Second former Xero employee alleges inappropriate conduct by ex-CEO Sir Rod Drury
Friday, 1 May 2026
A second former Xero employee has claimed unwanted sexual contact by former chief executive Sir Rod Drury, describing an encounter at his apartment that she says left her distressed and in tears. Her account follows that of Ally Naylor, another former Xero employee who has alleged Drury made unwanted sexual advances on multiple occasions. In response to questions about the latest report, Drury said relationships were consensual and mutual. Paula Penfold reports.
A second former Xero employee has claimed inappropriate sexual conduct by the company’s former chief executive, Sir Rod Drury.
The account comes in the wake of allegations by former Xero IT project coordinator Ally Naylor that Drury initiated unwanted sexual contact on multiple occasions at his apartment when he was the CEO.
Drury, who founded Xero and was its chief executive for 11 years, was knighted in the 2026 New Year Honours and in March named New Zealander of the Year.
The recognition prompted Naylor to tell Stuff of her formal complaint to Xero in 2017 in which she alleged that in 2015 Drury kissed her on the mouth and felt under her breasts. She said the “same behaviour” happened on approximately five occasions.
Naylor has made a police complaint and was interviewed last week.
Stuff can now report the account of a second former employee, who we are calling Amy. She has not complained to police, but does want her experience publicly reported.
She asked not to be identified due to concerns about the impact on her career.
“New Zealand is such a small community, especially the tech industry. Even now, all these years later, if I were to let my name out there, I know it will have an impact on my future opportunities, and that’s just not fair, after everything that’s happened to me.”
Stuff has been aware of Amy’s account since before the publication of Naylor’s story, and has spoken to her at length, reviewed material and talked to several people she disclosed to at the time of the alleged conduct.
Some details have been withheld to protect her identity.
Amy’s story
At the beginning of April, when Stuff first spoke to Amy, she recalled her reaction when Drury first said hello to her when she was working there a decade ago.
“I was just like, ‘Wow. He's saying hi and remembers my name. He’s a smart guy with this company, the fact he knows my name is amazing.’”
She claimed Drury began to send her messages and invited her to drinks one night at his apartment, with other people.
A colleague from the time, Tim*, said such invitations “to go up and have a drink” were not unusual.
“When you’re building something like Xero, it’s your life. There’s a real blending of business time and private time. It was not unusual for Rod to be having groups of people up to the apartments.”
Amy said Drury subsequently invited her on her own, to talk about a job opportunity. She decided she would make the most of the opportunity.
She recalled practising questions for what she thought would be a job discussion.
She said the conversation did not turn to that.
“He just kept talking about random things. Music, personal things, where I was from, what I was doing.
“The time just went by, and then it got dark and he dimmed the lights. And I remember thinking ‘This is really weird, he’s not going to talk to me about this job’.”
Disappointed, she remembered saying it was time to go.
She claims that at that point, Drury initiated physical contact.
“And then he just grabbed me and kissed me up against the wall. And I was like, ‘Hey, you’re married. You can’t do this’.
“And I went downstairs and I went on the street and I just started crying. And I walked home, and I just cried all the way home.”
She told her flatmate, who advised her to document everything. Stuff has seen the notes Amy wrote at the time, a time-stamped record she created of what she said happened.
Tim recalled a conversation with Amy at work the next morning.
He told Stuff he knew she had been invited to Drury’s apartment.
“And she looked a bit weepy. I said, ‘Are you ok?’ And she was like, ‘Oh, I went over there last night, and he tried to kiss me. He pushed me up into a corner, and tried to kiss me’.
“Amy is a pretty robust person. She’s not someone prone to exaggeration or undue stress.
“We left the building and went to a different place, because for her to be that upset in public in a place where Xero staff would be coming and going would make it too obvious that something was going on. And she is quite a private person. I didn’t want her to be in a position where she would have to explain if she didn’t want to.”
He said Amy didn’t know what she wanted to do. He suggested she consider writing it all down, and who she could talk to inside the company.
Another colleague has also told Stuff Amy disclosed it to her at the time.
