I started my journey working in public practice while studying accountancy at night school in Hamilton. It was the hard way to qualify, but gave me valuable experience while I studied. At a relatively young age I was a qualified Chartered Accountant and CFO at Trigon Plastics - a large international manufacturing company - where I had the privilege of learning from one of New Zealand’s leading entrepreneurs as he built a global business. This board level training early in my career proved invaluable. In 1984 I set up an accountancy practice in Hamilton and by 1989 I had over 300 clients and 12 staff members, had co-founded and sold a national retail chain, invested in commercial and residential property and found myself wondering why success in business hadn’t really been as satisfying as I had expected. After some serious soul searching Nicola and I sold up and moved to the Hibiscus Coast to start a new way of life.Now I work from an office attached to our home, assisted by my very able part time Personal Assistant/Accounting Technician – Julie. And while I have the remnants of the original accounting practice my focus has shifted to an exciting business investment I made decades ago in the Pacific Resort Hotel Group based in the Cook Islands, where I currently Chair the board. I count it a privilege to work alongside our team of extremely talented and dedicated hotel professionals in one of the South Pacific's leading independent hotel companies.