Membership Manager for Upper North Island

In the words of Bruce Springsteen – Keith was “Born in the USA!” (Bet you sang that line in your head!) Keith emigrated to New Zealand around ’68 and lived in Wellington briefly right above the airport, in a (new then) state house with the extended family – Grandma, Auntie, young cousin, and maybe nine cats before moving up to Hamilton in ’69. Keith started off working life doing lots of little after-school jobs until a new supermarket, “Foodtown” came to town in 1981. From a humble start as a grocery/trolley boy Keith joined the Management Trainee program working his way through every department until reaching Store Management level, running stores in Auckland and Hamilton spanning almost 20 years. He stuck around in the FMCG space with his own little business as a distributor/agent for Mother Earth products (muesli bars, cookies etc) with his own little truck and patch in South–Central Auckland.
He then worked for the other big player, Foodstuffs, with Gilmours – the food & liquor wholesaler in Auckland – helping to set up the new Roma Rd super site before moving back to Hamilton. There, Keith opened the new Hamilton store with significant growth in territory and customers until 2006, operating a fleet of just under 20 trucks.
From there he made a complete career change starting at Land Transport New Zealand (previously LTSA) in a Transport Advisory role, advising operators on how to stay on the right side of the Regulator. Staying on through the merger with Transit to become New Zealand Transport Agency, Keith enjoyed assisting and advising people and has stuck with that since.
Keith was with Transporting New Zealand’s predecessor, Road Transport Association New Zealand (RTANZ), covering the Waikato, Auckland and Northland regions. He also had a stint in sales at the GPS & Telematics business Trackit Ltd. Now Keith is back with Transporting New Zealand, supporting members to run successful transport businesses.
Outside of work Keith enjoys spending time with his lovely lady Annie, family and friends, and pottering around on his lifestyle block outside of Hamilton. He’s an avid rugby fan and has been known to get a little shouty during matches.