Viv Beck ‘delighted’ with legal win over Heart of the City amid a call for entire board to resign

Viv Beck says she is “delighted” with her legal victory to be reinstated as Heart of the City chief executive after being suspended by the organisation’s board - who are now facing pressure to uniformly resign.

Beck spoke with the Herald after a “very difficult” few months since her suspension as the boss of Auckland city centre’s business association on March 27, which drew extensive media coverage of internal tensions and the launch of a governance review.

“I’m okay. I’m very pleased with the Employment Relations Authority [ERA] ruling. I’m really delighted that they’ve ruled that I return to work. You know my job is to support city centre businesses, and I’m looking forward to getting on with that.”

An ERA decision from May 15 ordered the HOTC board to reinstate Beck as chief executive on an interim basis after an employment investigation was launched into her.

ERA member Nicola Craig found the trigger for HOTC’s suspension of Beck was her raising concerns about “constitutional eligibility and conflicts of interest of the [HOTC] chair”, alleging that he was not a member of HOTC, and calling for a special general meeting to resolve this.

“However, [HOTC] then chose to expand the list of concerns to include other earlier issues. It was not seemingly willing or able to provide sufficient detail as at the time of suspension,” Craig said.

“There is some strength in these circumstances to the submission on Ms Beck’s behalf that the cart was put before the horse – the suspension was enacted before it was even decided what the allegations against her were. It is challenging to see suspension as warranted when conducted in such a manner.”

The ERA decision quotes a March 27 letter from lawyers acting for the HOTC board alleging a list of 10 “high-level concerns” about Beck, including “hostile behaviour towards committee [board] members”, and “withholding of information said to be important to the committee’s functions”.

Beck refused to comment on the allegations against her from the HOTC board, but said her ERA challenge was evidence that she wasn’t happy with the process to stand her down.

“No, and I’ve questioned that, and that’s the ruling that’s come out. I’m very comfortable with the work I’ve done.”

Yesterday, a spokesperson for the HOTC executive committee, or board, announced that it had voted proactively to call a special general meeting to deal with several matters, including three casual vacancies on the board.

The spokesperson said that, while casual board vacancies were usually determined at the sole discretion of the existing board, this process has been opened to HOTC members to make board nominations.

“Regardless of the executive committee’s discretion to approve any nomination, the executive committee will ratify any persons who are appointed by the members at the SGM.”

Steve Bielby, an HOTC member and owner of St James Theatre, has been representing a group of CBD landlords, who have been mobilising for months to challenge Malcolm McCracken, HOTC’s fourth chairperson in six months.

Bielby attended yesterday’s board meeting and sat in on proceedings.

He has submitted a member’s notice of motion to the SGM calling for all board positions to be vacated and be up for nomination and re-election.

“I just think it would clear up all the issues. I think [board members] need to re-seek a mandate, and I just think it’s the right thing to do given these questions. Let’s have a nice, clean start,” Bielby told the Herald.

“I think, at the moment, there could be the accusation levelled that you have potentially defective members on the committee voting.”

Last week, it emerged that more than 60 HOTC members had signed a petition calling for a special general meeting, including Beilby.

Many of those HOTC members had been closely tied to Beck, including property developer Andrew Krukziener, who bankrolled Beck’s 2022 Auckland mayoral campaign, and Waitematā local board member Greg Moyle.

“There seems to me to be a bit of a witch-hunt against Viv … I don’t like bullies, and she’s been treated totally inappropriately," Moyle said.

The HOTC spokesperson said the board was aware of a group of members collecting signatures to instigate an SGM, and acknowledged this is their right as members, but said it was no longer necessary as the SGM had called proactively.

“HOTC’s external counsel have been engaged to ensure that all matters relating to the SGM – including membership verification, notification, communication, member submissions to the agenda and the management of elections – are run in compliance with the Incorporated Societies Act and the HOTC constitution.”

Beck said she was grateful for the support of some members.

“Oh, I do appreciate support from businesses. We’ve worked very hard for them through a difficult time, and I’m very keen to get on with the job and supporting them in this next era of the city centre.”

When asked if she thought she had the majority support of the 15,000 businesses HOTC represents in its targeted rate boundary, Beck said, “Well, I certainly have good support.”

However, she declined to make any comment about the impending SGM.

“Anything to do with the committee and SGM is really for the businesses to comment on, not me.”

She said she would be back at work at the HOTC offices next week.

On May 7, the Herald reported that Beck had allegedly attempted to “persuade” HOTC’s executive committee to elect a specific new chair early this year other than McCracken - who nevertheless was elected as chairman in February.

The May 15 ERA ruling stated that HOTC placed the start of a breakdown in the relationship with Beck in October 2025, after publicity about a business survey that the board was not anticipating. Beck, however, disputed this description, “placing tensions being rather more recent”.

In a March 18 letter to the HOTC board, Beck also cited as a concern a media article “headlined by a negative question”, in which McCracken was involved.

Beck told the Herald today that being unable to comment because of a suppression order as part of the ERA case had been “very difficult”. That order has now been lifted.

Yesterday, an HOTC spokesperson was keen to stress that the ERA “did not issue any final ruling as to whether [Beck’s] suspension was unjustified. The ERA has found only that, at this interim stage, on untested evidence, there may possibly be an arguable case for Ms Beck”.

“Untested evidence means that the authority has not looked into the evidence presented, or questioned the parties concerned beyond the paper materials provided.”

ERA member Craig said that HOTC’s alleged grounds for Beck’s suspension were largely related to “several risks … namely interference” of her presence on the investigations it had launched.

But while acknowledging “the CEO’s role has power”, Craig said “it is arguable that the grounds are too speculative” for Beck’s suspension.

After suspending Beck without notice, the pace of HOTC pursuing its investigation “could be seen as relatively slow”, Craig judged. It took two weeks to provide details of the concerns, then three weeks before an independent investigator was appointed and another week to send draft terms of reference for comment.

It is noted in the decision that none of the concerns raised by HOTC in its suspension of Beck “prima facie indicate any financial impropriety”.

Bielby said the ERA decision was “a good win for Viv … I view Viv as a person of high integrity, and I’m not surprised by that ruling.”

An HOTC spokesperson said the board was satisfied that McCracken was an HOTC member by virtue of being an occupier or tenant in the targeted rate area and operating a business in such a property.

HOTC is funded through a targeted rate and levies paid by the CBD’s 15,500 businesses and landlords.

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