The Lines Company Limited
King Street East, Te Kuiti
PO Box 281, Te Kuiti 3941
Tel: 07 878 0600 Fax: 07 878 7024
www.thelinescompany.co.nz
Media Release
8 August 2016
Incoming TLC Chairman Promises New Lines of Communication
New chairman of The Lines Company Mark Darrow is promising to open up a “measured and constructive”
conversation with the energy network company’s customers.
The change in chair of The Lines Company was confirmed at the AGM on Thursday August 4 th with
experienced businessman Mark Darrow taking over the helm from Malcolm Don.
A qualified accountant and professional director, Mark Darrow has undertaken governance roles across a
range of industries including automotive, agriculture, manufacturing and education during the past 30 years.
As well as the TLC Mark is currently Chairman of Primary ITO, Armstrong Motor Group, the technology
company Signum Holdings, Toloda Properties and Christchurch-based Courier Solutions. His other present
or past directorships include Balle Bros Group, Dekra New Zealand, Motor Trade Association (MTA),
Charlie’s Group Limited, the New Zealand Motor Industry Training Organisation (MITO), GE Capital New
Zealand, and several private investment companies. He is also a Trustee for Macular Degeneration New
Zealand (MDNZ).
A member of the New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants and a Chartered member of the New
Zealand Institute of Directors, Mark was heavily involved in the 2011 sale of Charlie’s Group Limited to Asahi
Group, the mergers of MITO with EXITO and Tranzqual, the sale of PGG Wrightson Finance Limited to
Heartland New Zealand Limited, the acquisition of Water Dynamics and Aquaspec by PGG Wrightson and
the sale of a majority stake in Vehicle Testing Group to Dekra SE. He was the founding Chairman for Veritas
Investments and oversaw the acquisitions of The Mad Butcher, Kiwi Pacific Foods, Nosh Food Group and
Better Bar Company Group.
But his roots have brought him back to the King Country, where he lived for his first 22 years. Schooled at
St Patricks and Taumarunui High School, he was a King Country representative at tennis and hockey and a
member of both the Taumarunui and Te Kuiti Choral and Operatic Societies.
Retiring chairman Malcolm Don had been on The Lines Company board for 19 years, the last 11 as the
Chair. Mark Darrow joined the TLC Board in September 2015 and is relishing the opportunity to work back in
the King Country.
“I still consider it home, have always supported the King Country rugby team through thick and thin, and
really enjoy having a business connection back in the area,” he said. “While TLC is industry leading with its
approach to capacity based charging, that system can be enhanced further with the better use of technology.
We continue to invest heavily in this area as well as looking at ways to accelerate that progress to use even
smarter technology. Having increasingly better usage data improves the transparency of the system, which
we welcome and we are pushing hard for that.
“We also need to be much better with how we deal with customers. We need to simplify the system so that
it is more understandable – much of the criticism is because we haven’t explained the billing system well
enough in what is an incredibly technical process,” he said. “If the average person doesn’t understand the
charging system, then we haven’t done our job well enough. The second is continuing to improve the data
behind the billing system to achieve better clarity and simplicity of the model. While the fundamentals are
sound, we acknowledge there is still work to be done.
“In a small number of specific cases, we need to change the tone of the conversation from being an
adversarial one, to being more measured and constructive,” he said. “TLC leads the industry with our
approach and is really a pioneer in this area, and in our view the wider industry will adopt this system over
time because of its inherent practicality and fairness.
“Our customers need to understand that TLC works very hard to deliver a high level technical service in a
challenging geographic area and environment. We have some incredibly committed and talented people who
work hard and whom we really value,” Mark said. “The Board are absolutely committed to continuing
improvement of the organisation and, in particular, together with the management team, it will focus on
system improvement. In its governance role the board also needs to focus on making sure our assets are
productive and that the shareholder receives a fair return given the capital outlay and business risk. We
appreciate the criticality of the service we provide to the region and take that responsibility very seriously”
Ends:
For more information contact:
Louisa Last
Senior Communications Advisor
07 878 0637
0278390980