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About us

BusinessDesk has been covering the New Zealand political economy and the fortunes of its listed and unlisted businesses since 2008.

We have thousands of individual subscribers and more than 150 corporate and government subscribers. Our influential audience make decisions every day that affect how New Zealand runs.

BusinessDesk’s team of more than 20 journalists and commentators produces much of New Zealand’s best business journalism.

Our aim is to help you make better decisions for work and in your personal finances.

We publish trustworthy, well-researched reporting and expert commentary.

As of January 2022, BusinessDesk is owned by NZME (NZM) but retains its independent identity and editorial manifesto.

We have editorial staff in Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington, Christchurch and Queenstown.

Manifesto

Intelligent, trusted news sources are more valuable than ever. At BusinessDesk, we publish essential, trustworthy and timely New Zealand business and economic news and analysis that is accessible to professional and general readers alike. Beyond quality journalism, we are keen to promote good government and good governance, and the sound and ethical decision-making that underpins both. Our experienced and professional team are committed not only to accuracy and fairness, but also to deliver depth and insight that justifies the faith our readers place in us when subscribing to the BusinessDesk news service.

Meet the team

BD AI

Artificial intelligence

We use AI to summarise NZX announcements. 

Pattrick Smellie

Editor and chief executive

+64 4 499 8891

+64 21 588 203

[email protected]

Pattrick was judged New Zealand's best overall columnist and business columnist of the year at the Voyager 2021 Media Awards. He has more than 35 years’ experience reporting and working in New Zealand politics and the commercial sector. A former Press Gallery chairman, he is an award-winning journalist and has worked for titles including The Dominion, The Press, Sunday Star-Times and National Business Review. He was the first NZ correspondent for The Australian and co-founded BusinessDesk in 2008.

Brian Gaynor

Chairman Content Ltd

[email protected]

Brian, the founder of Milford Asset Management, is one of New Zealand's best-known business commentators. He became a major shareholder in Content Ltd, the company that publishes BusinessDesk , in early 2019. 
Brian is a non-executive director of Content Ltd and of Milford Asset Management.

Matt Martel

Managing director

+64 27 774 4483

[email protected]

Matt spent 10 years in senior positions at Fairfax Media, including as an executive editor in the company’s senior leadership team at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian Financial Review and The Age (Melbourne). In 2017, Matt redesigned Stuff’s suite of newspapers, taking them from broadsheet to compact. He joined BusinessDesk in 2019 and is based in Auckland. Connect with him on Linkedin here.

Rebecca Stevenson

Head of news

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Rebecca is an award-winning business journalist and business commentator on National radio's Nine to Noon. She is a former national business editor of Stuff and business editor of The Spinoff and was previously editor of the Western Leader and Nor-West News.

Jacques Steenkamp

Homepage editor

+64 20 4137 7898

[email protected]

Jacques is an award-winning investigative journalist and bestselling author. He is a former news director for the Sunday Star-Times and Stuff, and senior reporter for the SABC and Media24 in South Africa. He is also the 2016 recipient of the Nat Nakasa Award for Media Integrity as a member of the #SABC8. He joined BusinessDesk in 2021. You can follow him on Twitter @JacqueSteenkamp or connect with him on LinkedIn here.

Nikitin Sallee

Public sector investigation editor

+64 22 169 7787

[email protected]

Nikitin is an award-winning political and economic journalist and former public servant. His roles have included political editor at National Business Review and founding communications director at the New Zealand Treasury. He is editing a major investigation into the state of the public sector.

Jacqui Loates-Haver

Head of lifestyle and features

+64 21 023 24253

[email protected]

Jacqui has more than 20 years’ experience working in the New Zealand media industry, including senior roles at MediaWorks and NZME. Most recently she was editor of Air New Zealand’s award-winning inflight magazine, Kia Ora. She is based in the Auckland office. You can connect with her on LinkedIn here.

Paul McBeth

South Island correspondent

+64 4 473 0961

+64 27 714 3344

[email protected]

Paul leads BusinessDesk's South Island coverage, based in Queenstown. He joined the business in its first year in 2008. In that time, he's covered monetary policy, the collapse of the country’s mezzanine finance sector, restructuring of the telecommunications sector and financial markets law. Through BusinessDesk, he's been published in the Dominion Post, NZ Herald, the Independent Business Weekly and the Listener. You can follow him on Twitter @pbmcbeth or connect with him on LinkedIn here.

Jenny Ruth

Senior journalist

+64 27 408 8800

[email protected]

Jenny has been a financial journalist for more than 37 years. She has covered everything from listed companies to economics for outlets including the Australian Associated Press, Bloomberg News, Radio NZ and National Business Review. Jenny was the New Zealand Shareholders’ Association business journalist of the year for 2018.

Victoria Young

Senior journalist

+64 9 280 3351

+64 22 456 4045

[email protected]

Victoria’s journalism experience includes more than five years with National Business Review and a two-year stint as a news editor with London-based Legal Business. Victoria holds law and arts degrees from Victoria University of Wellington and joined BusinessDesk in 2019. You can follow her on Twitter @victoriayoung03 or connect with her on LinkedIn here.

