An acting chief executive has been parachuted immediately into Christchurch council’s troubled holding company. 

On Wednesday, Christchurch City Holdings Limited (CCHL) announced on the New Zealand stock exchange website that its CEO, Tim Boyd, had resigned, citing “differences of opinion” between him and the board. 

CCHL holds billions of dollars of assets on behalf of the Christchurch city council, including shares in Christchurch International Airport Limited and Lyttelton Port Company. 

Boyd, who started in the role only in March, had previously been on leave while an investigation was carried out into “communications” between him and the board. 

The probe, which was triggered by a whistleblower, concluded that no further action was needed. 

In Wednesday’s announcement, CCHL said Boyd’s resignation would take effect on Dec 6. An independent recruitment process would take place to find his replacement and an acting CEO, Paul Silk, would step in in the interim, the company said. 

Silk is an experienced commercial figure in Christchurch, having previously worked as a senior manager at the Christchurch Central Development Unit, which devised the post-quake blueprint, and as a director at Ngāi Tahu Holdings. 

On Thursday, a CCHL spokeswoman said Silk’s start date was Thursday. It’s unclear if Boyd, whose predecessor had a baseline salary of about $375,000, will be paid for not working through his notice period. 

Boyd’s exit comes a week after longstanding CCHL chair Jeremy Smith announced his resignation alongside another director, Christchurch city councillor James Gough. 

Gough, who is supporting fellow councillor Phil Mauger’s bid for the Christchurch mayoralty, attracted media attention this week for his efforts to set up a meeting between Mauger and Christchurch council chief executive Dawn Baxendale.

At least two other CCHL directors, the outgoing Christchurch mayor and deputy mayor, Lianne Dalziel and Andrew Turner, are expected to leave as CCHL directors, too. 

Boyd, who previously served as a senior advisor at the Ministry of Social Development, was appointed with assistance from recruitment firm Decipher. 

A post celebrating his appointment and detailing his skills and employment history was removed from the Decipher website late last month. A director at the firm said she had no knowledge of this when contacted by BusinessDesk this week. 

Mayoral candidate weighs in

Reacting to turmoil at the holding company, David Meates, the former Canterbury District Health Board chief executive and one of two leading mayoral candidates, said it was “important that we do not end up with knee-jerk reactions to the current crisis” within the organisation. 

“To have a chair, a CEO and a key director abruptly resigning and at short notice suggests that all is far from well with CCHL,” Meates said. 

“This is such a critical part of ensuring the assets of this city are, in fact, returning the very best value to the city.” 

Meates said the upcoming elections were important to ensure that the makeup of the future CCHL board, which has a mix of councillors and independent directors, had the appropriate skills and governance competencies.

BusinessDesk has approached Mauger, the other leading mayoral candidate, for comment.