In Leaders Getting Coffee episode 51, our guest is the founder of one of our most influential public relations firms, Deborah Pead.

Deborah was born in the UK, grew up in South Africa and moved to New Zealand with her young family in the mid 1990’s. She’s earned her resilience the hard way and has thrived despite a bomb blast at her employer’s flagship store, a gun held at her head, and a house fire that robbed her of family mementoes and possessions.

But this one woman force of nature shone through it all to build a new life for her family in New Zealand and an influential firm that specialised in creating brands and building reputations.

With a psychology degree in her toolkit, a young Deborah Pead stumbled into the PR business managing publicity for a suburban department store. Her impact was immediate and resulted in a move to head office where she continued to build her expertise and her influence. That influence eventually saw the establishment her own business in Johannesburg.

But the violence was getting closer, and with a husband and young children in tow, the decision was made to move to New Zealand.

On the Leaders Getting Coffee podcast with Bruce Cotterill, Deborah Pead is refreshingly open about what prompted the move and the challenges of starting over in a new country. But failure was never an option, and after several years establishing a PR arm for a well known advertising agency, she cut her ties and went out on her own once more.

The rest, as they say, is history. The big brands followed her, and she’s been influential in the creating and success of New Zealand Fashion Week, the New Zealand Music Awards (the Tuis), My Food Bag, 42 Below Vodka and even Xbox.

As if all that is not enough, there’s another chapter too. A family farm, 90 minutes drive north of Auckland, where something special is happening with the humane treatment of animals and premium angus beef.

Deborah Pead’s story is one of resilience, family bonds and professional success. You get the feeling there is more to come.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In Leaders Getting Coffee episode 50, our guest is the Mayor of Auckland, Wayne Brown.

Wayne Brown is probably New Zealand’s most colourful and best qualified city Mayors. His has been a fascinating life, with experiences ranging from building a mine in Australia to chairing not one but three of our District Health Boards.

He grew up in Auckland and went to Auckland Grammar which he says he didn’t particularly enjoy. But an engineering degree from Auckland University set him on a course that would take him around the world and back to New Zealand where his fifty years in business and politics has seen him make a substantial impact.

Along the way, he established his own engineering firm and he was good enough at surfing to participate in competitions and good enough at rugby to play on Eden Park.

Engineering turned into property development and following a move to the north of Auckland, he developed subdivisions and built factories, apartments and commercial buildings.

He developed a reputation for ‘sorting things out’ which led him to chair not one, but three district health boards, a semi political forerunner to him winning the mayoralty of the Far North region, a role he held for two terms.

And then came the big one. He ran for the Auckland Mayoralty in 2022 with a promise to “Fix Auckland”. He won by a margin few had predicted and despite some setbacks, including the Cyclone Gabrielle flooding in early 2023, has made consistent and steady progress against his goals for the city.

During the Leaders Getting Coffee podcast Wayne Brown talks to Bruce Cotterill about a very full life, the decisions he’s made and his hopes for Auckland’s future. He speaks with enthusiasm about two major pieces of infrastructure that will be completed in 2026 – the Central Rail Loop and the Convention Centre at Sky City – both long overdue but both set to make a major impact on the future of the city.

And he talks about a health and fitness regime that sees him going into an election where he is seeking office for a term that will take him into his eighties.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In Leaders Getting Coffee episode 49, our guest is Sky Television’s sports commentator Tony Johnson. As you might imagine, we’re talking sport, but we’re also chatting about the country’s highways, the Sounds murders and Prostate Cancer.

Like many young sports mad kids of his time, Tony Johnson lay awake in the wee small hours, listening under the bed covers to radio commentaries of the All Blacks playing on the other side of the world. There, to the tones of commentator Bob Irvine, a love of radio was born.

He grew up in the idyllic surroundings of the Marlborough Sounds, and as his father drove his delivery vessel around the famous waterways, those peninsulas and islands became his playground.

A Radio New Zealand cadet programme launched the young Johnson in an industry that would see him become a household name. He talks of lucky breaks leading to opportunities, but one gets the impression that his modesty is underplaying the impact he was making, even at a young age.

After four years overseas working as a news and sports journalist for Radio New Zealand, he returned home to stints as a sports presenter with the Paul Holmes breakfast on Newstalk ZB, and as TV3’s sports anchor, before his dream job came along. And so, twenty five years ago he joined Sky TV’s commentary team.

As you might expect, this is a high energy and fun discussion about sport. Of course there are the All Blacks, who Johnson has toured with 25 times, but we also share a bird’s eye view of the America’s Cup, Wimbledon and his numerous appearances at the Olympic Games.

Like all good media people, Tony Johnson is a storyteller. He talks fondly of memories of his late father and the special affection he has for the rebuilt Kaikoura highway on State Highway 1. There’s even a unique interchange with America’s Cup legend Dennis Conner that most of us won’t have known about.

And then there was the afternoon out boating in the Marlborough Sounds with friends on New Years Eve in 1997, a day which culminated in a few hours at the famed Furneaux Lodge, on the same evening that Ben Smart and Olivia Hope disappeared, in what has become one of the country’s most intriguing murder cases.

On the Leaders Getting Coffee podcast Tony Johnson shares with Bruce Cotterill that his career hasn’t all been plain sailing and he is refreshingly open about his health challenges, He’s had mobility issues since his late twenties, the result of a neurological condition. And a prostate cancer diagnosis seven years ago has led to him using his profile as an ambassador of Blue September. And the message could not be made more clear. Fellas, get a regular check up.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.