Tribe executive

Progressive Leaders for Tomorrow

A contemporary practice with over 100 years combined executive search experience. We are challenging tradition - to meet the modern, progressive leadership requirements of New Zealand.


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Kernel

Executive Appointment

Chief Financial Officer for Kernel Wealth Appointed

Tribe Executive is thrilled to share the appointment of Graeme Stewart as Chief Financial Officer of Kernel Wealth, supporting the company's next phase of growth, platform scaling, and financial leadership

Meet Our Executive Search Team

Bruce Pilbrow

Chief Executive Officer

LinkedIn

Bruce is a purpose-driven leader who thrives on creativity and building impactful brands. With experience across corporate, NGO, government, and entrepreneurial sectors, he champions talent, culture, and collaboration. At Tribe Group, he unites vision, agility, and people to drive meaningful success.


As an entrepreneur at heart, James has a strong focus on how organisations attract and retain the best talent. We've shaped NZ’s most progressive, people-first recruitment and Search brand by surrounding ourselves with outstanding people, being bold with tech, and striving to do a better job than anyone else.

Jenny is Co-Founder of Tribe Recruitment Group, bringing 25+ years of experience in FMCG, commercial leadership, and Executive Search. She’s known for her people-first, strategic approach, delivering bold, high-impact recruitment solutions with heart and expertise.

David Hammond

Public Sector, For Purpose, and Advisory

LinkedIn

Experienced former Chief Executive with 10 years of experience at that level, now leading Chief Executive and Board search across the range of non-private sectors. A national expert in KPI development, bespoke remuneration assessment, Māori sector work, board advisory and entire structure reviews.

Brad Gatehouse

Commercial and Private Equity

LinkedIn

Brad specialises in senior executive appointments across commercial and PE sectors, bringing 27+ years' experience and a background in finance. He works closely with Boards and CEOs to shape leadership teams, offering insight on search, succession, remuneration, and confidential advisory.

Cameron King

Commercial and Private Equity

LinkedIn

Cameron leads Executive Search across Sales, Marketing & Digital, helping NZ businesses find transformational leaders. With 15+ years' experience in NZ & the UK, Cameron is a specialist in senior hires, culture-fit, and strategic growth roles - driven by a consultative, values-first approach.

Russell Spratt

Te Kaitūhura, Tau Mai | Co-Founder, Tau Mai

LinkedIn

From Te Ātiawa, Ngāti Toa, Ngāti Raukawa, Russell is the GM Wellington at Tribe and co-founder of Tau Mai. With 25+ years in recruitment, he has led senior appointments across many sectors, specialising in Māori-focused roles and governance, with a passion for culturally grounded leadership and equity.

Sandy Gibbs

People, Culture & Capability

LinkedIn

Sandy brings 25+ years of Recruitment experience, and can lean into most disciplines, however her passion for people and capability has resulted in her leading Tribe's HR consulting team, and spearheading executive search across HR and P&C.

Behind every great leadership appointment is rigorous, human-led research. Mia supports the full search lifecycle: market mapping, sourcing, and candidate research for C-suite and governance roles. With curiosity and care, Mia focuses on the detail that makes the difference in executive search.

Justine Winter

Registered Organisational Psychologist

LinkedIn

Justine holds a Master of Social Sciences in Industrial & Organisational Psychology and has over 20 years’ experience in recruitment, selection, assessment and training.​ She is a pragmatic, down-to-earth person who enjoys supporting clients and candidates to make robust decisions by providing good quality, and insightful, information through comprehensive analysis and reporting of psychometric assessments (such as Hogans, Watson Grazer and Ravens).

Latest Jobs

Looking for your next role? Take a look at our latest jobs.

Chief Information Officer
ExecutivePermanentHawke's Bay

Chief Information Officer

About the Opportunity NZ goodness | Global freshness. Winning on brand value, emotional connection, and premium positioning, Rockit Global’s purpose is “To inspire consumers to make healthier choices”. Rockit Global is complementing their executive horsepower with a commercially minded, forward-thinking Chief Information Officer who can bring strategy, technology, data, and delivery together. It’s time to write the next chapters of this great Kiwi innovation story, as the business executes its ambitious global growth strategy and looks to make technology and information a genuine competitive advantage. You will join at a pivotal point – with genuine scope to shape Rockit's digital future and build an integrated, globally connected business. This is an enterprise-wide leadership role that goes well beyond traditional IT – driving technology strategy, digital transformation and disciplined delivery, from the packhouse to the Board table. As part of the Executive team, you'll work alongside the CEO to simplify systems, unlock the value of information and emerging technology, and build capability that supports commercial growth. Bring structure and rhythm to a rich technology landscape – establish a clear roadmap, strengthen governance and lead an enterprise-wide PMO that delivers high-impact business outcomes. Build a high-performing team across IT, business systems, and project management – creating the capability, confidence and accountability to deliver at pace! What You’ll Bring You will bring a proven track record of leading enterprise-wide technology, digital and transformation portfolios at executive level, in complex environments. Your experience to date will ideally include a global remit, with an understanding of supply chain, operational environments and the challenges of connecting systems, people and data across markets. FMCG, food, agribusiness or consumer-facing experience would be highly regarded. Your commercial nous and critical thinking allow you to influence investment decisions and engage confidently at the Board table – all with humility. You know what it takes to simplify before you scale. Whether modernising core platforms, introducing enterprise systems or strengthening data governance, you bring clarity, discipline and a relentless focus on value. Delivery leadership is a given – you've led programmes of change, established effective portfolio governance and know how to bring it all to life. Having a 'relationship-first' approach – you're collaborative and an exceptional listener, building trust and credibility with ease. You know what ‘great’ looks like, and why, and you bring hands-on pragmatism – understanding when to roll your own sleeves up and when to step away. Curiosity and modern thinking underpin your approach to emerging technology, automation and AI. You can see the opportunities, cut through the noise and identify what will make a genuine difference. At the “core” of it – you're a great human being. Smart, authentic and without ego, you bring energy, sound judgement and a genuine passion for developing people and making things better. What’s on Offer The beauty of Hawke's Bay as home – it doesn't get much better than that! Auckland is also an option for the right person, with regular travel to Hawke's Bay. A newly created executive role with genuine scope. Shape the strategy, build the function and leave a lasting legacy. Partnership at the top table, working alongside a focused and energised CEO to influence the future of a globally recognised Kiwi brand. Join a smart, driven and down-to-earth Executive team, with the opportunity to make technology, data and digital capability central to Rockit's next chapter of global growth. What’s on Offer The beauty of Hawke's Bay as home – it doesn't get much better than that! Auckland is also an option for the right person, with regular travel to Hawke's Bay. A newly created executive role with genuine scope. Shape the strategy, build the function and leave a lasting legacy. Partnership at the top table, working alongside a focused and energised CEO to influence the future of a globally recognised Kiwi brand. Join a smart, driven and down-to-earth Executive team, with the opportunity to make technology, data and digital capability central to Rockit's next chapter of global growth. Next Steps? To keep things simple , we ask that all applications are submitted through this advert. We’ll review applications as they come in and be in touch. For any questions give Sandy Gibbs a call on 027 583 7411 and quote Job ID: 18758 for a confidential chat, however we do encourage you to please apply in the first instance, allowing your CV to be on hand for any discussions. To apply for this vacancy, you MUST be a New Zealand citizen, resident, or have already secured the right to work in New Zealand and therefore hold a valid visa. At the appropriate stage we will request your references, we ask that you do not include them on your CV when applying. Tribe is a group of specialist teams. Each of who truly understand their world, and together they partner to understand yours. Whether you’re looking for your next opportunity or recruiting, we’re all about bringing people together for a shared purpose. Find your people.

Head of New World
ExecutivePermanentAuckland

Head of New World

About the Opportunity: Foodstuffs North Island is a 100% New Zealand owned co-operative and one of the country’s largest businesses, home to New World, PAK’nSAVE and Four Square. New World is one of New Zealand’s most loved full service supermarket brands, with more than 100 North Island stores, each run by a locally owned and operated business. Reporting to the Chief Retail Officer, the Head of New World leads the banner through a pivotal shift from a buying culture to a selling culture. The focus is on getting the fundamentals right every day, full shelves, sharp pricing, the right range and clean, inviting stores, then building on that with a market leading loyalty programme and a growing online offer. This is a hands-on role that sets the banner strategy and works alongside owner operators to bring it to life in store. Develop and deliver the annual New World Plan, driving sales and market share in line with FSNI strategy Partner with owner operators across their retail lifecycle, coaching great outcomes and harnessing peer to peer influence Drive operational excellence against the Customer Promises: Fair Value Everyday, Inspiring Solutions and Awesome Experiences Engage the New World Banner Representation Group and lead member forums, regional meetings and launches Work across fresh specialists, marketing, e-commerce and property teams to deliver the New World experience in store Lead and develop a small team across business partnering, regional marketing and support What You’ll Bring: Credible, hands-on retail leadership experience, ideally multi-site, with a real feel for what it takes to run a store every day Proven ability to lead through influence rather than authority in a complex, multi-stakeholder environment Empathy and credibility with business owners, balanced with the confidence to hold the line on standards Strong commercial acumen, with a track record of owning a plan and delivering sales and market share growth Ability to turn customer insight into practical, consistent in-store execution People leadership experience, building capability and collaboration across teams A grounded, humble style with the resilience to thrive in a fast moving, relentless environment What’s on Offer: Lead one of New Zealand’s most recognised and loved grocery brands Genuine mandate to set banner strategy at a pivotal time for the business Broad remit spanning strategy, store operations, member engagement and customer experience Work alongside passionate owner operators and a collaborative senior leadership team A senior role with real scale today and headroom to grow Join a proudly Kiwi co-operative and help shape the future of grocery retail in Aotearoa Next Steps? To keep things simple, we ask that all applications are submitted through this advert. We’ll review applications as they come in and be in touch. For any questions give Cameron King a call on 0220731320 and quote Job ID: 18720 for a confidential chat. To apply for this vacancy, you MUST be a New Zealand citizen, resident, or have already secured the right to work in New Zealand and therefore hold a valid visa. At the appropriate stage we will request your references, we ask that you do not include them on your CV when applying. Tribe is a group of specialist teams, each of who truly understand their world, and together they partner to understand yours. Whether you’re looking for your next opportunity or recruiting, we’re all about bringing people together for a shared purpose. Find your people.

