Kate Searancke and Simon Craddock have been appointed directors at Waikato Regional Airport Ltd.

Searancke, a lawyer and partner in the property team at Hamilton-based law firm Tompkins Wake, specialises in leasing and commercial property transactions and works closely with local government.

Of Ngāti Maniapoto descent, she has a strong focus on iwi interests and the wider Māori community. 

“WRAL is tasked with the guardianship of an extremely important asset for the Waikato region, and I’m pleased to be able to offer my expertise to help shape the future of that asset for the community,” she said.

Craddock has been involved in New Zealand’s aviation industry for more than 16 years.  He spent nearly 10 of those years at Air New Zealand in various senior roles, including manager at Auckland International Airport.  Craddock’s skills include governance, change management, strategy, operations, and a strong customer focus. 

He is currently a director of Sounds Air and Airwork Holdings.

“As someone with a keen interest in aviation and a career path to match, I’m delighted to be appointed to the WRAL board.  There’s a whole new set of challenges for the sector now, and I look froward to working with the board to steer WRAL on a clear strategic path forward,” he said.

WRAL board chairman, Barry Harris was pleased to welcome Kate and Simon to the table.

“The aviation sector has faced enormous challenges given Covid-19 and as a board, we are focused on continuing to build on a strong recovery for Hamilton Airport and the WRAL Group,” Harris said.

The diversification strategy in place before COVID and the agility of the organisation in making the changes necessary has enabled us to cope, and cope well.  The skills and experience Kate and Simon bring to the table will help hone our future strategic direction.”