Mike Underhill
CEO of Wel Network

Career Profile:

Past
Mr Mike Underhill has spent over 40 years in New Zealand’s Gas and electricity industries. His interest in electricity was derived from his youthful days of inquisition spent jamming dead flies into power sockets. He continued pursuing this area of interest onto a commercial scale at national level. This saw him graduating with a Bachelor of Commerce, majoring in Economics and progressing to the position of the Chief Executive of Energy Direct and its successor TransAlta NZ. These two companies dissolved under the industry’s deregulation process of the late 1980s

Present
Mr Underhill is currently the CEO of Wel Network Ltd, Waikato’s largest provider of transmission services, power grid utilities and maintenance. However his career is a two sided coin. As well as being a majority market shareholder in the electricity industry, Mr Underhill is a strong advocate and active proponent of Regional Economic Development. Mr Underhill has made concerted efforts to improve the local economy through commodity development. An example of this is the Waikato Innovation Centre, where research and development is carried out to improve the Waikato’s Agriculture and Biotechnology industry.
He is also currently involved in developmental project work in the Raglan area. Wel Network plans to establish a alternative source of energy through the use of wind towers to supply the Waikato region and thereby reduce the dependency on Hydro electricity.

Future
Mr Underhill is a fine breed of entrepreneur, both an idealist and a pragmatist. He has concerns for the future of Energy Supply and its implications on New Zealand’s economic activity. His philosophies embody a wider outlook on what practical steps are necessary in the present to improve our economic position in the future. This means increasing the carrying capacity of the Energy industry through innovative technologies, to maintain essential export groups and consumer names within the New Zealand economy. According to Mr Underhill, New Zealander’s must diverse the way electricity is used to improve efficiency.

Our Views
To begin with, another CEO of another company initially appeared rather uninspiring, especially one who worked with electricity. However Mr Underhill’s passion and belief as a CEO captured our insights and awakened our awareness to the problems facing New Zealand’s (and wider APEC economies) energy usage. It was a valuable experience meeting with him.

Quote
“Whatever happens…the sun’s going to rise tomorrow morning”

Pragmatic and an Idealist.

By Julie Itken, Duran Moy, Daniel Hill, Wylie Smith and Laura Richardson