The Invercargill City Council’s holding company, Holdco – an investment company owned by the council on behalf of ratepayers – has announced the appointment of new directors on both Holdco and one if its subsidiary companies, Invercargill Airport Limited.

Peter Carnahan and John Schol have been appointed as directors on Holdco and Grant Lilly has been appointed chair of Invercargill Airport Limited.

Lilly, who has an extensive background in the aviation and tourism industries, has just completed terms as a board member on the Queenstown Airport Corporation and Civil Aviation Authority and Aviation Security Service.

He also has previous experience in management roles within airlines and tourism operations generally.

The board of Holdco issued a statement saying Lilly was well placed to guide Invercargill Airport Limited as it seeks to take advantage of the opportunities available as a result of strong relationships developed by previous chairman Tommy Foggo.

The statement says Carnahan has a broad range of board and senior management experience that will be of assistance to Holdco, while Schol is the chief executive officer of Malloch McClean and will “add to the breadth of the board capacity”.

The new three-year term of the city council marks the end of city councillors holding directorships on both Holdco and its subsidiary companies.

The change came about after councillor Ian Pottinger, in May, successfully tabled a motion that councillors not be included as directors on Holdco or its subsidiaries.

Holdco general manager Andrew Cameron said the council’s previous stance was that it was mandatory for city councillors to be directors on Holdco and optional for city councillors to be directors on the subsidiary companies.

The Southland Times