Our Team

Mark Binns (Chair) was appointed a Director of the Company on 1 June 2018. His career has seen him involved in many of New Zealand’s largest infrastructure projects, including the Wiri Prison public-private partnership, Waterview Connection, Eden Park, SKYCITY, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa and the Manapōuri tunnel. For 22 years, Mark worked at Fletcher Building and its predecessor, Fletcher Challenge Limited. Mark was Chief Executive of Meridian from 2012 to 2017 and is also a former Chief Executive of the Infrastructure Division of Fletcher Building Limited. Mark is a qualified lawyer. He is currently a director of Auckland International Airport, Mercury Energy, and Hynds Limited.

Alan Dent, BCA, CA established and led the Deloitte Corporate Finance Wellington practice from 1990 until May 2020. He led the Deloitte NZ Firm’s Financial Advisory Services practice from 2014 till 2020. He was a member of the Deloitte NZ Partner Board from 2000 to 2012. Alan retired from Deloitte in May 2021 after 39 years with the firm – and 26 years as a partner. Alan has provided commercial and financial advice in a broad range of contexts across both the public and private sectors including mergers and acquisitions, SOE/Crown entity establishment, financial reporting, and dispute resolution. Alan has been extensively involved in advising on government-initiated sector reform and the related establishment processes. Until his retirement Alan led the Deloitte Water sector team and has delivered multiple projects in the Three Waters sector. Alan is an Associate Member of the Arbitrators and Mediators Institute of New Zealand and a Member of the Institute of Directors.

Chris Gudgeon was appointed a Director of the Company on 1 October 2019. He has been involved in property investment, development and construction in New Zealand for more than 25 years. He was previously Chief Executive of Kiwi Property Group and Capital Properties NZ Ltd. He is currently chair of Ngati Whatua Whai Rawa Ltd and an advisor to the board of Dialog Property NZ Ltd. He is a Fellow of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors and is a past President of Property Council New Zealand.

Tim Brown was appointed a Director of the Company on 1 April 2025. He has three decades of involvement in the infrastructure industry; including investment, operational management, and extensive debt and capital markets activities. He participated in the management of listed infrastructure investment company Infratil and had extensive periods on the boards of NZ Bus and Wellington Airport. He is Motukairangi ward representative on Wellington City Council, chair of Council’s Infrastructure Committee, and a trustee of social housing provider Te Toi Mahana. He is also a director on the board of the Infrastructure Commission.

Greg Lowe has extensive experience in the planning, design and delivery of large complex infrastructure projects across many sectors of the economy. He was the global CEO of multi-national infrastructure consultancy Beca for 11 years and before that was the Managing Director of Beca Australia, during which time he was closely involved in the design and delivery of the Victorian Desalination Project (A$4B PPP, now delivering one third of Melbourne’s water supply). During his earlier Naval career, he was involved in the design and delivery of the fleet of ten ANZAC Class Frigates to the NZ and Australian Navies. Greg holds Masters and First Class Honours degrees in Engineering from the University of Auckland. He was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the 1998 Queen’s Birthday Honours and was a finalist in the Deloitte CEO of the Year award in 2022. He is a Fellow of Engineering New Zealand and a Chartered Member of the Institute of Directors. He is also a Director of Ferry Holdings Ltd, delivering new Cook Strait Ferries and related infrastructure.

Melissa Cameron is a retired partner of Deloitte & Touche LLP in the United States and was the Global Leader of Deloitte’s treasury advisory practice. She was also a senior partner in the Finance Transformation practice and lead Strategy Development and Execution for a business group.
Melissa spent the first ten years of her career in New Zealand at Westpac Banking Corporation in the Corporate and Investment Banking Group, taking on a key corporate banking relationship role serving major NZ organizations build out their infrastructure assets, transitioning to build out its debt capital markets and loan syndications businesses. Melissa was also the Treasurer of Tower Limited after it listed, seeking its inaugural credit ratings, and refinancing its syndicated bank debt in the capital markets, overlaying an effective interest rate risk management strategy.

Graham Mitchell is CEO of National Infrastructure Funding and Financing (National Infrastructure), a New Zealand Government owned company, responsible for partnering with the private sector, iwi and local and central government, to finance and fund the delivery of infrastructure for the benefit of New Zealand. National Infrastructure’s sectors of focus include telecommunications, water services, flood protection, urban development, transport, community facilities and social infrastructure.

Key advisory focuses include partnering with Government agencies in the use of private capital, alternative procurement such as private public partnerships and design, build, finance (DBF), structured leases and corporate financing advice. National Infrastructure is the Private Investment shopfront for the Government to attract domestic and international private capital to invest into public infrastructure.

Previously, Graham was CEO at Private Equity and Venture capital funded technology businesses, a senior executive of Telecom NZ in New Zealand and Australia, Transpower NZ and the Electricity Corporation of New Zealand. Graham has had considerable exposure to various infrastructure sectors, capital markets and has a corporate finance background.

