Chief Executive and Board

Chief Executive

Prior to his appointment as head of the Company at the end of 2019, Casey Hurren was the General Manager of Legal and Strategy for Southern Response.  He has been with Southern Response since June 2012, initially as its Legal Counsel.

Casey graduated with an LLB and BSc. from the University of Otago and prior to Southern Response he has worked in various legal roles in the public and private sector.

Casey is well placed to lead Southern Response through its next phase, thanks to his diverse knowledge of the legal, insurance, building and government sectors, coupled with his extensive experience within strategic and executive management roles within Southern Response.

Casey is committed to ensuring that Southern Response continues to fulfil its obligations and play its part in Canterbury’s earthquake recovery, while working through a transition that will eventually see this limited-life Crown company complete its purpose.

Chair

Alister is an experienced lawyer, currently practising as a Barrister. Alister has had previous experience in local government and health, as a former Christchurch City Councillor serving for twenty years, including as Chair of the Strategy and Finance Committee, and a former Member and Chair of the Canterbury District Health Board.  Alister is a former director and Chair of Christchurch City Holdings Limited (Council holding company for Orion, Lyttelton Port, Christchurch International Airport, and other commercial interests) and, until recently, the independent Chair of the Greater Christchurch Public Transport Joint Committee.

Alister has had wide experience in the community and voluntary sector, and became a Companion of the Queen's Service Order (QSO) in the 2004 New Year Honours List for community services. He has also served as a British Honorary Consul. Alister is currently a Commissioner on the EQC Board.

Following the February 2011 earthquakes, Alister's own home in Central Christchurch was severely damaged and demolished two months later. He understands from personal experience the difficulties faced by other residents following the earthquakes.

Deputy Chair

Christchurch born and educated, Bevan Killick is a chartered accountant, a chartered insurance practitioner (UK) and a chartered member of the Institute of Directors.

During his professional career, Bevan held senior positions in the Lloyd’s Insurance Market for 12 years. Now based back in Christchurch, Bevan is a professional director where his roles include being Chair of the Defence Employer Support Council and an honorary Captain in the Royal New Zealand Navy.

In the post-earthquake era Bevan also worked with Recover Canterbury, the organisation responsible for helping businesses recover from the Canterbury earthquakes.

Director

Originally from Ireland, Aedeen is a Barrister, based in Wellington and a chartered member of the Institute of Directors.

Aedeen has governance experience at NGOs and extensive commercial and senior in-house legal and leadership experience in New Zealand and overseas. Her New Zealand roles have included Senior Crown Counsel at Crown Law, General Counsel & Company Secretary at ACC, and Acting Treasury Solicitor.  At ACC Aedeen led initiatives to develop customer-centric claims resolution and litigation practices and policies, in close consultation with customer advocates and legal representatives.

She is committed to supporting fair settlement of outstanding claims by Southern Response through a customer-centric approach, and establishing effective arrangements for the management of legacy issues.

Director

Fiona has extensive experience in governance and strategy roles in the health, government, and NGO sectors, and also with local iwi and runanga. She was recently appointed to the new Māori Health Authority.

Ms Pimm is interested in bringing different perspectives to the work of Southern Response, and she has experience in leading an organisational closure.

Ms Pimm is of Ngāi Tahu descent with affiliation to Arowhenua.