Dean Waddell (Chair)

PAK'nSAVE Tauranga

Dean is a third-generation grocer who was appointed to the Foodstuffs North Island Board in 2013 and later became Chair. He started out working in the family supermarket, New World Brookfield, then went to study for a Bachelor of Business Studies at Massey University, before returning to work at New World Brookfield. Dean became a Member in 1992 when he purchased New World Brookfield and moved to his current store, PAK’nSAVE Tauranga, in 2013. Dean and his wife Julie have three children. 

Brendon Good

New World Brookfield

Brendon was appointed to the Foodstuffs North Island Board in 2021 and began his co-op journey in the Trainee Operator Programme in 2003. He purchased his first store, New World Green Bay, in 2005 then moved to New World Westend in 2006. He went on to purchase his current store, New World Brookfield, in 2013. Brendon was Chair of the New World Banner Representation Group and served on the Foodstuffs North Island New World Committee. Brendon is the current Chair of the Operator Development and Approval Committee (ODAC) and has been on this committee since 2018. 

Brendon Jones

New World Howick

Appointed to the Board in 2018, Brendon began his career at Foodies in 2001 at Write Price Wanganui and in 2005 took ownership of New World Gonville. In 2007, he opened the brand new New World Wanganui, before moving to New World Howick in 2014. Brendon is a Director on the Eat My Lunch Board. He is married to Kate and they have two children

Jason Witehira

PAK'NSAVE ALBANY

Jason was appointed to the Board in 2019. He began his career with Foodstuffs North Island in 1998 as the Owner of New World Taumarunui. In 2001 he became the Owner of New World Botany, before taking ownership of New World Victoria Park in 2010 then PAK’nSAVE Albany in 2021. He has played a key role in the Foodies Co-op over the years as previous Chair for the New World North Island Committee, and New World Auckland Committee. Jason was also awarded the Aotearoa Outstanding Māori Business Leader of the Year award in 2015. He is a proud father of four and has eight mokopuna.

Nagaja Sanatkumar

Independent Director

Nagaja has an impressive international background in digital technology and customer experience. Through various General Management roles at the intersection of business and technology she has helped businesses such as Amazon Fresh and held senior and executive roles at companies in New Zealand and overseas, including Icebreaker and Paymark. She is currently also on the Board of a number of other companies including New Zealand Post, Meridian Energy, Ultrafast Fibre, Cawthron Institute and MediaWorks. Alongside her Directorships, Nagaja manages her own digital consulting practice which focuses on helping New Zealand companies adopt best practices in digital strategy and execution. Nagaja is passionate about sustainable futures and has a particular interest in the consumer disruption in the food sector.

Peter Schuyt

Independent Director

Peter has held senior executive roles in finance and strategy at the New Zealand Dairy Board, Fonterra and NZ Post Group. Over the past 15 years Peter has held governance roles in a wide range of New Zealand-based companies, including as Board Chair and chairing Audit and Risk Committees. He is currently a Board member of the Tatua Dairy Company and Chair of Tax Management NZ. Peter has a Bachelor of Commerce in Accounting and Economics from Canterbury University. He and his wife Tracey have five children. 

Rob McGregor

PAK'nSAVE Papamoa

Rob joined the Foodstuffs North Island Board in 2017 and started out at his father’s store, New World Te Kuiti in 1984. He graduated from Waikato University with a Bachelor of Computer Studies and applied this knowledge to develop computer programmes for the business. In 1995, Rob purchased New World Hillcrest, before moving to Auckland and opening the newly-built New World Victoria Park. He then opened the newly-built PAK’nSAVE Papamoa in 2010, where he is Owner Operator today. Rob served on the New World Committee for a number of years, including as Chair, and is a Director on the Ruel Foundation Board. 

Sarah Aston

New World Mt. Roskill

Sarah was appointed to the Board in 2018. She joined the Co-op as the Owner of Four Square Oneroa in 2008. Prior to joining Foodies, she held several senior business roles at Coopers and Lybrand (now PwC), and Telecom New Zealand (now Spark) including the Programme Lead of an operational capability development programme and Head of the 1200-strong Customer Care Team. Sarah was the owner of New World Milford from 2010 to 2022, and in July 2022 she took over ownership of New World Mt. Roskill. Sarah is also a Board Member of the Milford Business Association and was the Chair of Laura’s Angels (a fundraising committee for the Laura Fergusson Trust). Sarah and her husband Grant have two children.

Sir Henry van der Heyden

Independent Director

Sir Henry has served in dairy industry governance roles for over 25 years. Currently he is chair of Raukawa Iwi Developments Limited and Rimu SA / Manuka SA in Chile. In addition to these Chairmanship roles, he is a Director of Pascaro Investments Limited, Better Eggs Limited and is a Director of a number of his own family businesses. Sir Henry holds a Bachelor of Engineering with Honours from Canterbury University. He is married to Jocelyn and they have four children. In 2009, Sir Henry was appointed a Distinguished Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit.

Wade Brown

New World Kumeu

Wade was appointed to the Foodstuffs North Island Board in 2021, after joining the co-op in 2013 as Owner Operator of New World Kawerau then moving to New World Kumeu in 2017. Before that, he was the Owner of McDonald’s Whakatane for five years and did 20 years in the financial markets in New Zealand, Japan and England. Wade served 12 years on the Board of the Trust Horizon, formerly known as the Eastern Bay Energy Trust, and has served or chaired a number of other boards. He was Chair of the Foodies Foundation and completed the Fonterra Governance Programme in 2016.   

