Board of Directors
The Tranzqual Board provides a vital link between Tranzqual and industry. Our highly experienced Directors come from a variety of industry representative groups.
These include: Road Transport Forum New Zealand Inc, Bus and Coach Association New Zealand Inc, Stevedoring and Ports New Zealand Inc, New Zealand Taxi Federation Inc, New Zealand Heavy Haulage Association Inc, and New Zealand Council of Trade Unions.
Steve Harris
Steve joined the Board in April 2009 and became Acting Chariman in June 2011. He is currently employed by CentrePort Wellington where he is General Manager, Operations.. A passionate champion of training and development, Steve has played a key role in ensuring CentrePort have engaged their first employee into an apprentice programme for many years. Steve has a longstanding involvement in industry training having been a Director of ITOs in the engineering, food and manufacturing sectors. He was also a founder of Skills4work, formerly Apprentice Training New Zealand. Steve works with the Tranzqual Board to help deliver world-class support services specific to the needs of industry and trainees.
Richard Riley
Richard retired from his role as Chairman of the Tranzqaul Board in June 2011 after making a significant contribution since appointed to the role in 2007. Richard remains on the Board. He was a Director of the Road Transport Forum of New Zealand from 1992 to 1999, including Chairman for three years and is now a life member. Now retired after 40 years' involvement in the road transport industry, Richard is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport, and a member of the Institute of Directors.
David Aitken
David is the Executive Director of National Road Carriers and one of Tranzqual's newest board members. Born and raised in rural Hawkes Bay, David has held a number of managerial positions related to primary industry prior to his involvement in the road transport sector including the New Zealand Wool Board, international trading company Mitsubishi and Affco. Industry training and improved professionalism in the road transport industry are important to David and he is keen to ensure Tranzqual continues to make this happen. As the transport sector is the backbone of the economy he acknowledges New Zealand needs professional, knowledgeable and well trained operators whether they are large or small companies.
Karl Andersen
Karl Andersen is the nominated representative of the NZ Council of Trade Unions. His employer, the National Distribution Union (NDU), is one of the biggest private sector unions in New Zealand with 20,000 members, including significant numbers in transport, logistics and warehousing. A former heavy truck driver and freezing worker, Karl has been involved in the NDU for 33 years. Karl is a keen supporter of industry training, acknowledging that skills training not only improves the bottom line for employers but also gives workers greater job satisfaction and better wages. He says the union movement is extremely positive about industry training and is involved in all areas as appropriate.
Raewyn Bleakley
Raewyn was appointed Chief Executive of the Bus and Coach Association in late 2007. Prior to starting at the Association she spent nine years with the Hospitality Association of New Zealand (HANZ) most recently as National Operations Manager � a role with a strong training facilitation focus. Raewyn's CEO role sees her extensively engaging with Government and other stakeholders in the pursuit of a favourable environment for the bus and coach sector to thrive and make a positive contribution to New Zealand. Raewyn is a Board member of the UITP (ANZ) the International Association of Public Transport. Raewyn is a strong advocate of industry training and believes that working collaboratively will achieve positive training outcomes for trainees, industry associations and their members.
Bill Nimon
Bill is Managing Director of Nimon & Sons, the family bus company he took over six years ago, and has been involved in the transport industry for 34 years. Bill is on the Bus and Coach Association (NZ) Inc Council and became Chairman of the HR Committee in 2007. He joined the Tranzqual Board in November 2007, representing the Bus and Coach Association. He sees training as essential as qualified staff can save a company money through improved service delivery and more efficient and effective work habits.
Sue Jackman
Tranzqual's newest Board member is Sue Jackman, representing the NZ Taxi Federation. Sue takes over the position from long serving Board member, Tim Reddish, who has stepped down to allow another member of the Taxi Federation to gain experience and knowledge of the industry training sector. Currently Sue is the General Manager of First Direct Taxis in Christchurch. Sue has previously had an academic career, teaching and researching at the University of Canterbury, Christchurch College of Education, Lincoln University and the Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology. Her academic qualifications include a Master of Commerce in Accounting, Finance and Information Systems and she will complete her PhD in 2010. Sue is also a member of the NZ Institute of Chartered Accountants, is co-founder of the New Zealand Journal of Applied Business Research and has spoken at conferences worldwide.
Peter Sheppard
Peter has had a long involvement in transport training, fleet management and driver education. Prior to his current activities in transport consultancy he was the CEO of the AA Driver Education Foundation and Principle Transport Consultant for Shell NZ. Peter was recently the project manager for the Government's Fuel Efficiency Fleet Commitment programme, which identified fuel efficiency measures for the NZ light and heavy commercial vehicle fleet. In 2007, Peter received the prestigious Neil Nelson Award from the Motoring Writers Guild for his decades of work in the cause of furthering driver education. He is on the Board of the Driver Education Foundation, a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport and was the Chairman of the Tranzqual Board from its inception until 2007.
Jonathan Thomson
Jonathan has been the Heavy Haulage Association's representative on the Tranzqual Board for six years, since becoming Chief Executive of the Association, which provides industry representation for transport operators specialising in the transport of over-dimension or overweight goods. He has worked with Tranzqual to develop a specialist qualification for transport operators in the over-dimension and overweight sector.
Craig Turner
Craig has been in the road transport industry for 34 years; 25 years with United Carriers and then owner and manager of Turner's Transport, Whangarei since 2001. He has been a director of the Road Transport Forum for nine years and on the Board of the New Zealand Road Transport Association since its inception. He joined the Tranzqual Board four years ago and has a special interest in ensuring training is readily accessible to smaller road transport operators.