New NZDIA Board of Directors elected

John Campbell NZSM and Briar Riddell are the latest additions to the New Zealand Defence Industry Association (NZDIA) Board of Directors adding to its depth of Defence and Industry experience.

As a result of elections conducted at the 2022 Annual General Meeting (AGM) held online on the afternoon of the 8th of December, the NZDIA has announced the election of two new elected members to its Board of Directors. Briar Riddell from Beca and John Campbell from Strategic Sourcing Consultancy will officially take their positions early in 2023.

“Thank you to all those who put themselves forward as nominees,” wrote NZDIA CEO Ian Harman in announcing the election results. “It was encouraging to see nominees from a wide cross section of the NZDIA Membership and the voting was very close.”

The AGM also saw the approval of the Minutes from the 2021 AGM and the Financial report of the year 2021-2022 was also approved and accepted.

Briar Riddell

Briar Riddell is Principal Legal Counsel for Beca’s Defence & National Security business group (both in NZ and Australia), as well as for the company’s Digital practice.

Briar has been supporting Beca’s projects in the Defence sector more than 14 years, and has recently been appointed as a director on the board of Beca Applied Technologies Ltd. She also currently serves as a director for Beca Projects NZ Ltd, and on the governance boards of some of the company’s digital enterprises.

Briar Riddell.

Last year, Briar was part of the first cohort of KiwiNet’s Women in Leadership Development programme, aimed at bringing more women in STEM through to governance roles, which included a board observation role and ongoing mentoring.

Her legal background is in general commercial, technology and intellectual property, and a career highlight to date has been contributing to the legal and insurance aspects of the Defence Estate & Infrastructure Alliance.

In her election pitch, Briar stated that she would be grateful for the opportunity to contribute to the governance of NZDIA, “and the ongoing great work our association does to advocate for industry in the Defence sector, and to continue to improve commercial access and procurement conditions for NZ companies in national and regional Defence and National Security supply opportunities.”

“In my spare time, I’m a busy parent to two young boys,” stated Briar, “and can more recently be found towing our caravan (lockdown cliché purchase) around Aotearoa’s beautiful beaches.”

John Campbell

John Campbell MNZM is Senior Consultant, SSCL (Strategic Sourcing Consultancy).

John spent 40 years in the NZDF and retired in 2016.During his career he had three ship commands, various operational postings, represented the NZDF in Japan as the first Defence Attaché in 2005 for four years and was the Director of Capability Working Groups in Capability Branch for three years.

John Campbell MNZM.

John retired as a Commodore having completed three years as the Maritime Commander in charge of the RNZN fleet and operational units, and one year establishing the NZDF Business Hub in Auckland – an outward facing hub designed to increase engagement with industry. John was a strong supporter of industry engagement during the latter parts of his career being involved with several NZDIA Forums and this continues today with his involvement in events.

Before joining SSCL John spent two years with the New Zealand Customs Service as the Group Manager Business and Improvement and Innovation. He joined SSCL in late 2018 and has worked with clients, including Defence, to deliver asset procurement business cases, responses to commercial and Defence multi-year tenders, current state and future state organisational reviews and process changes and providing professional knowledge to clients about the NZDF.

As part of SSCL commitments to the NZDF, John is one of the lead facilitators for the NZDF Integrated Logistic Support family of courses designed to inform Defence of the difference between delivering capability through PRICIE and providing through life support for the capability using the elements of ILS.

John is a member of the NZ Institute of Directors and holds a Bachelor of Applied Management majoring in Change Management.

John seeks to add value to the NZDIA through his advocacy to ensure Industry and Defence have a strategic and meaningful relationship. Interdependence sits at the core of Industry and Defence’s ability to deliver on their respective objectives, and supporting the Government of the day’s strategic intent, and this is achieved through open and transparent communication across the spectrum of capability delivery and through life support.

John brings to the NZDIA Board in depth knowledge of the NZDF, how to work with Defence, and the view of a small consultancy firm.