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Former Fonterra CEO Craig Norgate dies

Author
Susan Strongman (NZ Herald) ,
Publish Date
Tue, 7 Jul 2015, 10:02PM
Craig Norgate (NZ Herald)
Craig Norgate (NZ Herald)

Former Fonterra CEO Craig Norgate dies

Author
Susan Strongman (NZ Herald) ,
Publish Date
Tue, 7 Jul 2015, 10:02PM

Former Fonterra chief executive Craig Norgate has died.

Mr Norgate's son Jordan, who lives in London according to his Facebook page, has confirmed his father's death.

He was 50.

Craig Norgate was born in Hawera in 1965 and studied at Massey University before taking up a management role at the Department of Maori Affairs when he was 21.

Other roles include working for Taranaki meat company Lowe Walker, the Lactose Company and Kiwi Dairy.

Mr Norgate was chief executive of Fonterra from 2001 to 2003 and afterwards headed PGG Wrightson for six years.

He was chief executive of the New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants from the end of 2012 for a year before leading the transformation of the Chartered Accountants Australia & New Zealand.

The two bodies from the two countries had merged.

Chartered Accountants Australia & New Zealand chief executive Lee White said that Mr Norgate had worked tirelessly to help amalgamate the two organisations in Australia and New Zealand.

"He always worked with great humour and passion.

"He had done a lot in his career and he found it truly rewarding."

Mr White said that no matter how high Mr Norgate had climbed up the professional ladder, he still saw himself as 'just a boy from the 'Naki'.

Mr White said Mr Norgate had finished working with the organisation in April this year to "move on to the next phase in his career".

He believed Mr Norgate had been looking for opportunities in the United Kingdom.

Mr Norgate had spoken about wanting to move overseas a handful of times.

In 2013, he said that after leaving Fonterra in 2003 he wanted to continue his career in the United States.

"But my wife reminded me that we'd decided to stay in New Zealand to bring up our family here, and that she'd been doing a pretty good job of it, so it was time for me to do my bit," he was quoted as saying on the New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants (NZICA) website.

He then said he planned to move that year, possibly to Asia, but the call from the NZICA board chairman, Graham Crombie, offering him a job put a stop to that.

Mr Norgate was a family man, telling the website that when his children were young and he was working in Taranaki, he made a point of leaving the office at 5.30pm.

"One reason was because unless I left, nobody else would, but also I wanted to get home and spend some time with the children before they went to bed."

He would work at home for a few hours in the evening.

In 2005, Mr Norgate won the New Zealand Herald Business Leader of the Year award and in 2008 received the World Class New Zealander award, from Kea New Zealand, for business and finance.

He was reportedly New Zealand's first CEO on a million dollar salary.

Mr Norgate was also a former director of the New Zealand Rugby Football Union, and on the Taranaki Rugby Football Union.

Just a month ago he wrote a column for Taranaki Daily News about why the Chiefs "belong to Taranaki".

Mr Norgate was a director and had invested in the Chiefs.

Port Taranaki's chief executive Guy Roper said he'd known Mr Norgate for 25 years, and he'd been on the port's board for about a decade.

He said Mr Norgate had a tremendous heart, loved Taranaki, and was a real character.

"He was a great leader, and an inspiration. He was very quick and he always remembered a face and a name. He had wit and intelligence and he always cut to the chase."

Though he had been living in Auckland until recently, he was never far away from the region being on the port's board, as well as a New Plymouth District Council investment fund, Mr Roper said.

One of Mr Norgate's biggest passions was rugby, and Mr Roper said he'd bought 19 tickets to the 2011 Rugby World Cup games.

Mr Norgate was married to Jane, and had three children - Dylan, Alexandria and Jordan.

 

CV

 

• Born: 1965, Hawera 
• 1983-85: Massey University, Bachelor of Business Studies, Accounting and Finance 
• 1985: Maori Affairs Department 
• 1987: Lowe Walker 
• 1988: Lactose Company 
• 1991: Joins Kiwi Co-operative Dairies 
• 1994: Chief executive, Kiwi Co-operative Dairies 
• 2001: Chief executive, Fonterra 
• 2003: Sets up Rural Portfolio Investments 
• 2004: Takeover of Wrightson 
• 2005: Takeover of Williams & Kettle 
• 2005: Merger with Pyne Gould Guinness to form PGG Wrightson 
• 2007: Float of NZ Farming Systems Uruguay 
• 2008: Wool business merger planned with Wool Grower Holdings
• 2012: chief executive of the New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants 
• 2013: leading the transformation of the Chartered Accountants Australia & New Zealand.

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