Sir Ashley Bloomfield was the guest speaker at the annual Eat Talk Connect (ETC) lunch held at Ascot Park Hotel in Invercargill.
He was piped into the hotel by a lone piper.
ETC is an annual event run in association with the ILT and Southland Business Chamber.
Sir Ashley said his life had changed abruptly since the last time he was in the city.
"The last time I was in Invercargill was in March 2020, just as Covid was really kicking off — in fact, the weekend before lockdowns were announced. It was the national pipe band championships here.
"The reason I was here was because my boy was playing in a pipe band. So it was nice to hear the pipe band although it did coincide exactly with a time when I had to be on a cabinet meeting — so I was listening to the cabinet meeting in one ear, and listening to his band playing in the other ear ... I will have a vivid memory of that for the rest of my life."
Known for guiding the nation during Covid-19, the former director-general of health is now a professor at the University of Auckland teaching public health and leadership.
His insights on resilience and leadership included four key values, which were kindness, trust, honesty and humility.