“Something didn’t seem right with Amy,” she said. “I caught up with her and she told me about what had happened, the invitation to his apartment and an unwanted advance. It sounded gross and disgusting.”
Contact the reporter: paula.penfold@stuffdigital.co.nz
Amy told Stuff that a couple of weeks after the initial encounter Drury messaged her again, “acting like nothing had happened”.
“You feel like you have no power,” she said, “because what are you going to do? He’s Rod Drury. No one’s ever going to believe you.”
At this point of our interview, Amy apologised that she couldn’t stop crying.
She said she told HR at the time, on the advice of colleagues, but did not want to make a formal complaint.
“I begged them not to do anything, but I wanted them to know what had happened. I didn’t want it to be taken further, because I didn’t want to lose my job.”
Amy said the contact from Drury eventually stopped.
Drury’s response
Stuff put a series of written questions about Amy’s account to Drury.
In a statement, Drury did not answer those questions directly, instead expanding on his previous response in a phone conversation with Stuff about Naylor’s allegations.
He said he and Naylor had a “limited, consensual relationship” (a characterisation she rejects, standing by her account that it was unwanted and inappropriate sexual contact).
Drury also said: “Any other relationships I had over that period were consensual and mutual.”
“It is deeply upsetting to have these allegations made nearly a decade later,” he said. “In 2017/2018, Xero undertook an investigation. Until then I had no idea that Ally viewed our limited relationship as anything but consensual and mutual.”
In the phone conversation last month, asked about allegations of unwanted sexual contact with women employees, Drury said, “No, I’m just really proud of what we did at Xero, I think we had a great business, great working environment, I’m really proud of all of our people.”
Told that two former employees described ongoing distress and impacts from invitations to his apartment and unwanted sexual contact when he was their boss, Drury said, “I wasn’t aware of that, and I would apologise to them profusely. That certainly was not my intention and not my understanding.”
Xero’s response
In response to Naylor’s case, Xero engaged Maria Dew KC to lead an independent review of Xero’s handling of the 2017 complaint, and the related decision-making processes.
In relation to the second account, Stuff asked Xero whether the Dew review will consider informal disclosures to HR and how they are handled, and whether Xero had sufficient information in 2017 to identify that more than one employee had raised similar concerns.
In a statement, Xero said Dew had the ability to consider any additional matters that arose.
“It is important to allow the review to run its course, and it would not be appropriate to comment further at this time.”
Xero said any information relevant to the review could be sent to review@xero.com.
“All information will be treated confidentially and with the care it requires, and where it can be … considered as part of the review.”
The statement also pointed to Xero’s existing whistleblowing process.
In March 2018, Drury resigned as CEO. Both he and the company said that decision was the result of succession planning.
He remained with Xero as a non-executive director.
Amy was still working at Xero at that time.
“He could still come into the office, speak to people, say ‘we should meet about this, who’s doing this?, we should have this product idea’. Come into meetings that you’re running, sit down, participate in them, talk to you.”
Sources told Stuff that in early 2018, Xero rolled out a respect and responsibility policy, which they described as setting out procedures for managing workplace relationships.
Then, and now
“I’ve hung onto the incident in the apartment,” Amy said, “because that’s when my ability to control my own life disappeared. That moment, that kiss at the door, that’s where I felt like I had nothing.”
How did she feel when she saw Drury get knighted in the New Year honours?
“I was just devastated. It was just a real kick in the guts.”
Then, a few weeks later, he was given top honour at the New Zealander of the Year awards.
“Which was less upsetting and more pure anger,” she said, “because you’re just taking the f…ing piss now. You’re baiting people to say something about what you’ve done.”
*Name changed to protect identity.
Where to get help - sexual violence
Rape Crisis 0800 88 33 00, click link for local helplines;
Victim Support 0800 842 846;
Safetalk text 4334, phone 0800 044 334 webchat safetotalk.nz or email support@safetotalk.nz;
The Harbour Online support and information for people affected by sexual abuse;
Women’s Refuge 0800 733 843;
Male Survivors Aotearoa Helplines across NZ, click to find out more (males only);
If you or someone else is in immediate danger, call 111.
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