Appointments To Public Trust Board
Press Release – Public Trust
Public Trust is an autonomous Crown entity and New Zealands largest provider of trustee and estate administration services. It also provides a number of unique functions in New Zealand law, associated with the protection and holding of assets and its …
Public Trust welcomes the appointments of Karen Price as Chair and Will Peet as a new member of its Board, both highly skilled directors with strong governance experience.
Karen joined the Board in July 2024. She has been the Acting Chair since April this year. (See: Public Trust announces Board changes.)
Public Trust is an autonomous Crown entity and New Zealand's largest provider of trustee and estate administration services. It also provides a number of unique functions in New Zealand law, associated with the protection and holding of assets and its expertise as a fiduciary.
Commenting on her new appointment, Karen said: 'I'm excited to take up the role of Chair of Public Trust and welcome Will Peet as a Board Member.
'With only half of adult New Zealanders with a will in place, Public Trust has an unfaltering focus on finding new and innovative ways to help more New Zealanders get their end of life planning sorted.
'Good governance is important for Crown entities, and we take it seriously. Because of the breadth of our work, our Board has skills and expertise across a range of sectors, including financial services and funds management, frontline customer service and operations, health and safety, legal, and accounting.'
More information:
Karen Price LLM, LLB, CFInstD
Karen is an experienced independent director and board chair. Her governance career has spanned a range of sectors including structural and water engineering, architecture, electricity, adult education, environmental science, green energy certification, and horticulture. Karen is a Chartered Fellow of the Institute of Directors and a member of its board.
Excited by innovation, Karen chose a pioneering career in climate change over 30 years ago. She has advised many companies, their boards, and several governments about their climate risks and how best to manage those.
Karen co-founded several successful private and public organisations – the NZ Society for Risk Management; the NZ Carbon Exchange Limited, and environment law firm ChanceryGreen.
Will Peet BE Civil (Hons), ME Civil (Dist), FEngNZ, MInstD, FCILT
Based in Wellington, Will joins our board as an experienced independent director and advisor. He brings deep sector experience in infrastructure, transport, technology, and public sector governance.
Currently, he chairs Site Safe and serves as an external member on major project governance groups for organisations including the Department of Corrections, Ministry of Primary Industries, NZ Transport Agency, and for Parliament. He is also an independent board member of the National Ticketing System and for the Ministry of Education's Risk and Assurance Board.
A civil engineer, Will's career includes leadership roles as CEO of ONTRACK, Acting Group CEO of KiwiRail, and Chief Operating Officer of the New Zealand Defence Force. His international experience spans from America to Afghanistan to Antarctica to Aitutaki, including infrastructure advisory work in Niue and consulting for the New Zealand Aid Programme.
Public Trust provides trustee and comprehensive estate administration services for individuals through our Retail business, and corporate trustee, supervisory and custodial services through our Corporate Trustee Services business. We also have an important part to play in the charitable trust sector. Our Investment team manages around $1.17 billion of funds (as at 31 March 2025), primarily for charities, estate beneficiaries, and students (through our Fee Protect service).
Established 150 years ago, Public Trust is a self-funding autonomous Crown entity. Our unique role is to empower all New Zealanders to build and protect their legacies.
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