I See Myself As The Person Who Unlocks The Problem Areas.

RHYS JONES, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF FIRE AND EMERGENCY NEW ZEALAND – AND EX CHIEF OF DEFENCE FORCE – HAS SPENT HIS CAREER IN THE FIRING LINE.

- Chrissie Mcclatchie

At the age of 50, Rhys Jones became New Zealand’s youngest ever Chief of Defence Force (CDF), taking up the position just before the 2011 earthquake that devastated Christchurch. By 2014, having yet to celebrate his 54th birthday, he also became the country’s youngest ever ex-CDF. The top job wasn’t one he’d necessarily coveted during his 35-year career in the army, but one he applied for out of sheer concern. “I was afraid of what would happen if I didn’t step up to that role,” he tells The CEO Magazine.

Not that it was the easiest moment for someone to put their hand up to lead the New Zealand Defence Force, even for the then-Chief of Army. “The government was putting a freeze on its budget. A lot of people thought I’d been thrown a hospital pass, which I probably had been,” he acknowledges wryly.

Although conscious that “as you progress in Defence, you kind of know that eventually you’ll have to leave,” he still admits to feeling “too young to retire” when he finished up in the CDF role. To the outside world, his next move – a collaboration with film director Sir Peter Jackson – may have appeared unexpected. Yet his appointment as Executive Director of the National Military Heritage Charitable Trust, where he oversaw the construction of Jackson’s Great War Exhibition, was a natural continuation of the military heritage work he had started during his tenure as CDF.