David Whyte takes chair of planning group

David Whyte has been appointed an independent director and chairman of the Camelot Group, which has strong ties to Grosvenor.

Monday, June 27th 2016, 4:37PM

Whyte has been involved with the financial services industry for more than four decades in three different countries and brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the team.

As an independent adviser in the UK, Whyte ran his own insurance and financial services advisory company for 10 years during the North-Sea Oil industry boom. On arrival in New Zealand, after a brief time in the banking sector, he was appointed as Sovereign’s first business development manager, later becoming its first general manage of sales.

He then moved to American International Group (AIG) life insurance company in NZ (AIA) he built the organisation up to a leading position in the market, with a strong emphasis on information and communications technology initiatives. This was exported to Australia when he was appointed managing director of AIA Australia and the focus on technology accelerated the organisation’s growth in the highly competitive group life risk area with industry super funds and wrap platforms.

Since returning from Australia, Whyte has established his own consultancy providing governance and strategic planning services to a number of high profile clients including the NZ Government, Fidelity Life, Sovereign, and the New Zealand Institute of Directors, among others.

Whyte said the role at Camelot meant he had to step down financial planning business Foxplan, where he had been chairman.

"I felt that I had helped create a governance framework to set Foxplan on the path to their strategic objectives. Camelot presents a different challenge, and I'm looking forward to adding to the strength of their boardroom. Obviously, a conflict of interest and a difficult decision, but weighing up the situation, I felt I could add more to Camelot."

He said he would follow Foxplan's progress with interest.

Tags: camelot