Phil Barry, Director
Phil co-established TDB Advisory in 2002 and has had over thirty years’ experience providing economic and financial advice to leading corporates in the private and public sector.
Phil’s experience ranges across a number of sectors, including agribusiness, energy, finance, health, housing, justice, state-owned enterprises, telecommunications, transport and water. His clients in the last five years have included First Gas, Foodstuffs NZ, Genesis Energy, Goodman Fielder, the International Monetary Fund, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Meridian Energy, the NZ Productivity Commission, Powerco, the Property Council, Rembrandt, the Reserve Bank, Stand for Children, the Takeovers Panel, Tainui Group Holdings, Todd Corporation, the Treasury, Victoria University of Wellington, Westland Dairy, WEL Networks, Transpower and Z Energy.
Services Phil has provided these clients include:
- Strategic reviews, including reviewing the organisation’s past performance and future direction;
- Lead advice on acquisitions and divestments of assets, including independent valuations and appraisals, negotiating strategy and execution;
- Advice and analysis on regulatory and public policy matters, including economic cost-benefit and public policy analysis; and
- Litigation support, including mediation and expert witness services on economic and financial matters.
Phil has also chaired a number of government reviews, including the Parliamentary Appropriations Review Committee (with Sir Douglas Kidd); the Technical Advisory Group on Air Quality Standards; and strategic reviews of AgResearch, GNS Science and PFNZ. He has also acted as mediator or arbitrator on a number of commercial transactions.
As a former Director at the Treasury and Advisor at the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, Phil provided strategic advice and led the implementation of structural change and regulatory reform in significant parts of the New Zealand economy. Major projects Phil had a key role in include the formation of Fonterra; the privatisations of Auckland and Wellington Airports; and the financial restructuring and commercialisation of numerous state trading enterprises. During the mid-1990s, Phil served as Counsellor Economic in New Zealand’s Permanent Delegation to the OECD in Paris.
Phil is a member of the International Monetary Fund’s panel of Fiscal Experts and has advised the governments of Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Malawi, Mongolia and Samoa on SOE-related matters. He is also a Lay Member of the High Court of NZ under the Commerce Act. Phil is a former Acting President and Board member of NZ Football, a Director of the NewPower group of companies, a former Director of Wellington Water (where he chaired the Audit and Risk Committee) and a chartered member of the NZ Institute of Directors. Phil has an MBA in Finance from the University of Rochester New York and a BA Hons (1st class) in Economics from Victoria University Wellington. He is a member of the NZ Economists Association the Law and Economics Association and the Institute of Finance Professionals NZ.
