Chief Executive Officer
David Stone
David Stone was appointed CEO of the TCF in November 2009, after two years on its board representing Vodafone. His career has spanned both new entrant challenger and established businesses, giving him a uniquely balanced understanding of the New Zealand telecommunications industry.
He first joined the telecommunications industry in 1996, after beginning his working life as an exploration geologist, then practising law in New Zealand, England and Australia. His most recent position was Head of Industry Affairs at Vodafone New Zealand.
David’s achievements at Vodafone included developing its wholesale capability, and signing up and bringing to market the company’s first wholesale mobile customers. As Head of Industry Affairs, he represented Vodafone on several industry bodies, including the TCF Board.
Board Members
Richard Westlake (Independent Chairperson)
Richard is the director of Westlake Consulting Limited, a leading adviser in organisational governance, strategy, and structure with clients in New Zealand and across the globe. In the last few years he has completed significant consulting assignments in the ICT sector both locally and globally. He is an independent director of Kiwibank, chairs the Standards Council of New Zealand, and has been Establishment Chair for two state-owned enterprises, MetService and Quotable Value.
Tier 1 Representatives
Victoria Crone, Chorus
Victoria is General Manager Marketing and Sales for Chorus and is responsible for working with customers to ensure that Chorus develops and delivers the products that will meet the demands of end-users, and continue to build positive perceptions of Chorus with stakeholders and the general public. She has 15 years of experience in the telco sector, across research, marketing, sales and strategy - on both B2B and B2C markets and covering most products including traditional (voice, mobile, broadband) and emerging products (IPTV, SaaS). Based in Auckland, Victoria has held several senior business, sales and marketing roles throughout her career. This includes responsibility for the sales strategy and operations for Telecom's retail business, managing offerings for the business market and developing Telecom's proposition for next generation products and services.
John Wesley-Smith, Telecom
John is the Head of Public Policy & Regulatory Affairs at Telecom, and is responsible for managing Telecoms relationships with and submissions to the Commerce Commission, and Telecoms input into industry and Government led public policy processes. Before this, he held a number of roles within Telecoms Government and Industry Relations team. Prior to joining Telecom in 2004, John was at Russell McVeagh for three years, where he specialised in Commercial and Financial Law.
Liesbeth Koomen was appointed Head of Government Affairs, Regulatory and Ultrafast Broadband at TelstraClear in August 2010, which includes divising strategies and negotiating agreements in relation to the Government’s UFB initiative. Liesbeth joined TelstraClear from the Commerce Commission where she was responsible for legal enforcement in the areas of competition, consumer credit and fair trading since 2005. During the ten years prior to that, she gained extensive experience in telecommunications through private practice in Amsterdam and London and at British Telecommunications plc. Her most recent position at BT plc was Vice President, Regional Counsel. In that role, she lead a cross-border team responsible for regulatory and legal actions to improve access conditions to incumbent networks in most EU countries.
Liesbeth is legally qualified in the Netherlands, England and Wales and most recently in New Zealand.
Chris Abbott is the General Manager of Public Policy at Vodafone New Zealand. Chris is an economist with significant experience in the telecommunications industry in both New Zealand and the UK. This has included regulatory and commercial roles at TelstraClear, and as chief advisor at the Commerce Commission. Chris has previously served on the TCF Board between 2006 and 2010.
Tier 2 Representatives
Mathew Bolland joined 2degrees as Director of Corporate Affairs in June 2010 and is responsible for the company’s relationships with government and industry.
Mathew has extensive experience in network infrastructure businesses, managing public affairs, communications and marketing activity at TelstraClear, Mercury Energy, Vector and Watercare.
Mathew shares the position of Tier 2 Board Representative with Susie Stone and Graham Walmsley on a rotating 3 month basis.
Susie Stone, Kordia
Susie is the Kordia Groups General Manager Strategic Development responsible for the Groups Strategic Business Development, Commercial Affairs, Government relations and Regulatory Policy. Prior to joining Kordia Susie worked for CLEAR Communications, where she was General Manager of Network Solutions, with responsibility for CLEARs local access, data, messaging and call centre solutions. Susie has also had roles in the Government and IT sectors. Her background has strong entrepreneurial, marketing, business development, management, regulatory policy and technology experience covering many industry sectors including IT, telecommunications and broadcasting.
Susie shares the position of Tier 2 Board Representative with Mathew Bolland and Graham Walmsley on a rotating 3 month basis.
Tier 3 Representatives
The position of Tier 3 Tier Representative is yet to be filled.
Other Board Members
Paul Brislen, TUANZ (non-voting representative)
Paul Brislen is the CEO of TUANZ, the Telecommunications Users Association.
Paul spent seven years as an IT reporter covering the telco sector for Computerworld, the NZ Herald, Unlimited magazine, Idealog, TVNZ, Radio New Zealand and many others. He was editor of Computerworld, New Zealand's leading IT weekly newspaper before going into corporate life working for Vodafone as communications manager.
Other key people who contribute to TCF operations include:
Susan Wells, Forum Administrator
Susan Wells is the Forum Administrator. Susan has been closely involved in the TCF since its inception and has previously held a position on the TCF Board and a number of its working parties. She has extensive experience in infrastructure industries in both regulatory and commercial roles, with over 20 years experience in the electricity industry and 9 years in telecommunications.