About

Roger's move to Scion brings together two strands of a professional life focused on helping build a sustainable and prosperous future for Aotearoa New Zealand.

His career started as a forest scientist at Canterbury University, using process-based models of canopy photosynthesis to investigate the carbon dynamics of New Zealand’s indigenous forest ecosystems.

But more recently he’s been applying that evidence-based worldview to protect and promote New Zealand’s interests as a diplomat at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. His offshore postings with his family included four years in Paris as New Zealand’s Deputy Ambassador to the OECD, and in Seoul leading work on the Korea-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement. He was part of the New Zealand team that negotiated the Paris climate change agreement, and led policy thinking on climate migration in the Pacific, on mobilising private-sector investment in climate outcomes in developing countries.

His Wellington-based role support's Scion's mahi by developing and coordinating key stakeholder relationships and activities, making sure Scion is in the right conversations at the right times to support a forest-based transition to a prosperous, low-carbon future.

Qualifications

PhD (Plant Ecology)
M.Sc (Hons) (Environmental Science)
B.For.Sc (Hons)