CEO AND FIVE DIRECTORS OUT AT KAINGA ORA
The chief executive of the state housing agency and developer Kainga Ora is leaving the business in October, and five board directors ended their tenure on Sunday, staff learned on Monday.
The announcement of Andrew McKenzie’s exit comes just a month after a new chair, former Spark boss Simon Moutter, was parachuted into the agency after a highly critical report led by Sir Bill English.
McKenzie, who has led the agency and its predecessor Housing New Zealand, since September 2016, is one of the highest paid in the public sector. His remuneration package in 2022/23 was listed as $721,000, according to an NZ Herald survey.
Staff were told of his exit, and that of five directors, by Moutter in a note on Monday morning, seen by Newsroom.
His departure follows the former chair, the ex Labour MP and unionist Vui Mark Gosche, who stood aside in February.
When the Government released the English review of Kainga Ora last month it said a detailed “and credible” financial operating plan for the housing agency would be expected from its new chair and board by November.
English’s review faulted Kāinga Ora for its borrowing and spending, tenancy and maintenance services, construction deals and relationships with builders and alternative social housing providers, and the board for governing with insufficient financial information. His review recommended removing the housing funding function to the overseeing Ministry of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and splitting social housing into at least five Crown companies around the country.
An appendix to that report included anonymous comment from stakeholders critical of the board, McKenzie and the agency’s dealings with minister in the previous, Labour Government.
The review’s findings painted a board asleep at the wheel as billions of public money was deployed without sufficient knowledge of its value for money or impact on the Government’s books. It also painted a picture of KO’s executives leading the board by the nose and dealing directly with the Minister of Housing.
The board responded with a detailed critique of the overall report, citing numerous incorrect assumptions and conclusions and questioning the inclusion of the anonymous comments about its CEO and executives.
McKenzie has long been a forthright executive, dating back to the days he was chief financial officer for Auckland City Council where he was not averse to pushing back strongly at political or media criticisms.
He led Housing NZ before its 2017/18 conversion into Kāinga Ora, so has been at the helm of public housing for a considerable tenure. In 2018, he apologised for Housing NZ’s handling of the meth contamination scare that led to some tenants being evicted.
Moutter announced McKenzie’s departure to staff on Monday, noting it was after discussions about the role being down-scaled in the reforms ahead for Kainga Ora.
“I have been discussing the implications of this with our Chief Executive, Andrew McKenzie, and concluded that the changes are material to his role, reducing its scale and accountabilities significantly, and that was not what he signed-up for when he agreed with the Board to extend his contract last year.
“As a consequence, Andrew and I have agreed that he will leave the organisation on 31 October 2024. During the next four months, Andrew will complete some important change processes as Chief Executive and then move across to assist me and the Board with preparing the new Plan that must be delivered to the Government in November. I will update you on new leadership arrangements as decisions are made about those over the next few weeks.
“We will more fully acknowledge and thank Andrew for his contribution closer to his finishing date, but for now the Board and I do want to recognise the enormous contribution he has made in his eight years as Chief Executive as well as the calm and professional leadership he is providing at this time of significant change. While Andrew will be missed, he will leave the organisation well set up to respond to the changes ahead.”
Moutter also told staff five of the existing board directors had their final day on Sunday June 30 and new board members would be announced by the Government this week.
“I’d like to acknowledge Philippa Howden-Chapman, Sir John Hansen, Campbell Roberts, Robin Hapi and Nicole Anderson for their service and the significant contribution they have each made to Kāinga Ora during their time on the Board.”
That would leave the deputy chair, John Duncan, who acted as chair at the time of the English report’s release, and one other director John Bridgman, in place.
The post CEO and five directors out at Kainga Ora appeared first on Newsroom.
2024-07-01T01:25:02Z dg43tfdfdgfd