Chief Financial Officer
ExecutivePermanentOtago

Chief Financial Officer

About the Organisation Pioneer Energy Group is a community-owned group of energy businesses headquartered in Alexandra, Central Otago, with roots going back to 1924 and sites from Auckland to Bluff. It spans generation (Pioneer Energy Renewables), retail (Pulse) and organic waste diversion (Ecogas, home to New Zealand's first commercial-scale anaerobic digestion facility), and a recent competitive equity raise has set it up for its next phase of growth. It's a lean, high-trust, values-driven organisation on a high-performing teams’ journey, where decisions get made and executed at pace. About the Opportunity: This is a rare, broad Group CFO mandate at a business entering an exciting new growth phase. It's a hands-on role: financial governance across three entities, a strategic seat on capital allocation and funding, and real influence over risk as Pioneer grows. You'll report to the CEO, sit on the executive team, and represent finance directly to the Board and shareholders. Key Responsibilities: Own the Group's financial performance, reporting and governance across all entities Lead capital allocation, funding, treasury and banking to support Pioneer's growth Own Pioneer's risk framework and act as a trusted partner to the CEO and Board What You’ll Bring: An experienced energy-sector CFO, a rising energy-sector finance leader ready for a first CFO role, or a proven CFO from another asset-heavy, infrastructure-type business with the commercial edge to learn energy fast Corporate finance and funding capability: structuring debt and equity to back a 10 to 20-year growth view Low ego, high trust: a natural collaborator and coach who leads with values What’s on offer? A high-impact mandate to help shape Pioneer's next growth chapter, not manage its status quo A seat at the executive table with direct Board and shareholder exposure Based in Central Otago, with head office in Alexandra and the team living across Alexandra, Cromwell, Queenstown and Wānaka. Flexibility on relocation timing, and a Christchurch base can be considered for candidates with deep energy-sector experience Next Steps? To keep things simple, we ask that all applications are submitted through this advert. We’ll review applications as they come in and be in touch. For any questions give Brad Gatehouse a call on +64 276 11 3638 and quote Job ID: #18585 for a confidential chat. To apply for this vacancy, you MUST be a New Zealand citizen, resident, or have already secured the right to work in New Zealand and therefore hold a valid visa. At the appropriate stage we will request your references, we ask that you do not include them on your CV when applying. Tribe is a group of specialist teams, each of who truly understand their world, and together they partner to understand yours. Whether you’re looking for your next opportunity or recruiting, we’re all about bringing people together for a shared purpose. Find your people.

Insights

Stepping Into the CEO Seat: Lessons from the First-Time CEO Roundtable

Stepping Into the CEO Seat: Lessons from the First-Time CEO Roundtable

4 min read

Tribe Executive hosted a roundtable with first-time CEOs to discuss the realities of stepping into the top leadership role. Key themes included the shift from functional leadership to enterprise accountability, the importance of the CEO–Chair relationship, managing board dynamics and other NED’s, and building personal resilience and personal development techniques.

Why Search-Based Recruitment Drives Success

Why Search-Based Recruitment Drives Success

3 min read

Rip up the job description. Start again.

That's the challenge James Brooke, co-founder of Tribe Group, puts to every board and hiring manager he works with.

Governance in Public vs Private Equity: What Really Drives Board Effectiveness

Governance in Public vs Private Equity: What Really Drives Board Effectiveness

5 min read

Governance has never been under greater scrutiny. Public boards face mounting compliance requirements, Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) expectations, and constant market pressure. Private equity-backed boards, meanwhile, are often cast as singularly focused on financial returns. But what’s the reality?