Dame Jo Anne Brosnahan is a New Zealand company director and leadership adviser, and former regional government executive. She served as chief executive of

Northland Regional Council The Northland Region ( mi, Te Tai Tokerau) is the northernmost of New Zealand's 16 local government regions. New Zealanders sometimes refer to it as the Winterless North because of its mild climate all throughout the year. The main population ...

for five years from 1991, followed by eight years as chief executive of

Auckland Regional Council The Auckland Regional Council (ARC) was the regional council (one of the former local government authorities) of the Auckland Region. Its predecessor the Auckland Regional Authority (ARA) was formed in 1963 and became the ARC in 1989. The AR ...

. In 2005, Brosnahan was appointed a

Companion of the Queen's Service Order The Queen's Service Order, established by royal warrant of Queen Elizabeth II on 13 March 1975, is used to recognise "valuable voluntary service to the community or meritorious and faithful services to the Crown or similar services within the pu ...

for public services, and in 2023 she was appointed

Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand, "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have rend ...

, for services to services to governance and business.

Early life and family

Brosnahan was born in

Whangārei Whangārei () is the northernmost city in New Zealand and the regional capital of Northland Region. It is part of the Whangarei District, Whangārei District, a local body created in 1989 from the former Whangārei City, Whangārei County and ...

, and studied at the

University of Auckland , mottoeng = By natural ability and hard work , established = 1883; years ago , endowment = NZD $293 million (31 December 2021) , budget = NZD $1.281 billion (31 December 2021) , chancellor = Cecilia Tarrant , vice_chancellor = Dawn F ...

, graduating in 1974 with master's degrees in geography and economics. She married Chris Brosnahan, a real estate executive, and the couple went on to have two daughters.

Career

After leaving university, Brosnahan took a position as a research officer with the

New Zealand Railways Department The New Zealand Railways Department, NZR or NZGR (New Zealand Government Railways) and often known as the "Railways", was a government department charged with owning and maintaining New Zealand's railway infrastructure and operating the railway ...

. She was part of a group investigating the feasibility of rapid rail in Auckland, before returning to Whangārei in 1978 to carry out a rail-freight study. She then moved to the Northland Harbour Board, first as economics and planning officer and later as commercial manager. She left in 1987 to establish a consulting business, North Ventures. Brosnahan was appointed chief executive officer of

in 1991. In that position, she steered the council's sale of its 25 percent stake in the Northland Port Corporation and the establishment of a community employment and development trust funded using the interest earned on the proceeds of the sale. She took a year's leave of absence in 1995–1996 to complete a

Harkness Fellowship The Harkness Fellowship (previously known as the Commonwealth Fund Fellowship) is a program run by the Commonwealth Fund of New York City. This fellowship was established to reciprocate the Rhodes Scholarships and enable Fellows from several cou ...

studying public-sector leadership at

Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...

in the United States, before taking up the position of chief executive officer of

(ARC) in September 1996. During her tenure as ARC chief executive, she was involved in moving $1.6 billion of assets from central government to ARC control, as well as securing over $1 billion of fuel taxes to address Auckland's transport issues. She left the role in December 2004, with 18 months of her contract remaining, after a dispute with ARC chair

Gwen Bull Gwen may refer to: * Gwen (given name), including a list of people with the name * ''Gwen, or the Book of Sand'', a 1985 animated film * Gwen (film), a 2018 horror film * Tropical Storm Gwen, several storms with the name Acronyms * AN/URC-117 Grou ...

. In 2003, Brosnahan founded Leadership New Zealand, a non-profit organisation, to develop and promote a "culture of leadership" across New Zealand society, and served as the body's chair for more than 10 years. , the organisation had produced over 700 alumni across the business, Māori, social services and community sectors. Brosnahan has held governance roles across a range of community, education, research, local government and infrastructure bodies. She was chair of Northpower Fibre from 2011, Taitokerau Education Trust from 2014 to 2019,

Maritime New Zealand Maritime New Zealand (New Zealand Maritime Safety Authority) is a Crown entity and also a state maritime safety authority responsible for protecting the maritime transport sequence and marine environment within New Zealand and maintaining safety ...

from 2018, and engineering consultancy firm Harrison Grierson since 2019. She is also a past chair of

Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research is a New Zealand Crown Research Institute whose focus of research is the environment, biodiversity, and sustainability. History Manaaki Whenua was originally part of the Department of Scientific and Industr ...

Honours and awards

In the 2005 Queen's Birthday Honours, Brosnahan was appointed a

, for public services. In the 2023 King's Birthday and Coronation Honours, she was made a

, for services to governance and business.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brosnahan, Jo Living people Year of birth missing (living people) People from Whangārei University of Auckland alumni New Zealand public servants New Zealand chief executives New Zealand women chief executives Companions of the Queen's Service Order Dames Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit