Board and Management

David is the Co-founder and Managing Partner of Bailador Investment Management and is Chairman of Bailador Technology Investments, Forsyth Barr Group, and the NZ Rugby Players Association. He sits on the Board of various Bailador portfolio companies and charitable organisations including KiwiHarvest and the Sydney Festival.

David’s Executive Management career included roles as the CEO of Fairfax Media and CEO and Managing Director PMP Limited. David was Chief Policy Advisor to the Prime Minister of New Zealand from 1992 to 1994 and was a management consultant with McKinsey & Company in London prior to that.

David is a Rhodes Scholar with degrees in Medicine from Otago University and Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Oxford University.

Michael joined Rip Curl in 2002 and fulfilled the roles of CFO and then COO before being appointed to the CEO of Rip Curl in January 2013. While based predominantly in the Torquay head office, Michael spent over two years in the USA for Rip Curl. Prior to joining Rip Curl, Michael spent 10 years with PricewaterhouseCoopers across Australia and the USA specialising in servicing mining industry clients with debt or equity registered in the USA.

Andrea has extensive executive leadership experience having spent over 20 years working with some of the world’s best known-brands and organisations.

She is currently the CEO of ADMA and has previously held roles as the Global Chief Marketing Officer for Jurlique International, and Managing Director and VP Marketing, Home and Personal Care for Unilever Australia and New Zealand.

Andrea is also a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and named as one of the top 50 CMOs in Australia by CMO Magazine. Andrea was appointed to the board of HYG Holdco Pty Limited (trading as Hoyts) in July 2021.

Brent has extensive experience leading and growing consumer brands around the world including an 18-year career with Nike Inc across Marketing, Commerce and General Management in three continents. He led Brand marketing for Nike Pacific, was the Regional GM for Nike North America in New York, was also the Chief Marketing Officer for Nike EMEA. Brent also served as Vice President and Chief Executive of Nike Western Europe leading Nike's European operations from Amsterdam. Brent subsequently founded Unscriptd, a sports technology and media business sold to The Players’ Tribune (a large USA media company) in 2019. He was previously a director of Action Sports Co Fox Head Inc in Irvine California and a non-executive director of Catapult International (CAT).

Brent is currently the CEO of Enero Group (EGG) and currently holds a Non-Executive Director role with ASX listed Rhinomed Limited (RNO).

Philip Bowman has extensive experience in retail including 15 years as a director of Burberry PLC. Other past roles include CFO of Bass PLC, CEO of Bass Taverns, Executive Chairman of Liberty PLC, CEO of Allied Domecq PLC, CEO of Scottish Power PLC, CEO of Smiths Group and Chairman of Coral Eurobet and Miller Group.

Philip has also held office as an independent director of BSkyB PLC, Scottish & Newcastle Group PLC, and Berry Bros. & Rudd.

He is currently Chairman of NZX listed Sky Network Television (SKT) and an independent director of Amsterdam listed Ferrovial SE, as well as Chairman of Tegel Group Holdings and an independent director of Better Capital PCC.

Philip is also as director of Majid al Futtaim Holding LLC, and Chairman of Majid al Futtaim Properties LLC. Together, the Majid al Futtaim group is the largest owner and operator of shopping malls across the Middle East, and also represents a number of major international brands across the Middle East through licence arrangements.

Abby is a professional director with over 12 years’ governance experience, including publicly listed and Crown companies. With qualifications in both law and accounting, Abby's career has covered both disciplines, focusing on corporate finance, treasury and commercial transactions.

Abby currently serves on the boards of Sanford Limited and Freightways Limited. Abby’s previous governance roles include TVNZ, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Transpower New Zealand, Livestock Improvement Corporation (LIC), the New Zealand Local Government Funding Agency (LGFA) and the Chair of Z Energy.

Zion Armstrong has had a very successful career in the global branded sportswear industry for over 30 years. Zion spent 24 years with adidas, stepping down as President - North America for adidas in early 2022 to return to New Zealand.

Zion commenced his career with adidas in New Zealand as Product Manager for Footwear in 1998 before moving to the adidas headquarters in Germany in 2002. From 2005 to 2014, Zion held various leadership roles in Asia-Pacific including President & Managing Director adidas Group South Korea. Since 2015, he served as General Manager of adidas North America and in 2018 was promoted to President - adidas North America.

