Board of Trustees

Tony Caughey (Chair)
Brendan Smyth
Andrew Ferrier
Michael Glading
Neil Hopkins
Murray Thom
Sam Neill
Sean Fitzpatrick

Key Personnel
Mike Chunn (CEO)
Pam Wardenburg (Secretary)

Tony Caughey (Chair)

Tony has been a Trustee of the Play It Strange Trust since 2005 and Chairman since 2008.  He is a company director (Accredited Fellow of the Institute of Directors) and strategy consultant. He is chairman of Smith and Caughey and the Young Enterprise Trust, and is a director of Funktion Music Ltd.  He is a member of the Business Advisory Panel to the Auckland Council and has an MBA from the Harvard Business School.

Brendan Smyth

Brendan Smyth is the NZ Music Manager at the broadcast funding agency, NZ On Air.  He has been with NZ On Air since 1989 when the agency was set up and before that, spent 10 years at the Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council doing the music job.  He currently runs NZ On Air’s music funding schemes and promotional strategies aimed at getting more New Zealand music heard on radio, on TV and on line.  In 2011, Brendan Smyth was awarded  an MNZM (Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit) for services to New Zealand music.

Andrew FerrierAndrew Ferrier is a businessman with a very global background. A Canadian and New Zealand citizen, Andrew was CEO of Fonterra Co-operative Group Ltd, New Zealand’s largest company, for 8 years. In addition to Play it Strange, Andrew currently sits on the University of Auckland Council, The President’s Council of the New Zealand Olympic Committee, and some corporate Boards. Together with his wife Danielle Guitard, Andrew runs his own private investment business- Canz Capital Ltd. Andrew has a passion for music, which does not extend to his own personal talent, but lives through the talents and achievements of his three wonderful children.

Michael GladingMichael worked for Sony Music for 26 years, 19 of which were as Managing Director. He subsequently moved in to the live touring business for 2-3 years, and worked with artists like Pavarotti, Stevie Nicks, Inxs, Deep Purple, Simple Minds, Peter Frampton and UB40. Michael is currently in charge of New Zealand’s biggest golf event, the PGA Pro-Am Championship held at The Hills, Queenstown. He also currently sits on the Board of NZ on Air.

Neil HopkinsNeil Hopkins is a Finance Executive with 25 years professional and commercial experience. He trained and qualified as a Chartered Accountant in England before immigrating to New Zealand in 1987. Neil’s experience reflects his years in senior finance roles with public and private companies, focused on financial management, control and strategy.  That experience includes Finance Director for Sony Music New Zealand, which allowed him the opportunity to mix business with his passion for music. Neil joined the board of Play It Strange in 2007 with responsibility for overseeing the financial management of the trust. His recent musical aspiration has been to finally start learning guitar, much to the concern of his family.

Murray ThomBy the age of 23 Thom was Managing Director of CBS Records New Zealand, the youngest Managing Director of that group in the world. With a strong desire to be self-employed he left the corporate life 23 years ago to “have a go” on his own. Murray’s boutique music company, Thom Music, has enjoyed great success and two of his productions: ‘Together’ and ‘Miracle’ have both featured on the Oprah Winfrey show.   His most recent creations, The Great New Zealand Songbook and The Great Australian Songbook both include two CD’s featuring selections of the best of that country’s music from the Last Century and This Century.   Murray’s other passion is sailing and in 2005 he won the World Laser Masters championship in Brazil.

Sam NeillWorld renowned NZ actor, Sam has an extensive list of accomplishments including running  his winery, Two Paddocks in Central Otago. Sam is friends with Neil and Tim Finn and a champion of NZ music.  Sam has been appointed a Distinguished Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (DCNZM).

Sean FitzpatrickSean Fitzpatrick is a legend of international rugby and international sport. He was captain of the mighty New Zealand Rugby Team, the All Blacks. Sean played 92 international rugby matches for the All Blacks from 1986-1997, including a world record of 63 consecutive Test matches and 51 Test matches as captain of New Zealand.

Sean is Vice-Charman and Academy Member of the Laureus Sports Foundation. He was awarded the New Zealand Order of Merit by the Governor General in 1997. At the end of 1999, Fitzpatrick was named as hooker in Rugby World magazine’s Team of the Century.

Sean is still very much involved in rugby, he is currently an author and journalist  to various international publications, as well as a pundit on Sky Sports and the ITV. He is founder of the sport-to-business leadership and hospitality company ‘Front Row Hospitality and Front Row Leadership’, offering consultation, leadership and motivational advice to senior global management at companies such as Microsoft, Renaissance Capital, Hewlett Packard, Nestle, General Motors, Heinz and many more. He is on the Board of the Championship winning rugby team Harlequins.

Sean moved to London in 2004 with his wife Bronwyn and two beautiful daughters.

Key Personnel

Mike Chunn (CEO)

Mike Chunn was a musician in his 20′s as a founding member of Split Enz and Citizen Band. In his 30′s he ran Mushroom Records which signed Dance Exponents and DD Smash. In his 40′s he ran APRA and he is now CEO of Play It Strange. He is married with five children.

Pam Wardenburg  (Secretary)

Pam is the communications manager for publicly listed company, Rubicon Limited.  Her career has involved working for large corporates, including many years at Fletcher Challenge Corporate, and a stint in the e-commerce team at The Warehouse.  Various roles have included stakeholder communications, event management, web development and legal and administration work. Outside work, music is one of her favourite passions and distractions, as is her family.  Being involved with the PiST has combined these two loves and has resulted in an incredibly exciting and rewarding and experience for her.