Three Directors say yes to governance role in major new South Island water entity

Three directors have joined the board of Southern Waters, building out the governance arrangements of the new organisation as it redesigns the way water services are delivered across Waitaki, Central Otago, Clutha and Gore.

Rob Hewett, Fraser Jonker and Michael Sage officially took up their roles on 1 October 2026. They joined Establishment Chair Bruce Gemmell, who was appointed to the role in January 2026.

“I’m pleased to welcome Rob Hewett, Fraser Jonker and Michael Sage to the Board,” said Establishment Chair Bruce Gemmell. “Between them, these three have the experience a new water utility actually needs: establishment governance, utility leadership, and lived customer experience. The Stakeholders’ Representative Group has taken real care over these appointments, and it shows in who they’ve chosen.”

Stakeholders’ Representative Group (SRG) Chair and Clutha District Mayor, Jock Martin, said the director appointments were an important part of ensuring Southern Waters was equipped to deliver for its communities.

“Southern Waters has a big responsibility,” said Mayor Martin. “A $750 million capital works programme to 2034 and $1.1 billion of assets being transferred into its management — that isn’t a responsibility any of us is taking lightly.”

Mayor Martin said that the SRG was looking for people who would ensure those resources were being deployed to the utmost benefit for the communities they represented, but who would also understand what those decisions meant on the ground to both urban towns and smaller, more rural settlements.

“A good board understands that their decisions have consequences,” he said. “Governance can sound a long way from a tap in a kitchen in Tapanui or Kurow. It isn’t. The decisions this Board makes are what will determine whether that water is safe, whether it turns up, and what it costs.”

Meet the directors

Rob Hewett is not only one of New Zealand’s most experienced company directors, but also a Clutha District farmer who gets his own water from a council-owned rural water scheme. He was named Deloitte Top 200 Chair of the Year in 2023 and currently chairs Farmlands Co-operative Society, AgriZeroNZ, Hilton Haulage, Woolworks, Fern Energy and Rewiring Aotearoa. He is immediate past chair of both Silver Fern Farms and Pioneer Energy and a director of T&G Global. He farms at Manuka Gorge in South Otago.

Fraser Jonker spent 15 years as Group Chief Executive of Pioneer Energy, building it from a regional hydro generator into a diversified national energy business, and led its accreditation to international asset management and safety standards. He is Chair of Mainpower NZ, and director of The Lines Company and Buller Electricity. He is also on the board of Central Otago Health Services (Clyde Hospital) and Invest South and has been involved in irrigation companies in Central Otago for more than eight years, including the Manuherikia Irrigation Co-operative. An electrical engineer by training, he lives near Alexandra.

Michael Sage brings current water services governance experience to the Board. He has worked in New Zealand’s utilities and infrastructure sector since 1992. He is a director of Northland Waters, Northland’s water services company, and an independent member of Gisborne District Council’s water services committee. A corporate and commercial lawyer for more than 40 years, specialising in infrastructure and technology, he also advised on the establishment of Watercare Services and Manukau Water. He’s passionate about the lower South Island and has been a regular visitor since the early 1980s.

Building on work already underway

The three directors are joining Southern Waters at an exciting time, with design work on the operating model progressing and community engagement on the Significance and Engagement Policy and Water Services Strategy on the horizon for 2027. It is also an organisation consciously shaped by the cooperation of four councils — through consultation, through the decision to work together, and through the ongoing support of the water services teams in each district.

“Every journey has a beginning” said SRG Chair Mayor Martin. “Our councils’ water teams have been maintaining these networks for decades, often with less than they need, and now they’re showing up to help build the future of those services. It’s the Board’s job now to build on that effort and commitment.”

What happens next

Still to come in the governance space are two mana whenua representatives and a rural water representative for the SRG. Work on filling these positions is ongoing and further announcements will be made when they are filled.

For customers, nothing changes yet. Councils continue to send bills, respond to faults, and deliver drinking water, wastewater, stormwater and rural water services as usual until Southern Waters takes over on 1 July 2027.

The new Board met for the first time in mid-October.