March 14, 2016 10:00am by David Farrar

Strong contenders for State Services Commissioner

NZ Post boss Brian Roche has emerged as an early frontrunner to take over as State Services Commissioner when Iain Rennie steps down in June.

Roche, 60, has been chief executive at Post for more than six years, managing the state-owned company through a difficult transition as letter volumes collapsed, it moved to alternate delivery days and shed hundreds of jobs from its core postal business. At the same time Kiwibank has become an increasingly important part of the company.

Roche, nicknamed “Rocky” by his former colleagues at accounting firm PwC, would neither confirm nor deny his interest in the top civil servants’ job, only saying: “It’s no secret my contract is coming to an end after six and a half years at NZ Post.” …

He was mooted as a contender for the top job at the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet in 2012, although he had not been in the NZ Post role long at that stage and the job eventually went to Andrew Kibblewhite.

Roche, 60, also headed the 2011 Rugby World Cup’s business arm and has experience in top public sector roles including education, housing, transport and Treaty of Waitangi settlements.

When Roche was appointed chief executive at NZ Post current Labour leader Andrew Little – then a union boss – said he was hugely talented with a balanced approach protecting the bottom line but also thinking about people.

Other names in the running for the State Services Commission job include Ministry of Education chief executive Peter Hughes, who has not ruled out putting his hat in the ring.

Both Roche and Hughes are highly respected and talented. If they both apply, I wouldn’t want to have to choose between them, but good to see that the Government will have several good candidates to choose from.