FEATURE
Anthony Jones has recently moved from Sydney to lead HWR Group as the new CEO of the Southland-based company.
Moving
South
By Colin Smith
Moving from across the Tasman, Anthony Jones has made Southland his new home as he brings a diverse logistics background to the CEO’s office at HWR Group. ANTHONY JONES JOKES THAT HIS FAMILY – WIFE KATIE and their four children – made up a good proportion of New Zealand’s net migration total in 2021. The family made the move from Sydney to settle in Invercargill in mid-December where Jones has been working into his new CEO role with Southland-based HW Richardson Group (HWR Group), one of New Zealand’s largest privately owned companies. Jones takes on the CEO role replacing director Scott O’Donnell, who had been interim CEO since the retirement of Brent Esler in 2020. The small statistical significance of the Jones family in the migration numbers is just one small reminder of how much the world has changed as the past two years have been dominated by Covid-19. Border closures, traffic light settings and staff shortages combine with global supply chain pressures and future energy solutions as subjects which have Jones attention. At the same time, he’s been attempting to tour New Zealand to meet as many of HWR’s 2500 staff and their customers as possible. “I tendered my resignation with Linx Cargo Care two weeks before Delta hit the shores of Australia with the assumption in
my head that, ‘it’s all good, we’ll jump across the ditch’,” says Jones. “My intent at that stage was I would come across and the kids would finish out school and come across after that. “Delta got in the way. The bubble shut and stayed shut for two months. It wasn’t a case of not being able to get into MIQ, it wasn’t even open. “It took six months to get here from the time I resigned to when we got into the country. “We landed in Auckland on the second of December. We were one of the lucky ones who got seven days in Auckland and then we flew down here [Southland] on the 10th of December.” Now the pandemic is interrupting Jones’ plans to get acquainted with the organisation he leads. “I have been to most of our JV operations around the South Island but there’s still a couple I need to get to,” he says. “I wanted to go to the North Island but that was the week we moved into red setting. I unfortunately haven’t been able to get up there. That was mainly our customers choice, they moved to say they didn’t want face-to-face.” With Jones’ focus very much on people and relationships, the Truck & Driver | 81
