Suspended Heart of the City CEO Viv Beck allegedly campaigned against new chair, lobbied Waitematā local board over political oversight

The suspended chief executive of Auckland’s city centre business association, Viv Beck, allegedly attempted to influence political and governance appointments designed to oversee the ratepayer-funded organisation.

Beck was stood down from her role as Heart of the City (HOTC) chief executive several weeks ago as the business association launched a governance review, engaged lawyers and ramped up its “financial oversight”.

Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown wrote to HOTC in March with concerns about the agency’s governance before Beck was stood down.

The Herald can reveal Beck allegedly attempted to “persuade” HOTC’s executive committee to elect a specific new chair early this year.

It’s understood Beck rang several members of the nine-member board to convince them to vote for another member rather than Malcolm McCracken, who nevertheless was elected as chairman in February.

The organisation has had four chairs since October last year, when former Black Cap Martin Snedden stood down at the AGM after nine years in the role.

Waitematā local board chairwoman Alexandra Bonham also told the Herald that Beck tried to convince her to elect a specific liaison person appointed by the local board to oversee funding decisions for HOTC’s $5.6 million annual budget.

“I mean it’s our job as the local board to be part of the compliance layer… oversee things and make sure that quite significant quantities of ratepayer money are being handled prudently,” Bonham said.

“It’s certainly not the place of the business association to choose who oversees it.”

After the October 2025 local body elections, the new Waitematā local board independently nominated board member Peter Elliott from City Vision to be the HOTC liaison person to sit in on HOTC executive meetings.

In the previous term, it had been Greg Moyle, who is still on the local board but among only two members of the right-leaning Communities & Residents ticket.

The remaining five elected members of the board are all from the left-leaning City Vision ticket.

“It was a bit of a concern to me that she only wanted Greg [Moyle], who was one particular ticket, and [Beck] didn’t want to think about any of the others,” Bonham said.

“I like Greg, and Greg has a lot to contribute, but he has quite different personal feelings about the city centre and priorities that are not always shared by the rest of the board, and I think that makes it very difficult if you’re in that position to be the liaison.”

Bonham claimed that in the previous local government term, when she was not chairwoman, she couldn’t “remember many occasions when [Moyle] did report back to the board about concerns being raised by HOTC. Not to me, he might have done to the chair”.

“There was very little brought to the board about HOTC,” Bonham said, adding she rarely dealt with Beck directly.

Moyle told the Herald he was “disappointed” not to be re-elected as the local board liaison person for HOTC given he was a business owner in the CBD.

However, Moyle said he had spoken to Beck recently and he was “very supportive” of her and the “fantastic job” HOTC did.

Moyle said he didn’t know exactly what had happened to trigger Beck’s suspension, but understood there were “some issues” between Beck and the newly appointed chairman. Moyle believed it was “all political”.

“I’m hoping they resolve it soon because there are lots of things HOTC needs to address… Viv has her critics but she’s first and foremost for the businesses in the city centre.”

Beck did not respond to requests for comment on whether she lobbied the Waitematā local board to keep Moyle as HOTC liaison person.

But in March, Beck would not say she supported McCracken as the HOTC chair when asked by the Herald.

“The chair is appointed by vote at the AGM or by the executive committee and the chief executive must work with the person appointed as chair,” she said.

When elected, McCracken was a manager of KPMG’s infrastructure advisory but has since left that position to take on a role as a Commissioner on the Independent Hearings Panel for Auckland Council Plan Change 120. The shake-up of the city’s planning rules will allow for greater density and high-rise apartments.

On Friday, a HOTC executive committee spokesperson told the Herald the board was “united on the need for stronger governance”, which had been identified as an “urgent priority”.

HOTC is funded through a targeted rate and levies paid by the CBD’s 15,500 businesses and landlords. It has contractual obligations as an approved Business Improvement District (BID) and annual accountability reporting to Auckland Council.

HOTC received just over $5m from the BID targeted rate grant in the 2024/25 financial year – far more than the next largest, Newmarket Business Association, which received $2.07m.

HOTC also received another $550,000 from a City Centre Targeted Rate, which delivers marketing campaigns to promote the CBD.

The HOTC spokesperson said a “major priority” was to ensure confidence in its ability to deliver on its BID funding contract and establish “a constructive relationship with the mayor’s office”.

“This has meant the committee’s focus has included relationship management, governance review, providing transparency on specific decisions that have been made and accountability for future plans,” the spokesperson said.

The executive committee has also set up an Audit and Finance Committee to provide “greater and more detailed financial oversight”.

It has also undertaken an urgent update of board and governance processes, including engaging “independent external special counsel” to ensure board meeting processes, agendas, decisions and minutes were compliant “for the sake of transparency”. HOTC’s executive committee also agreed to an independent governance review.

“These are initiatives that the whole board has been involved with, and they have required significant energy and time commitment,” the spokesperson said.

Bonham also confirmed to the Herald she has checked with Auckland Council staff over the state of HOTC’s finances, because the level of detail it presented to the local board during its annual report presentation was “relatively sparse” compared with other business associations.

HOTC’s presentation to the local board also cited a budget deficit of $671,694.

“I followed up [with Auckland Council] to say, ‘Give me a heads up if there are any concerns’, because in the end the local board plays a role in signing off on the account. I was just trying to make sure that I was doing my job as a chair,” Bonham said.

The HOTC presentation stood out because it was “more pictorial” with fewer financial figures, Bonham said.

Bonham said she invited HOTC to two meetings, both with the entire Waitematā local board and one involving Auckland Transport staff. But no one from HOTC responded or turned up to either meeting.

It’s understood Mayor Brown’s March letter to HOTC raised concerns about the high turnover of board chairs, whether there were appropriate governance measures for oversight of the organisation’s management, and whether the agency was delivering for the 15,500 businesses it was contractually responsible for.

The mayor’s letter said there was a trust and confidence issue, and credibility concerns.

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