Sean joined NIFF in April 2010. Prior to this, Sean was the CEO of twenty4media, an out of home media business that operates television networks for banks and airlines in Australasia. Before this Sean was CEO of INL where he was responsible for selling the company’s publishing interests to Fairfax Media for $1.25 billion and for the company’s $2.5 billion merger with Sky Television.
Sean was previously with Saturn Communications and later TelstraSaturn where he held the positions of Director Corporate Development, Managing Director Residential and Director Sales and Marketing. Prior to this Sean was with a national law firm.
Sean has a Bachelor of Laws from Victoria University.

Kathryn oversees the legal, corporate governance, communications, government relations, and commercial operations at NIFF. With over 20 years of leadership and in-house legal expertise, her experience spans telecommunications, power generation, electrical engineering, facilities management, roading, and infrastructure.  Kathryn excels in navigating complex projects, delivering innovative and multi-faceted government initiatives that provide lasting benefits to New Zealanders. Her notable achievements include the successful national Ultra-Fast Broadband programme, priority cellular network upgrades for emergency services, and the IFF Act transactions.

Before joining NIFF in 2010, Kathryn held senior management roles in legal and tax, serving as General Counsel and Corporate Risk Officer at Transfield Services New Zealand, and as Group Tax and Legal Manager at Siemens New Zealand.

Kathryn holds a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Social Sciences from Waikato University.

John joined NIFF in May 2010 after 27 years in the Telecommunications industry. Prior to his appointment as CTO, John held various senior roles in Telecom New Zealand Limited and AAPT Limited in Australia and was Head of Technology Strategy at the time of his departure. Previous roles have included Director of Networks for large ISPs in Australia and New Zealand, Head of Networks for AAPT (an Australian carrier) and various engineering and architectural roles in Telecom New Zealand.

Within NIFF John  has been in charge of information technology and  the telecommunications infrastructure programmes including the UFB fibre roll-out of fibre to over 85% of New Zealand; the rural broadband initiative where, in a world-first implementation, the three mobile network operators are sharing spectrum to provide broadband and voice services to Rural New Zealand with over mobile 500 towers built; and providing capacity upgrades to uneconomic areas to enable broadband services. John is also assisting the Public Safety Network Programme run by NGCC to roll out a new P25 Land Mobile Radio network and a priority cellular network to the Fire Police and Ambulance Services.

Dougal joined NIFF in January 2014. He is responsible for the financial reporting, valuation advice, assessment of commercial transactions, technical accounting advice, and forecasting NIFF’s capital requirements, and the ongoing financial performance the company.

Prior to joining NIFF Dougal was previously with KPMG, and held a number of finance roles in Insurance and Banking with AMP and ASB.

Dougal has a Bachelor of Commerce and Administration and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science (Hons) from Victoria University.

Andrew is responsible for identifying and implementing innovative funding and financing tools to boost investment in New Zealand public infrastructure and create investment opportunities for domestic and offshore investors of private capital. Andrew led the financing arrangements for the inaugural transactions under the IFF Act, that secured >$600m of structured finance underpinned by 30-year levies charged to commercial and residential property owners, to support the funding of transport and water services infrastructure.

Andrew joined NIFF in 2022. Prior to this, Andrew has over 20 years of executive experience across the financial services, energy and natural resources sectors within New Zealand and across Europe, North America and Asia Pacific. This includes over 10 years working in business development for Shell International in the upstream business.

Andrew has a Bachelor of Commerce and Administration from Victoria University, and a post graduate diploma in applied finance and investment from the Financial Services Institute of Australasia.

Nicky Parkes joined NIFF in March 2024 to lead our People & Culture function.

She has worked in consulting and large corporates in both NZ and Europe, focusing on finance, financial assurance and business transformation before progressing into People & Culture.

Nicky is a Chartered Accountant with a Bachelor of Commerce and a Bachelor of Arts from Auckland University.

Shanon Tapp is an accomplished infrastructure executive with over two decades of experience leading the planning, funding, and delivery of complex infrastructure programs. As Chief Infrastructure Officer, he brings a proven ability to translate national-scale funds and programmes into tangible outcomes, overseeing major programmes spanning transport, utilities, housing, and urban development.

Shanon’s leadership has been instrumental in shaping infrastructure delivery models that blend public and private sector collaboration. Known for his clear communication style and deep commercial acumen, he has successfully led high-impact projects in diverse roles—from directing major precinct developments to infrastructure alliances.

A champion of innovation and strategic partnerships, Shanon is recognised for his ability to foster cross-agency collaboration, enable transformational change, and deliver infrastructure that supports economic growth and community wellbeing. He is a graduate of the Institute of Directors, and holds a Bachelor of Civil Engineering (Hons), and a Postgraduate Certificate in Business Administration.