By Martin Vedris
SYDNEY: Narta International has strengthened its board with the appointment of Peter Drummond, also chairman of Appliance Connexion, New Zealand’s largest independent electrical buying group, which joined Narta in August this year.
This is a significant appointment to the Narta International board. In addition to his duties at Apppliance Conenxion, he is director of Narta NZ, chairman of the Museum of Transport and Technology, chairman of United Fire Brigades Association of New Zealand, director or Manukau Water Ltd, director of New Zealand Rugby League Inc, and chairman of Variety Children’s Medical Missions South Pacific.
Drummond has also worked for 25 years in the consumer electronics industry with leading suppliers and manufacturers including Fisher & Paykel, National Panasonic and CEI Ltd which distributed JVC, NEC and Samsung — Drummond was group general manager at CEI.
John Wipfli, chairman of Narta International, welcomed Drummond in a letter to suppliers today.
“His extensive knowledge can only add strength to our operation and I look forward to his input in the future direction of Narta,” Wipfli said of Drummond.
Drummond is also an ‘Accredited Fellow’ of the Institute of Directors Inc in New Zealand.
Narta, which stands for National Associated Retail Traders of Australia, was established in 1965 and coordinates over $2.8 billion of electrical buying for retailers including JB Hi-Fi, Clive Peeters, Bing Lee, David Jones, Downtown Duty Free, Bi-Rite Electrical, Radio Rentals, Videopro and Winning Appliances.
Narta NZ retail members include the 100 % branded stores as well as Magness Benrow, Selectrix, and The Appliance Shed among a list of independent stores.