Our Board
Alastair Kerr, Board Chairman
Alastair has held many senior executive roles internationally with organisations such as Marks and Spencer, Mothercare, Virgin, The Body Shop, L’Oreal and Williams Sonoma Inc. in a career spanning 35 years. As an Independent Director, he has extensive governance experience and has been on many boards across many different geographies and sectors. He is currently chair of J Murphy and Sons, a $2 Billion construction business based in London, and operating in the UK, Australia, Canada and the US. He is also a Director of Fuller Smith and Turner PLC, the brewers, operating in London and the South of England; Sara Group, a French Lebanese family consumer business, operating across the Middle East; and Paper Plus, a NZ book retail co-operative with approx. 140 stores. He has also been Chair of Arran Arromatics, a Director of Fenwick Ltd., and White Stuff Limited, as well as being a Public Member of Network Rail in the UK and a member of The Body Shop Trust. Alastair has been Chair of Cognition Education Group since January 2017.
David Sullivan, Vice Chairman
David joined the Cognition Education Group board in 2017 and brings over 30 years professional experience in New Zealand and abroad, across a number of different business sectors. As a Chartered Accountant with a B Com from Auckland University, David is an experienced CFO and Director having held a number of Finance leadership roles in local and multinational organisations. His experience encompasses strategy, mergers and acquisitions, business transformation and governance positions within Lion Nathan, Vodafone, SkyCity, Fisher and Paykel Finance and Fisher and Paykel Appliances.
Joanne Fair
Jo brings more than 25 years’ experience in executive roles across New Zealand, Australia, Europe, Latin America and South East Asia, working with a number of well-known organisations both domestically and globally. As Global Head of HR for Fonterra, Jo led the people strategy for more than 22,000 employees across 50+ markets. She has also led significant businesses in both B2B and FMCG, and held governance positions with the New Zealand Breast Cancer Foundation and Kotahi Logistics. She currently sits as an Independent Member for the NZ Army Leadership Board, on the HR Advisory Board for Parliamentary Service and as an Advisor to the University of Auckland Business School Strategic Human Resources Programme. Jo holds degrees in Law and Spanish, is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, and is Alumni of the Executive Programme, Singularity University.
Treacy Bell
Treacy joined Cognition in March 2022. She had an extensive corporate career working in senior roles in the people and culture area across multi industries, including FMCG, Health, Dairy, Media, and International Private Education where she worked for a global UK-based company, Study Group.
Six years ago Treacy left corporate life to support her son to set up and grow a business in the Manuka honey industry. Manukora.She remains very active in the business increasingly at the governance level. She is also an independent director for a Rural vet company with significant growth aspirations, Vet NZ.