Former Otago Rugby Football Union chairwoman and former New Zealand Rugby board member Rowena Davenport will officially become part of the four-person board at its next meeting in February.
She replaces long-serving rugby commentator Paul Allison, who stands down after five years as a Highlanders director.
Davenport has extensive governance experience in the sport.
She joined the Otago union board in 2014, and in 2019 she became the first woman to chair a New Zealand union, spending three years in the role.
She was appointed to the New Zealand Rugby board in 2022 and spent nearly three years as a director, losing her place on the national union’s board following a major governance review despite being recommended as a candidate by the appointments and remuneration panel.
Davenport is also on the board of the New Zealand Rugby Foundation, a Halberg trustee and the deputy chairwoman of Otago Polytechnic.
Her appointment completes a complete overhaul of the Highlanders board in the space of a few years.
The three other board members are chairman Peter Kean (23% owner of the Highlanders), former All Blacks and Highlanders player Marc Ellis (representing a group with an 11% stake) and Melbourne-based former Dunedin businessman Chris Gallaher (majority shareholder in a group with a 10% stake).
Australian-based businessman Charles Gibbon (33%) and Auckland entrepreneur Patrick Harrison (10%) are owners/observers.
Davenport will represent the provincial unions — Otago, Southland and North Otago hold a 13% stake in the club — on the Highlanders board.
While she broke the glass ceiling with Otago, Davenport will become the third female Highlanders board member.
Kereyn Smith, later to head the New Zealand Olympic Committee, was the first in 2009.
She was a Dunedin City Council appointee to the board at a time when the Highlanders were bailed out by New Zealand Rugby.
Auckland businesswoman Nicola O’Rourke had a short stint on the board when the Highlanders cut ties with Ticket Rocket director Matthew Davey, who was once the largest shareholder in the club before his company went into liquidation.