Michael joined Rip Curl in 2002 and fulfilled the roles of CFO and then COO before being appointed to the CEO of Rip Curl in January 2013. While based predominantly in the Torquay head office, Michael spent over two years in the USA for Rip Curl. Prior to joining Rip Curl, Michael spent 10 years with PricewaterhouseCoopers across Australia and the USA specialising in servicing mining industry clients with debt or equity registered in the USA.

Chris joined Kathmandu in 2014, with over 10 years in senior group finance and analyst roles at FMCG, pharmaceutical, and technology multinationals including Cadbury, Alliance Boots and Tait Communications.

Chris began his career in audit at PwC.

Megan joined Kathmandu after spending 18 years at global footwear brand Crocs, having started with the company pre-IPO when it was just three years old. Her most recent role was Senior Vice President and General Manager, Asia Pacific Region, which she took on in 2021, a business reaching consumers in over 15 countries and valued at over USD$500mil in 2022.

Megan is an inclusive, energetic and driven leader. She has great passion for the outdoors and being active outside, which blends well with her role leading Kathmandu.

At Crocs, Megan oversaw the entire business in the region, including Commercial, Merchandising, and Marketing. Before this, Megan held roles across Product, Merchandising, Sales, Operations and Marketing in various regions across the globe. She has deep multi-channel expertise across retail, wholesale and digital.

She has served as Vice President, Commercial and Merchandise with responsibility for the Wholesale and Retail channels across Crocs’ Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region, where she was instrumental in elevating the marketplace and driving growth momentum. Prior to that, Megan was Vice President, Global Merchandising Wholesale, driving strategy for product assortment, pricing, segmentation and channel growth across more than 90 countries. 

Amy joined Oboz / Kathmandu in 2019 and has extensive experience in the outdoor and fashion industries with a wide range of skills including retail, brand marketing, distribution strategy, and sales management.

More recently, Amy held executive roles at Smartwool and Lucy Activewear, both part of VF Corporation.

Since joining Rip Curl in 2010, Brooke’s journey has seen her run Rip Curl surf events around the world, lead exponential sales growth online as the GM of Digital, become the first female to join the company’s global executive team, and was most recently GM of Women’s.

In the water Brooke is an avid surfer and former competitor, with 2x Australian Surfing Championships and 3 x WA State Titles on her record. On land she has followed her passion and set out in her career to empower growth and equality in women’s surfing. Surfing has been a consistent thread throughout Brooke’s life and has given her the ability to live her passion daily. She hopes to support the growth of surfing in Australia and ensure its future.

Jolann joined Kathmandu in July 2014 with over 20 years’ experience implementing all-of-business solutions, across a wide range of industry sectors, to deliver business outcomes. Prior roles with Farmlands, Intergen, HP Enterprise, and Ernst & Young.

Frances joined Kathmandu in early 2017 as legal counsel, with over 10 years’ experience in corporate advisory roles with Anthony Harper (Christchurch) and Bristows (London).

After taking up the Company Secretary responsibilities at the start of 2020, Frances is now leading the Environmental, Social and Governance (“ESG”) strategies and initiatives for the Group.

Linda joined Rip Curl in 2002 as the Global HR Manager. In 2007, Linda relocated to the Middle East where she worked in both the Aviation and Pharmaceutical industries.

On returning to Australia in 2011, she continued her HR career in a global role in the Pharmaceutical Industry and later a role with the Essendon Football Club. In 2019, Linda returned to Rip Curl as the General Manager People & Culture.

Linda began her career in Human Resources with Andersen Consulting/Accenture.

Lachlan commenced his career in Audit with PWC, has previously been General Manager of Finance at both Myer and the Cotton On Group and was a former Group CFO of Rip Curl.

Lachlan rejoined Rip Curl in 2016 as Group COO. Prior to his appointment as Chief Commercial Officer of KMD Brands he was responsible for Rip Curl’s global retail operations, including the Ozmosis business.

Mathieu joined Rip Curl in 2009 and fulfilled several regional and global roles across finance, retail and operations before being appointed President of Rip Curl Europe in April 2019. Prior to joining Rip Curl, Mathieu spent 9 years with PricewaterhouseCoopers across France and the USA (Silicon Valley) specialising in servicing listed companies within the technology sector