He has been president of the Otago-Southland Employers Association for seven years and national vice-president for two years.
Mr Broughton, a partner with Polson Higgs, was looking forward to his new responsibilities when spoken to last night by the Otago Daily Times.
His role would include helping set the direction and policy for the staff, monitoring performance and providing leadership on a wide range of issues.
The environment in which business operated was important to get right, to allow the economy to grow, he said.
Business NZ provided leadership in compliance issues, such as labour laws, but also worked on general business issues, ranging from local to national and international.
The organisation had been represented at the Cancun climate change conference, with its chief executive, Phil O'Reilly, sitting on an OECD committee.
Mr Broughton is passionate about promoting Maori business and was the main driving force behind the establishment of a national Maori business network.
He is of Ngai Tahu-Kahungunu descent and said he was particularly pleased that Maori business issues were becoming more mainstream.
With the ending of the Treaty of Waitangi settlement claims, people were looking past that process and laying their plans for the future.
Maori business assets were now valued at $17 billion, which was a sizeable amount of money, he said.
Mr Broughton is also a board member of Ngai Tahu Tourism and graduated from the University of Otago with a bachelor of science degree in 1975 and a bachelor of commerce degree in 1980.