Ian Llewellyn

Journalist

027 324 7101

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Ian is a journalist with more than 30 years' experience working in NZ and the UK. This has included radio, newspapers, and agencies with time also as a ministerial advisor and press secretary. Experience in the Press Gallery includes reporting for the Independent Business Weekly and more than 10 years with the New Zealand Press Association.

Dan Brunskill

Journalist

+64 21 0251 9137

[email protected]

Dan is a journalism graduate from Auckland University of Technology who joined BusinessDesk in 2020. Formerly a photographer, he took up journalism as the news editor of Debate Magazine before going on to work at the New Zealand Herald. You can follow him on Twitter @dan_brunskill or connect with him on LinkedIn here.

Rebecca Howard

Senior Journalist

+64 4 282 0460

+64 21 911 440

[email protected]

Rebecca is a business journalist with more than 25 years’ experience, including more than a decade in Peru covering everything from politics, terrorism, human rights, and the war on drugs. She has worked for the Associated Press, Dow Jones, the Wall Street Journal and Reuters. Her work in NZ has included macroeconomics, listed companies and extensive coverage of the dairy sector. You can follow her on Twitter @FarroHoward or connect with her on LinkedIn here.

Bernard Hickey

Journalist

Bernard Hickey is an award-winning Wellington-based financial and political journalist. You can follow him on Twitter @bernardchickey.

Brent Melville

Senior journalist

+64 27 579 9118

[email protected]

Brent is a senior reporter in the Auckland newsroom. He previously worked for the Otago Daily Times, after a return to business journalism in 2018. Brent had an extensive career in corporate communications and strategic consulting, including for a range of public listed companies. You can follow him on Twitter @BrentMelville or connect with him on LinkedIn here.

Henry Burrell

Tech Editor

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Henry is a former editor of IDG UK titles Macworld and Tech Adviser. He has also written for numerous publications including PC World and The Spinoff. Henry has also worked in PR for telecoms. He joined the BusinessDesk team in 2020 and is based in the Auckland office. You can follow him on Twitter @hrburrell or connect with him on LinkedIn here.

Andy Fyers

Data journalist

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Andy was a senior data journalist at Stuff before joining BusinessDesk in 2020. While at Stuff, he played a lead role in several award-winning data journalism projects. He specialises in data-driven reporting and analysis and will enhance our story-telling by visualising the numbers that are the lifeblood of all good business and economic reporting. You can connect with him on LinkedIn here.

Jem Traylen

Reporter

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Jem has previously worked in tertiary education and government policymaking. She has a masters in economics from the University of Canterbury and is currently completing a postgraduate diploma in journalism at Massey Wellington. You can follow her on Twitter @jemtraylen or connect with her on LinkedIn here. 

Michael Andrew

Journalist

Michael is an award-winning journalist and the former business editor at The Spinoff. Prior to this he worked at AUT’s Pacific Media Centre and then at the Jakarta Post in Indonesia as part of Asia New Zealand’s journalism programme. He was named junior feature writer of the year at the 2021 Voyager Media Awards. He holds a bachelor of economics from the University of Otago. You can follow him on Twitter @MickyInkler or connect with him on LinkedIn here. 

Oliver Lewis

Senior Journalist

Oliver Lewis has an interest in health, infrastructure, housing and employment issues. Formerly with Stuff/The Press, Oliver has since contributed to a range of publications, including the Guardian and North & South. 

Lauren Buckeridge

Sales and Subscriptions Executive

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Lauren helps manage our sales and subscriptions and is often the first point of contact for subscribers. She previously worked as an editorial coordinator for The Listener, where she also wrote a science column. 

Daniel Dunkley

Media and marketing reporter

022 5288 689

Daniel Dunkley is a British-born business journalist with more than a decade's experience writing for titles including The Sunday Times, Financial News, The Wall Street Journal, and Stuff. He covers media and marketing. 

Cameron Bagrie

Columnist

Cameron has been an economist for 20 years. For over 11 years he was the Chief Economist at ANZ. He has also worked as an economist at the National Bank, Treasury and Statistics New Zealand.

A mainlander at heart, Cameron’s approach to economics is non-ideological and pragmatic.

Jehan Casinader

Columnist

Jehan Casinader was named Broadcaster of the Year at the 2020 Voyager Media Awards. He is a Wellington-based journalist. You can follow him on Twitter @jehancasinader.

David Chaplin

Columnist

David Chaplin founded Investment News NZ (IN NZ) in 2015 after almost 20 years covering the financial services business in Australia.

Peter Griffin

Tech Columnist

+64 21 859 365

[email protected]

Peter has been keeping a close eye on the tech sector and the digital revolution for the last 20 years. After a stint in London dissecting the tech wreck for a number of computer-industry publications, he joined the New Zealand Herald eventually running the paper's tech section before leaving to found the Science Media Centre in Wellington. He has been a tech commentator for the New Zealand Listener, Newstalk ZB and RNZ. His passion is exploring the impact technology and innovation have on business, society and the environment. Follow him on Twitter @petergnz