Board Games: Which public sector boards pay the best?
Saturday, 12 October 2024
They collectively receive more than $18 million a year in fees and disbursements, and have a hand in some of the country’s most important public sector organisations.
But decisions by the long list of ex politicians, former CEOs, lobbyists, professionals and community activists who sit on public sector boards largely fly under the radar.
Today, we launch a three-part investigation with the full list of names, how they got there, and what they get paid. Many you will know, others you will not.
The Post has collated a list of all of the boards of directors across State Owned Enterprises, Crown Entities, Crown Research Institutes, and more.
In 2023, total government spending on public sector boards was $18,541,992.72 million, meaning it made up a tiny fraction of overall government spending, and most of the biggest fees were paid to commercially-focused roles where the entity pays the fees ‒ energy companies and Air New Zealand, for example.
Compared to board fees in publicly listed companies, fees paid to public sector directors was significantly lower.
Underneath purely commercial operations, the next highest paid strata of directors were in state-regulated companies and regulators, such as the Electricity Authority, Transpower and the Financial Markets Authority.
The highest paid board of a non-commercial outfit were the board members of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand.
We tracked down their fees from the year ending June 2023, which are typically paid per meeting.
Whilst our mass list of board of directors showed that commissioners were typically paid the highest, we have excluded them from this list as their fees often included executive salaries as well.
So, who were the top paid board members?
1. The highest paid board member was Therese Walsh as chair of Air New Zealand’s board. Walsh was paid $270,000 in the year ending June 2023.
2. Next is Mark Verbiest on the board of Meridian Energy, he was paid $212,000 as chair.
3. Barbara Chapman comes in third, collecting $200,000 in fees as board chair of Genesis Energy.
4. Neil Quigley was paid $170,127 as board chair of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand.
5. Julia Hoare was paid $121,750 as a director on the board of Meridian Energy.
6. Keith Turner was paid $121,130 as chair of the board of Transpower New Zealand.
7. Tania Simpson was paid $116,750 as a director on the board of Meridian Energy.
8. Nagaja Sanatkumar was paid $116,750 as a director on the board of Meridian Energy.
9. Michelle Henderson was paid $116,750 as a director on the board of Meridian Energy.
10. And in 10th place is Allan Dawson, who was paid $115,000 as a director on the board of the Electricity Authority. Its chair was appointed in July 2023, but the previous chair was paid $244,000 which would have put them in second place.
And what were the highest paying boards?
Air New Zealand ranks in first place once again, having paid its directors $870,000
Meridian Energy paid its directors $792,729
Genesis Energy paid its directors $777,466
Reserve Bank of New Zealand paid its directors $583,752
Mercury NZ paid its directors $583,66
Transpower New Zealand paid its directors $353,500
Landcorp Farming paid its directors $302,266
Electricity Authority paid its directors $300,000
Accident Compensation Corporation paid its directors $274,545
Financial Markets Authority paid its directors $241,000