Harrison Fletcher · Chief Strategy Officer · Australia

Questions to ask before a long-lived asset is committed

My contribution to a board

My contribution to a board would be the questions I ask before a long-lived asset is committed. Where will this building be in twenty-five years, and will the place around it still serve the people who use it? What does the approval really allow, what will it cost to get, and when will it arrive? Which assumptions in the valuation carry most of the answer, and what happens to cash if they move? For a housing or infrastructure board, those questions often sit between the executives: development owns the site, finance owns the funding model, operations owns the residents or customers. I have worked in each of those seats and can help directors see where their accounts do not meet. I also bring experience of capital partners from the not-for-profit side, including what to put in an agreement and what a partner will try to leave out. I would not bring operating detail into the boardroom. My aim would be to make the choice in front of the board clearer, including the parts that make a favoured proposal look weaker.

Judgement in practice

Reversing a recommendation I had made myself

In 2020 I supported the coastal option; in 2022 I recommended selling it. Admitting an earlier error in front of the same directors was uncomfortable, and the development director felt I had changed the rules after his team had done the work. I learnt that a board needs to hear both what the new evidence says and why the earlier judgement was reasonable at the time, or it will distrust the new recommendation as much as the old one. I set out the original case fairly, showed the town assessment it had lacked and stated the write-off we would accept. As a director, I would expect management to bring reversals to the board in the same way, and I would try to make that easier rather than harder for them.

Holding a partner to resident-facing policy

As Kurrawind's nominee on the joint-venture board, I faced the partner's request for a higher recurrent-charge increase at the new village. My duty in that seat was to the joint-venture company, and I had to separate that from my employer's preference. I argued that charges inconsistent with our other villages would hurt sales and reputation, which was a reason grounded in the company's interest, and that the side letter left the decision with the operator. The partner accepted it, but the episode showed me how a representative director can be pulled between loyalties. On an independent board I would watch for that tension in other directors and ask for conflicts to be declared early.

My first year on a board

In the first months I would read the last two years of board papers and the long-term capital plan, then ask management which three decisions they expect the board to face within eighteen months. I would visit assets with the relevant executive rather than alone, and I would want to meet the people who deal with customers, residents or tenants, not only the leadership team. Before offering a view on any investment, I would study how the organisation has approved and reviewed its past projects, including those that disappointed. I would ask the chair for one specific area where my experience might help, most likely the investment or development committee, and I would leave the rest of my first year to listening. At its end I would ask the chair and one executive for frank feedback, including whether my planning and valuation background had made me too quick to judge matters outside it.

Conflicts and their management

Most of my possible conflicts are local and specific. Kurrawind competes for land in regional New South Wales, works with a pension investor that has interests across Australian property and infrastructure, and deals with the same councils, builders and valuers as many other housing organisations. I would not join a board that competes with Kurrawind for residents or sites, or one in which Corwennan Pension Trust holds a significant interest. Before accepting any seat, I would list those relationships for the chair and company secretary and ask them to decide whether the remaining risk could be managed by declaration. If I expected to step out of more than an occasional item, I would decline. Time is the other conflict. Our board meets monthly, and the ten-year plan will take much of my attention in 2027. Twenty-two days a year is a real figure, but I would test it against the company's calendar and committee load before saying yes.

My independence statement

I represent Kurrawind on one joint-venture board and work daily with Corwennan Pension Trust, councils and builders in regional New South Wales. I would ask a prospective chair to test any seat against those relationships before calling me independent, and I would accept their conclusion.

Committee contribution

Chair and member readiness
Capacity	Committees
Ready to join	Investment and development · Audit and risk

Capacity and preferences

Time available: 22 days per year
Current directorships: 1
Sectors: Community and seniors housing · Regional infrastructure · Residential land and development
Company type: Not-for-profit, member-owned or unlisted company with a significant capital programme in regional Australia
Company stage: Renewing long-lived assets, entering new towns or negotiating a first capital partnership

The seat I am pursuing

I am looking for one independent non-executive seat in Australia where long-lived assets meet the people who depend on them. A community housing provider growing its portfolio, a regional water or airport business renewing infrastructure, or a seniors-housing company outside our markets would each suit. I would expect to join, not chair, an investment and development committee or an audit and risk committee during my first term. Not-for-profit and member-owned boards interest me as much as commercial ones, because I understand how purpose and balance-sheet pressure meet. I would like the board to have a capital decision ahead of it rather than behind it, so that my contribution is useful early. I am not seeking a portfolio of directorships or a route back into an executive role. One seat, served well, is the commitment I can make alongside my position at Kurrawind.

Governance learning and readiness

IICA Independent Directors’ Databank: Not yet registered

The IICA Independent Directors' Databank is an Indian requirement and does not apply to Australian appointments, so I have not registered with it. For any seat in Australia I would rely on the company's own independence assessment and its advisers.

Completed a company directors' course in 2024 covering directors' duties under the Corporations Act, financial oversight and board practice.
Studying how the ASX Corporate Governance Council's principles describe independence, which many unlisted boards use as a reference.
Learning from two years as a nominee director how a representative seat differs from an independent one.

Board and committee exposure

Presented to the Board or a committee

Kurrawind Community Villages Limited

Board of directors

July 2021–present

Presents the ten-year plan, partnership proposals and major acquisition and disposal recommendations as chief strategy officer; not a director of Kurrawind.

Reported to a committee

Kurrawind Community Villages Limited

Investment and development committee

March 2016–present

Reported on the development programme as general manager and now reports on site selection, approvals and partnership terms.

Served as a director

Kurrawind Corwennan Villages Pty Ltd

Joint-venture board

January 2024–present

Kurrawind's nominee director on the board of the development joint venture with Corwennan Pension Trust; a representative seat, not an independent one.