Can you tell us a bit about how you came to study at UC? Why did you choose to study a BCom, then your BSc?
My father Jim was a partner in an accounting firm and involved in lots of business activities, so I had a high-level understanding of business as I was growing up. In high school in Christchurch, I studied Economics and enjoyed it, so I chose to study a Bachelor of Commerce in Accountancy at UC. I did well with that and when I finished was awarded a Senior Scholarship. Rather than taking advantage of that to continue with post-grad studies, I chose to accept a job with an accounting firm (a predecessor firm of Deloitte) and at the same time to continue learning with part-time studies in Computer Science. I really enjoyed the computer studies that were included in the B.Com but it was only a taste and I could see that computers in business were going to be a big thing, so I thought the commitment to doing a second degree with a B.Sc. in Computer Science would be a good investment in my future. Nobody else in the accounting firms had both Accountancy and Computer Science dual degrees, so it turned out to be a great decision and a real differentiator as my career progressed.
How did your career evolve?
I joined the auditing team with the local office of what later became Deloitte, and enjoyed working on a wide variety of large and small businesses in a range of industry sectors from banking to manufacturing and retail. After three years I was qualified as a Chartered Accountant and one year later I moved to the London office. A year after that I moved to the USA with the firm and ended up getting a green card and doing another 11 years in Atlanta, New Orleans and Charlotte, North Carolina. They loved the fact that I had dual accounting and computer science qualifications, and so I got to work on computer auditing for an interesting range of clients from large electric and gas companies to textile manufacturers to banks and even did some IT consulting with the Budweiser beer company.
What memories or experiences have stuck with you from your time as a student?
One of my lasting memories from being a student was many good times skiing with the University Ski Club at Temple Basin, and that was where I met my wife Helen 43 years ago!
I have a lifelong love of learning and get great enjoyment from taking on new skills and studying new areas. An undergraduate degree provides a great base of knowledge, but the world keeps moving forward, so you need to keep on “sharpening the saw” and keeping up with the development of new knowledge in relevant areas. So I have always been very active in learning as much as I can.
After I took early retirement from Deloitte in 2017, I went back to UC and did a Master of Civil Engineering over 3 years, to build my knowledge in Construction Management, and support the work I was doing on constructing several major buildings including Ravenscar House, and in my governance work with the Church Property Trustees and the ChristChurch Cathedral Reinstatement Company. I really enjoyed this post-grad study and found it both challenging and very satisfying.
Your affiliation with the University has been strong ever since, with your role as Pro-Chancellor on the UC Council from 2017 to 2021, your relationship with the UC Foundation, and coming back to study again in 2018. Can you speak to what these connections mean to you?
I have always thought that UC serves a very important purpose in our community with its multiple roles of providing strong undergraduate degrees for our young adults, advanced learning for those pursuing graduate qualifications, and building new knowledge with a wide range of research programmes. On top of that, UC is also a real economic engine for the Canterbury business scene, and I could see that when I was Managing Partner of Deloitte, and when I was the General Manager for Economic Recovery for CERA after the earthquakes. And so when I was invited to be a Ministerial appointee to the UC Council in 2017, I was very pleased to join and to give back to UC in that way.
My family has had a strong association with UC over many years with my father, stepmother, sister, and all three of my sons being UC graduates. I was pleased to work with the UC Foundation to establish the Jim and Susan Wakefield Fellowship in biomedical engineering to support the work of the UC Rose Centre for Stroke Rehabilitation and Research, as my step-mother Susan was disabled by strokes in 2016, and the work of Professor Maggie-Lee Huckabee and her team at the Rose Centre is world-leading in this field.
Since your retirement from Deloitte, you have given your time to many directorship and governance roles – what motivates or excites you about becoming involved with an organisation?
I have always felt a strong motivation to give back to the community and I have found since taking early retirement from Deloitte in 2017 that I can contribute back to many organisations by taking on governance roles where my skills and business experience can be helpful. I have been involved in the health sector in Canterbury for almost 10 years now with roles on the Canterbury District Health Board, Brackenridge Services (for the intellectually disabled), the NZ Health Innovation Hub, and HealthOne, the integrated South Island-wide electronic health record system. I have also enjoyed supporting some new innovative start-up organisations like EVNEX which makes smart EV chargers (founded by UC alum Ed Harvey), and Swallowing Technologies Limited (a spin-off from the Rose Centre) that is developing a rehabilitation device to help stroke victims learn how to safely swallow again. These companies can help make the world a better place.
What advice would you give to a young alum starting their career in accountancy?
Learn as much as you can, and never stop learning. Be a “student of business” and a “student of the world”, and keep asking “why has that happened?” and “how can this system/ process/ product/ company be improved?”
Business is all about people and not just numbers, so focus on helping to make the people around you successful, and if you do this your own success will naturally follow. And always be thinking about how you can give back to the community around you, and you will see the rewards.
