Alumni Profile – Catherine Drayton

Alumni Profile:

Catherine Drayton

Catherine Drayton is not one to shy from opportunity.

It’s that adventurous spirit that has taken her around the world and today sees her as a highly respected independent director.

Catherine is current chair of Christchurch International Airport Ltd, Guardians of NZ Superannuation, and deep tech company Mint Innovation. She’s also on the advisory boards of the Ben Gough Family Office, and a director of Genesis Energy, Southern Cross Medical Care Society and Southern Cross Healthcare.

After graduating with degrees in Law and Commerce from the University of Canterbury, the former SMC Old Girl joined the accounting firm that eventually became Deloitte. Following a secondment to New York for 18 months, she worked in London, and then for 15 years in Central and Eastern Europe living in Prague, Warsaw and Budapest.

During this time, Deloitte merged with another firm in the US and New Zealand, and a different firm in Europe. As a result, Catherine became part of PricewaterhouseCoopers in a 24 country practice in Central and Eastern Europe. In this role, she led the advisory practice for 17 of those countries, later adding assurance to her portfolio. Her specialism was buy-side mergers and acquisitions.

Catherine’s diverse experiences in work and travel have taught her many things. She says two previous board appointments – Ngai Tahu Holdings Corporation and Beca – gave her invaluable insights and learning experiences.

“The first is that everything is about people. We are all the same and we are all different. The second is that personal resilience is very important and part of that is learning to forgive yourself and to forgive others. Life is full of joy and it is also full of bumps.”

Her advice to young women is direct.

“Don’t overthink. Take the work or life experiences that come your way; try and resist saying ‘no.’ Work on your personal resilience. Be aware of your unconscious biases and how that impacts your decisions and your actions.

“The best advice doesn’t necessarily come from your peer group. Some of my best life decisions have come from consulting someone that I respected and then taking all, or part, of their advice.

“Try and be aspirational and don’t let your thoughts or self-talk limit you.”

It’s no surprise that Catherine recommends venturing offshore.

“Living and working overseas provides you with breadth. For me, it meant that I was exposed to lots of change which I need to adapt to and I needed to help others adapt to. It helped me understand different cultures and beliefs. It provided me with a vast variety of work and life experiences. It made me think deeply about my unconscious biases.

“For me, it’s about not being biased towards people who look like me; being aware that memories aren’t facts; being aware that it’s easy to focus on information that confirms our opinion or focus on information that is repeated and framed to stand out and be memorable; being aware not to be overly influenced by the first piece of information you hear or read. We are human. We are flawed. What is important is to know that we are flawed and try and be aware of that.”

While Catherine doesn’t plan to live overseas again for any extended time, she definitely has travel plans afoot. Her true passion for travel is in the Middle East, Asia, Africa and areas of significant biodiversity. Her last two trips, pre-Covid, were to walk the Cape to Cape outside Margaret River in Australia, and earlier, to Sudan and Djibouti. This year Catherine’s playing it a bit safe. She has a multi-day walk planned in Australia and later, a walk in the Argylls, plus seeing friends in Prague and Paris.