About us

Lodestone Energy
is delivering renewable solar energy at pace to create a greener Aotearoa

Our Mission

Harnessing the sun’s energy to power Aotearoa’s zero carbon future. This is just the beginning.

Our first solar farm projects will generate enough energy to power 50,000 homes.

Lodestone is 100% New Zealand owned and operated, backed by some of Aotearoa’s most prominent investors. We’re doing this by Kiwis, for Kiwis, to get Aotearoa moving towards its renewable energy goals.

Our kaupapa is to be dedicated partners and collaborators with community and stakeholder groups to deliver solar projects that both power the way Kiwis live and empower the regions we operate in.

Lodestone’s team are electricity market experts who have developed renewable energy projects in New Zealand, Australia, Canada, and the United States.

Think you have a suitable site for Lodestone’s next solar farm? Get in touch with us to find out more.

Our Board

Jack Matthews

Chair

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Jack is a seasoned company director with more the three decades leading businesses in New Zealand and Australia, primarily in media and telecommunications. He is currently a director at Chorus and was previously chair of Mediaworks NZ, as well as a director at Plexure, Network for Learning, Crown Fibre Holdings, APN Outdoor, and Trilogy Natural Products.

Gary Holden

Managing Director

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Gary is highly experienced when it comes to the energy sector. He’s the driving force behind Lodestone’s vision to bring solar to the mainstream energy market. He’s worked for more than three decades across Aotearoa and Canada’s energy industries in infrastructure, generation, retail, and distribution.

Prior to Lodestone, Gary was the CEO of Pulse Energy, a nationwide energy retailer. He was previously chief executive of the Wellington Power Company, Enmax, and TransAlta New Zealand, where he developed the Taranaki Combined Cycle and Otahuhu power plants.

Guy Haddleton

Director

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Guy is co-founder, former CEO and chairman of Adaytum, and co-founder and CEO of Anaplan. He led Adaytum to a $160 million acquisition and Anaplan to a $3 billion IPO listing on the New York Stock Exchange. Guy is also a lead investor and director for medicinal cannabis company, Helius Therapeutics, and technology start-up Nyriad, as well as an early Xero investor and former board member.

Joanna Perry

Director

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Joanna chairs Lodestone’s Audit and Risk Committee. Her other current directorships include Oyster Property Group (chair) and Helius Therapeutics. Previous directorships include Genesis Energy, Partners Life, Trade Me, Kiwi Property and Sport New Zealand. Joanna has had a long standing career as a chartered accountant including as a partner at KPMG, in various roles at the International Financial Reporting Foundation and as a member of the Securities Commission.

Sam Morgan

Director

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Sam is well-known as the founder of Trade Me, which he launched in 1999 and sold to Fairfax Media Australia in 2006. He was an early Xero investor and was a board member for a decade as well as a director of Vend for 6 years until its sale in 2021.

Susan Paterson

Director

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Susan has a longstanding energy sector career. Prior to joining Lodestone, she was a director for the Electricity Authority since its inception in 2010 and is currently chair of Steel and Tube and E-Road as well as a director of the Reserve Bank, Les Mills and Arvida. She was previously a member of the Wholesale Electricity Market Development Group in the mid-90s. Susan is also a previous board member of Transpower, the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA) and chair of the NZ Eco-Labelling Trust.

Will Thomson

Director

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Will is Director of Principal Investments at investment firm Jarden. He is experienced in direct private capital investments and partnering with global investors and has a longstanding career in the private equity sector. He was previously a non-executive director for Australia’s largest private rail freight business, Pacific National.

Our Team

Gary Holden

Managing Director

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Gary is highly experienced when it comes to the energy sector. He’s the driving force behind Lodestone’s vision to bring solar to the mainstream energy market. He’s worked for more than three decades across Aotearoa and Canada’s energy industries in infrastructure, generation, retail, and distribution.

Prior to Lodestone, Gary was the CEO of Pulse Energy, a nationwide energy retailer. He was previously chief executive of the Wellington Power Company, Enmax, and TransAlta New Zealand, where he developed the Taranaki Combined Cycle and Otahuhu power plants.

Chris Jewell

Chief Financial Officer

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Chris is a key player in Aotearoa’s energy industry. With experience at both Genesis Energy and Mercury, he brings a unique leadership perspective and in-depth, tangible knowledge across energy sector markets, infrastructure investment, and asset operations. Chris is also currently co-chair of Low Carbon Aotearoa – a 2050 Energy Strategy.

Daniel Cunningham

General Manager, Development

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Hailing from Canada, Daniel’s background is with that country’s leading independent wind, solar, and battery storage provider, Greengate Power. There he led commercial development and financing of a 750MW solar farm, Canada’s largest. Now based in Aotearoa, Daniel brings his broad experience in prospecting, acquisition, and commercialisation to Lodestone’s executive team.

Sarah McHardy

General Manager, Customer

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Sarah brings both the functional breadth and industry knowledge to be the Customer champion at Lodestone. Her drive for customer centricity has been gained over her more than 20 years in the energy industry. During her time at Genesis and Vector Metering she developed core strengths in business development, relationship management, marketing and commercial strategy.

Peter Apperley

General Manager, Engineering

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Peter’s previous experience developing a portfolio of renewable projects including solar in Aotearoa and the Pacific makes him a great addition to Lodestone’s team. He has worked in senior management as well as technical development and engineering. Peter has vast knowledge of the energy sector and has provided strategic consulting on emerging technologies and asset management to New Zealand electricity distribution businesses (EDBs).

Tony Nagel

General Counsel

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Tony’s experience within the energy and telecommunications sectors and in governance makes him a true asset to Lodestone’s executive team. He has spent nearly two decades in New Zealand’s energy sector with Mercury and its predecessor Mighty River Power. Tony was involved with Mercury’s IPO in 2013 and led that company’s rebrand in 2016.

Jake Ighile

General Manager, Construction

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Jake is an expert project lead with a background in the Shell Major Projects team working on deep-water, midstream, and chemical projects and leading the EPC contracting team for solar energy company, Silicon Ranch (formerly the Shell US Solar platform). He also served in the United States Marine Corps for almost a decade in various leadership positions.

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