Chris Quin

CEO

Chris joined Foodies as CEO in September 2015 with 28 years' experience in leadership roles. His most recent position was CEO of the Home, Business, and Mobile division of Spark NZ (previously Telecom NZ). Prior to that, he formed the successful IT services business Gen-i (within Telecom) by merging three businesses. In 2010, he received a Sir Peter Blake Leadership Award for his leadership achievements and contribution to the community, which included being Chair of The Icehouse business growth organisation. Chris has a Bachelor of Commerce and Accounting from Victoria University and completed the Stanford Graduate School of Business executive programme.

Catherine Tardif

General Manager Strategy & New Ventures

Catherine arrived at Foodstuffs Auckland in May 2013 as Manager Strategy & New Ventures and was appointed to the role of GM Strategy & New Ventures in July 2016. Before Foodies, she was Senior Manager of Corporate Development for Thomas Cook Group in the UK and held senior investment banking roles at Citi and PwC. Catherine has an MBA from the London Business School, a Bachelor of Finance from Université Laval in Quebec, Canada, and is a CFA charter holder.

Cindy Chaimowitz

General Manager Wholesale & Customer Service

Cindy joined Foodies in 2015 and has held roles in our Commercial Operations, Strategy & New Ventures, and Wholesale team. Before joining our team, she held a number of senior advisory and accounting roles in large organisations across New Zealand and South Africa, including EY and the Serious Fraud Office.

David Stewart

General Manager Merchandise

David joined in 2010 as Chief Financial Officer at Foodstuffs Auckland and became Chief Financial Officer at Foodstuffs North Island in 2013, then GM Merchandise in 2016. Before Foodies, David worked in Europe in senior finance roles at France Telecom, Orange, and PwC. Then, he returned to New Zealand to work at Yellow Pages as Chief Financial Officer. Named New Zealand’s CFO of the Year for 2015, David is a Chartered Accountant and has a Bachelor of Commerce and a Postgraduate Diploma in Commerce from the University of Auckland and is a graduate of the Stanford School of Business Executive Programme.

Jo Allan

Chief Financial Officer

Jo joined Foodies as Chief Financial Officer in January 2017 and brings more than 20 years’ Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) finance and leadership experience to the table. She has held senior finance, strategy, leadership, and transformation roles for a number of leading companies including Frucor, Danone, Fonterra, Tegel, and Lion. She is also an engineer and has a Bachelor of Engineering (Mechanical) and is a CPA (Certified Practicing Accountant).

Jonathan Box

General Manager Supply Chain

Jonathan was appointed GM Supply Chain in June 2018. Prior to this, he spent almost 30 years with Nestlé around the world before Fonterra brought him to New Zealand. He has extensive leadership experience in Operations, Marketing, Sales, Supply Chain, and Business Transformation across a broad range of product categories and countries. Jonathan holds a Bachelor of Science from King’s College London and is a graduate of the Programme for Executive Development at IMD in Lausanne.

Lindsay Rowles

General Manager Membership & Property

Lindsay joined Foodstuffs North Island in May 2016 as GM Property, taking on a new role in 2018 of GM Membership & Property. Previously, Lindsay spent eight years at Woolworths Australia, where he held various leadership roles in their property group. Most recently as Group Property Operations Manager – North, he was responsible for the development and execution of their national network strategy plan and their property strategy. Before Woolworths, Lindsay worked for ALDI for eight years, establishing and operating the ALDI retail brand in New South Wales. He graduated from Deakin University with degrees in Commerce and Law.

Julian Benefield

General Counsel & Company Secretary

Julian first joined the Foodies Co-op as a teenager working part-time at PAK’nSAVE Taupo, and then re-joined Foodies in 2015 as a Senior Solicitor and was appointed to Associate General Counsel in 2018.  Julian was appointed General Counsel & Company Secretary in April 2022.  In 2020, Julian was named In-House Lawyer of the Year at the NZ Law Awards.  Prior to joining Foodstuffs North Island, Julian worked in New Zealand and overseas at major law firms and in-house at international tech companies such as Telstra, online business REA Group, and Sky in London.  Julian has an LLB and BCom from the University of Canterbury, and completed the Executive Legal Leadership Programme at Harvard Law School in 2021.

Simon Kennedy

Chief Digital Officer

Simon joined in April 2019 as Chief Digital Officer. Before Foodies, Simon was most recently CIO at Air New Zealand, following seven years at The Warehouse Group, with the last four years there as Group CIO. A New Zealand citizen who is originally from the UK, Simon started his career with Accenture in London and held a number of consulting industry roles in the UK, NZ, and India before settling permanently in Auckland in 2009. Simon holds an MA in History & Economics from Oxford University.

Wendy Hammonds

General Manager People & Capability

Wendy became GM People & Capability in March 2016. With more than 15 years of experience in developing talent and leading people, Wendy is passionate about driving cultural change and strong employee engagement in large organisations. Prior to Foodies, she led the HR team for the retail business unit within Spark that looks after home and small business customers. She also worked for Westpac, AMP Banking, and Bendon, following ten years in the UK.