America's Cup - Emirates Team NZ's Chairman resigns

by Richard Gladwell/Sail-World.com NZL on 4 May 2015 Emirates Team New Zealand has confirmed that that Dr Keith Turner has resigned from the Emirates Team New Zealand Board.

Turner, who lives in Tauranga about 2.5hours drive SE of Auckland formally had his resignation recorded with the NZ Companies Office on May 4, 2015, it was effective from April 27, 2015.

Turner was one of the directors bought into the new Board to bring a degree of independence required by the NZ Government when it was a major funder of the team. It is not known if the imperative for Turner's involvement has become less pressing with the distancing of the NZ Government from the team.

Four other Board members remain in place, being Bob Field (ex Toyota NZ Managing Director), Sir Stephen Tindall (highly successful NZ business man and financial backer of an number of initiatives), Tina Symmans (PR background) and Grant Horton (a former investment banker now director in a corporate law firm, with NZ and New York legal experience).

Team New Zealand has two companies registered with the NZ companies office. One dates back to 1993, and has the four directors mentioned above, plus CEO, Grant Dalton. A second company incorporated in November 2013 has the four directors listed above, without Grant Dalton. Dr Turner was a listed director of both companies and has resigned from both as of April 27.

In a written statement, the team's CEO Grant Dalton, who is currently overseas, said that the role of Chair of Emirates Team New Zealand over the past 18 months has been hugely demanding from a time perspective and Dr Turner felt he could no longer devote such a significant amount of time to the role.

Board meetings have been called regularly during the week and at short notice and meeting these obligations has been made difficult as Dr Turner is not based in Auckland.

“We thank Dr Turner for his significant contribution during his tenure and recognize the heavy demand that has been placed on both Dr Turner and the other directors” said Dalton in the statement.

Emirates Team New Zealand is reviewing the governance requirements for the future, the statement continued, as we recognize that private funders both current and future should have a greater role in setting the direction and providing oversight of the campaign. Until we reach a conclusion with regards to the most appropriate governance arrangements we will not be formally appointing a Chairman to replace Dr Turner.

The resignation is not believed to have any more significance than stated - being time and distance commitment as Dr Turner is a Director of several companies. As the team builds towards the 35th America's Cup the demands on the Board will be more intense while finance for the team is being sought. It is expected that an Auckland based director with sailing and maybe America's Cup will be appointed to fill the vacancy.