Our team is led by our Board and leadership team.
Our Board
The Gas Industry Co is governed by a board comprising seven non-executive directors, four of whom (including the Chair) are independent of the gas industry.
The Board has one Standing Committee, comprising the four Independent Directors. The Committee addresses matters where the industry associated Directors have potential or actual conflicts of interest.
Hon Amy Adams (Chair)
Amy is a former New Zealand Member of Parliament who served from 2008 to 2020 as a representative of the National Party, including 6 years in Cabinet. Before entering politics, she had a successful career in law, practicing as a commercial lawyer. Amy is the current Chancellor of the University of Canterbury and holds volunteer positions with St John Ambulance and Melanoma NZ.
Sam Elder (Deputy Chair)
Sam is an energy sector professional who started out leading a spacecraft thermal engineering group in the UK, before moving to NZ in 2006.
She has held a range of leadership roles including Retail Insight Manager at Meridian Energy, South Island Director at the Ākina Foundation, and Senior Strategy Manager at Environment Canterbury. She was most recently the General Manager Energy Futures at Orion Energy. Sam has an MSc in Advanced Energy & Environmental Studies and is GARP SCR (Sustainability & Climate Risk) certified.
Andrew Brown
Andrew is a senior commercial adviser having worked on major infrastructure projects with Crown Infrastructure Partners, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Kāinga Ora and KiwiRail. He has considerable experience with projects and major commercial contracting matters across a range of industries. Previously, Andrew was a leading corporate lawyer with over 25 years’ experience as a partner at Bell Gully and has worked on his own account and as general counsel for both KiwiRail and Housing New Zealand Corporation.
Vanessa James
Vanessa is a strategic, global business executive, with over 25 years leadership experience, including with Methanex in the United States and Canada. Vanessa rose to become Senior Vice President of Corporate Development and Sustainability at Methanex. She has been a director of Methanex NZ and a Board Member of the Methanol Institute, as well as other governance roles over the past decade. Vanessa returned to New Zealand at the start of 2025 after relocating to Vancouver in 2018.
Mike Fuge
Mike has over 30 years’ experience in the energy sector which has included 19 years with Shell International in upstream oil and gas production over a range of countries in Europe, the Middle East and Southeast Asia. He is currently Chief Executive Officer of Contact Energy, having previously headed up Refining NZ Ltd and Pacific Hydro Ltd (based out of Melbourne).
Paul Goodeve
Paul was appointed as the first Chief Executive Officer of the Firstgas Group in 2016. He has significant experience across the infrastructure sector. Prior to joining Firstgas Group, he spent 12 years in various regulatory, legal, pricing, commercial, business development and operations roles at Powerco, New Zealand’s second largest electricity and gas distributor. Paul is a member of the Institute of Directors. He is currently a Director of Ara Ake.
Erwin Kroell
Erwin is the General Manager for OMV New Zealand. His previous roles include being the Chief Operating Officer for SapuraOMV in Kuala Lumpur, and Senior Vice President OMV for the Middle East and Africa, based in Abu Dhabi. Before moving to the UAE, Erwin was responsible for the Middle East & Caspian Region. Erwin's background is as a petroleum engineer.
Leadership Team
David Prentice, Chief Executive
David Prentice joined Gas Industry Co in November 2025. David's extensive experience in the energy industry includes roles as Chief Executive of NZ Windfarms, Chief Executive of Manawa Energy, Chief Executive and Director of Trustpower, and Chief Executive of Opus International Consultants. David was also the Chair of the Interim Committee for Climate Change and is currently on the Board of Northpower and Martin Jenkins.
David graduated from the University of Edinburgh with a Bachelor of Engineering (Hons) degree and a PhD in Engineering. He is a member of the Institute of Directors, a Chartered Professional Engineer and a Fellow of Engineering New Zealand.
Susan Dunne, General Manager Corporate Services
Susan Dunne joined Gas Industry Co in April 2013 as Senior Legal Counsel. She was appointed Company Secretary in 2014 and General Manager Corporate Services in May 2017. As well as providing legal and company secretarial services to Gas Industry Co, Susan leads the Corporate Services team responsible for administrative support functions including finance, technology, human resources, risk and property management.
Prior to joining Gas Industry Co, Susan worked as both Legal Counsel and Tax Manager at Westpac New Zealand Limited. Susan began her career with PwC in Wellington where she qualified as a Chartered Accountant, after graduating from Victoria University of Wellington with a Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Commerce and Administration.