Board of directors

Keith McConnell
Catherine Drayton
Jan Evans-Freeman
David Henry
Maxine Simmons
Ray Thomson

Keith McConnell

Keith McConnell

IRL Director and Chairman

Keith McConnell is based in Auckland and has a commercial and financial background. For much of his 35-year career he has worked in boardrooms – initially as an executive and more recently as a director. For 15 of those years he was Chief Executive of a number of medium-sized companies of 100 to 350 employees, most of them in industries with a technical and/or engineering background such as sawmilling, building supplies, electricity supply, and rope and cordage manufacture. More recently Keith has specialised as a director and consultant and has particularly strong connections with the wind power industry in New Zealand. He is a founding director of NZ Windfarms and a longstanding director of Windflow Technology.

Catherine Drayton

Catherine Drayton

IRL Director, BCom, LLB, CA

Catherine Drayton is a chartered accountant and professional director based in Christchurch. She has 15 years’ experience acting as a consultant for cross-border transactions in Western, Central and Eastern Europe, principally buy-side for strategic investors, and particularly in the areas of energy generation, heavy engineering and manufacturing. She is also the former partner in charge of the Assurance and Advisory practice of PricewaterhouseCoopers for Central and Eastern Europe. As a result of these roles, she has significant multi-cultural, multi-jurisdictional managerial and crossborder transactional experience. Catherine is a director of Meridian Energy Limited, Ngai Tahu Holdings Corporation, Ngai Tahu Capital Limited and Hockey NZ, and a Councillor of the University of Canterbury.

Jan Evans-Freeman

Jan Evans-Freeman

IRL Director, BSc (Hons), PhD, FInstP

Jan Evans-Freeman was appointed director with effect from 1 July 2010.  She is the Pro Vice-Chancellor of Engineering at the University of Canterbury. Prior to this she was appointed as the Head of Engineering at Sheffield Hallam University in the UK and her earlier positions include head of the Centre for Electronic Materials at Sheffield Hallam, (2004-09) and an academic member of staff in the Department of Electrical Engineering at UMIST in Manchester between 1999 and 2004. Professor Evans-Freeman has served on and chaired many UK government advisory panels and is currently a member of the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Peer Review College. She has carried out international peer review activities for national funding bodies such as the European Union, and the South African and Finnish national funding agencies. Between 2003 and 2008 she was the Chair of the national Ion Beam Facility Steering Group in the UK, successfully taking them through their next large funding bid.

David Henry

David Henry

IRL Director and Deputy Chairman, BCom, CA

David Henry is a professional director based in Auckland. From 1975 to 2001, he worked for Fisher & Paykel (F&P). He was appointed chief financial officer in 1987 and an executive director in 1992. He is currently the chairman of Androgenix (a biotech start-up company) and a director of Henry Manufacturing and Keratec, where R&D plays a major role. David brings commercial expertise to the IRL Board from his years as an executive director at Fisher & Paykel and, more recently, as a director of a number of start-up R&D companies. His role as an executive director at F&P included hands-on involvement in all aspects of the business, from strategy, manufacturing and product development through to marketing and sales. This experience was across the appliances, healthcare and finance company sectors of the business and included establishing F&P’s international operations. David is a Chartered Accountant and a Fellow of the Institute of Directors in New Zealand.

Maxine Simmons

Maxine Simmons

IRL Director, MSc (Hons)

Maxine Simmons currently runs a business consulting company focused on advising early-stage biotechnology ventures. After graduating with an MSc in biological sciences from the University of Auckland, she became a biotechnology entrepreneur, co-founding one of New Zealand’s first biotechnology companies in 1983. The New Zealand biotechnology industry recognised this achievement by awarding her the Distinguished New Zealand Biotechnologist Award in June 2000. Maxine brings to IRL the understanding of the commercialisation of science gained through her experience with her own companies as well as through previous membership of Investment Committees including Technology New Zealand, the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology (Board member) and as a founding director of Industry New Zealand (now New Zealand Trade and Enterprise). She is currently CEO of healthcare seed investment fund Cure Kids Ventures and Managing Director of consultancy company BioCatalyst Ltd. Maxine is a member of the Institute of Directors in New Zealand and deputy chair of NZBIO. She is also currently a director of Photonz Corporation Ltd, KODE Biotech Ltd and one of the Centres of Research Excellence – the Maurice Wilkins Centre for Molecular Biodiscovery.

Ray Thomson

Ray Thomson

IRL Director, BSc (Hons), PhD (Physics), Dip Acc

Ray Thomson is a professional director based in Auckland. From 1979 to 1985, he worked as an investment analyst in sharebroking, firstly with Jarden & Co and then with O’Connor Grieve & Co. From 1985 to 1998, he worked as an executive director in charge of investments, initially with Omnicorp Investments and then with Strathmore Group. He is currently the chairman of Manuka Health New Zealand and a director of the listed company Wellington Drive Technologies. Ray has been involved in a number of venture capital investments over the past 20 years and is currently a member of the Auckland Ice Angels Association. In more recent years his particular focus has been on investments in the natural health products sector. Ray has had extensive experience as a company director with an aggregate of over 30 years’ experience as a director of listed companies and is a Fellow of the Institute of Directors in New Zealand.