Hobson Wealth Partners appoints Jenny Sutton as Board Chair

This is a supplied media release.

Local financial advisory firm, Hobson Wealth Partners (formerly Macquarie Private Wealth NZ), has appointed Jenny Sutton as Chair of its Board of Directors. 

Jenny is an independent advisor and strategist, and brings a diverse and highly regarded legal and commercial background to the position. 

Her strong commercial background was evolved through roles as a lead commercial litigator in high-end, substantial commercial and public law cases, a senior litigation partner in one of New Zealand’s largest commercial law firms (Minter Ellison Rudd Watts), a leading commercial and public law barrister, and as head of a national intellectual property law practice. 

Jenny’s governance experience spans positions as Chair, director and New Zealand representative of various industry and law associations, across a number of commercial fields - from maritime, through to international and cross-border insolvency. 

Roles previously held include that of Chair of the NZ Branch of the Maritime Law Association of Australia and New Zealand (where she also spent time both as Federal Vice-President, and Director of the Federal Board), and Vice-Chair of the Insolvency Committee of the Inter-Pacific Bar Association. 

She was well known for acting across a wide range of commercial areas, including telecommunications, electricity, financial, insurance, maritime and oil, and for representing a major producer board for over a decade. 

In 2002, while at the Bar, Jenny was appointed as New Zealand representative of the US-based International Insolvency Institute – an organisation of which she is also a founding member. 

She has chaired a number of national law and industry conferences in the maritime and insolvency areas, and was Chair of the Government review of the oil spill response following a serious grounding of a containership in 2002. 

She has also spoken through Australasia, Asia and the US on governance issues and directors’ duties. 

More recently she has turned her focus to actively enabling growth ventures, as an angel investor, involved in the mentorship and development of a wide variety of new ventures with global reach. 

Hobson Wealth Partners Executive Director, Warren Couillault, said Jenny was a stand-out choice for the role, as an accomplished leader, with proven commercial acumen across a broad range of industries. 

“Her extensive experience will be invaluable to the business in the coming years, as we move forward with our strategy and development. She has already been a great supporter of Hobson Wealth, and so we’re delighted to have her joining us in this formal capacity,” says Couillault.