Welcome to New Board Chair and Two New Council Members

Following the March board meeting we welcome Mike Benning as the new Survey and Spatial NZ Board Chair. Mike is taking over the role from long-term Chair Daniel Williams.

Prior to becoming the Chair, Mike was a Board member for four years, first joining in 2018. More recently, Mike has also been the Chair of the Certification Governance Committee overseeing the Certification Pathways project.

Mike brings a wealth of experience and passion to the S+SNZ Board. Having started out as a Registered Surveyor for the Department of Lands & Survey (now LINZ) in Whangarei, he moved to Auckland with his family where he spent a number of years working for a land development company. It was here he continued to develop his cadastral survey experience alongside his civil engineering knowledge and property management skills.

Mike joined Harrison Grierson in 2000, progressing from technical to management roles. As well as being a member of the executive management team he also built strong governance experience, serving 13 years as an Executive Director on the Harrison Grierson Holdings Board. In his current role as GM Strategic Initiatives, he leads high performance teams implementing major property projects in both the residential and commercial space.

We also welcome two new Council members this month. Andrew Blackman of Auckland and Erin Cameron from Wellington have both recently been appointed as General Councillors. They took up their roles at the March Council meeting.

Kat Salm, S+SNZ President says she is thrilled to have another Board Chair who has a wealth of experience and an enduring passion for the survey and spatial sector taking over from Daniel. She was also pleased to welcome Erin and Andrew to their first Council meeting in March.