REINZ announces Jen Baird as new Chief Executive

PHOTO: Jen Baird. SUPPLIED

The Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ) has today announced that Jen Baird will be the industry body’s new Chief Executive and will start in the role in early July.

For the past three years Jen has been the General Manager, City Growth, for the Hamilton City Council. Her role includes responsibility for planning for the long-term future of a metropolitan scale city including growth funding and delivery of new growth cells, leading Council’s regulatory responsibilities for land use, resource and building consents, economic development, customer experience and city safety. This broad role has also included considerable stakeholder engagement and risk management. She led the Council’s civil defence and crisis management during last year’s Alert Level 4 lockdown period.

Previous to her GM role at the Council, she was their Manager for Communications and Marketing for a short period. Prior to this, Jen was Chief Marketing Officer at Barfoot & Thompson for nearly 10 years, and she also spent two years as Manager Communications and Brand at Radius Health Group.

Commenting on her appointment, Jen says: “I’ve spent nearly ten years working in the real estate profession, and like many Kiwis have a love of property; so, getting the role at REINZ is like coming home. I’m really excited to join REINZ at a time when the industry is rapidly changing and where the importance of data and digital transformation will be so important in the profession’s future. Additionally, there are significant changes from a regulatory perspective which will require real leadership from the industry body, so I’m very much looking forward to the opportunity of being involved in everything that lies ahead.”

Bridget Coates, Chair of the REINZ Board says: “Jen is a strong, strategic thinker with exceptional people management capabilities, and she is used to leading teams through challenging transformative environments. Her experience across diverse teams and dealing with a multitude of stakeholders will be an asset to REINZ and we look forward to welcoming her to the team later in the year.

“Our Acting Chief Executive, Wendy Alexander, will continue on in her ‘caretaker’ capacity until Jen joins the team,” concludes Coates.