Economist Shaun Twaddle wins Emerging Director Award

Wellington economist Shaun Twaddle wins Emerging Director Award

Economist Shaun Twaddle has won the Institute of Directors Wellington Branch Emerging Director Award 2019.

IoD’s Wellington Branch members Dave Frow, Karen Coutts and Jackie Lloyd made the award announced at an annual directors’ dinner at the Wellington Club last night (Wednesday 14 November 2018).

As an economic consultant Shaun provides data, forecasts and advice to chief executives and senior managers in tertiary education organisations, iwi groups and local government agencies. He recently completed director governance development courses to achieve Chartered Member status of the Institute of Directors.

Shaun is a shareholder-director of economics and data consultancy Infometrics, chair of Khandallah School board of trustees, has three children, coaches junior rugby, and as “an avid runner” was “often in negotiation with his wife around the next marathon”.

“In my day job at Infometrics I focus on providing industry and tertiary education clients with data, analysis and advice in which make informed decisions,” Shaun said. “ A lot of my job is spent outlining the long-term benefits of evidence-based decision making, even if it sometimes can slow down the decision-making process. In my roles as a director, I seek to ensure that decisions made have a sound evidence base to support them.”

Shaun’s “professionalism and inter-personal skills will see him become a valuable director to many different organisations over the next two or three decades”, Infometrics board chair Andrew Gawith said.

Khandallah School Principal Louise Green said Shaun was “an effective leader of the Board of Trustees”, highly trusted and provided “a listening ear for school management”.
Shaun said he was pleased and honoured to win and felt “absolutely privileged” to be the 2019 Emerging Director for IoD Wellington Branch.

The Emerging Direct Award comes with director development courses worth $2000, mentoring from experienced directors, and complimentary IoD membership for a year, plus a one-year board internship as a learning opportunity.

A key benefit was meeting with about senior directors, mostly chairs, for one-on-one meetings to learn what their experience has been and what they’ve learnt, Dave Frow said. “The other major part is that we try and get them an internship on a board for about a year. That’s a great experience for them.”

“It presents me with a great opportunity to learn from experienced directors and to develop and broaden my governance skills,” Shaun said. “The award will give me exposure to a wide range of governance experts that will enhance and challenge the way I approach directorship roles over the next year. While the award is only for a year, I hope the relationships and benefits that I am able to get out of it will last much long than that. I would say the skills you need to be successful in governance are strategic thinking, sound judgement, integrity and ethical behaviour and communication skills.”

• IoD Emerging Director Awards recognise talented up-and-coming directors who are committed to developing their governance skills, and who show leadership, integrity and enterprise in their careers. IoD Wellington Branch has about 2000 members from around the capital and Wellington region, as well as Wairarapa, Manawatu and Hawkes Bay.
• Infometrics is an economics and data consultancy founded by Gareth Morgan and Andrew Gawith in 1983. In recent years Infometrics has focused on transforming what were once static reports into dynamic web-based products using technology and visualisations.
About IoD:

• IoD is a non-partisan voluntary membership organisation committed to driving excellence in governance. It represents about 9000 members drawn from listed issuers, large private organisations, small and medium enterprises, state sector and not-for-profit organisations and charities.

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