Prior to joining Bell Gully in 1986, Jonathan spent two years working in the international finance section of a leading law firm in London. Prior to that, he spent three years working in the corporate finance department of a leading Wall Street law firm. Jonathan is admitted to the New York Bar.
Jonathan has an LL.B. (Hons) from Victoria University of Wellington, and a B.A. in Economics and Politics, and a B.C.L. from Magdalen College, Oxford University, which he attended on a Rhodes Scholarship.
BRIDGET LIDDELL has global leadership and commercial experience, gained as Chief Executive, General Manager, Director and Chairperson of a number of global companies and enterprises. Bridget is Managing Director of 212 Equity LLC, based in New York, which invests in healthy living sectors, food and beverage, personal care and ingredients.
She is also General Partner, Fahrenheit Fund New Zealand, a private equity fund manager. Bridget is a Board member of a number of organisations, including BRAC USA (a global economic development agency), the US/NZ Council, the University of Auckland Business School Advisory Board, White Cloud Dairy Innovation Ltd (a New Zealand dairy innovation company), and the NZ Initiative, a New Zealand-based economics and policy think tank.
Her previous governance roles include membership of the boards of the New Zealand Superannuation Fund, a number of New Zealand companies and Government agencies. She held CEO and other senior management roles with Carter Holt Harvey, prior to which Bridget was an equity analyst with CS First Boston.
Bridget holds hold MA Hons and B.Commerce degrees, majoring in finance, from the University of Auckland. She was awarded a Harkness Fellowship in 1998 to work with Professor Robert Kaplan at Harvard Business School, and Dr David Norton in Boston, Mass. on the use of the Balanced Scorecard.
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