“Sometimes it’s good to fly under the radar. People underestimate you and then you can do stuff,” Fraser Jonker says with a wry smile.
And do stuff he most certainly did during his 15-year tenure with the Alexandra-based energy company, which is wholly owned by the Central Lakes Trust.
From 18 employees when he started to more than 200 now in the Pioneer Energy Group, it has grown and diversified from a Central Otago-based company to a national footprint with assets throughout the country.
But, as he put it, it was time for new energy — no pun intended — to continue to take the company forward.
“You just know when it’s time. I think it’s the right thing to do. Fifteen years is a long tenure for most CEs,” he said.
His departure coincided with Pioneer going out to market to look for new equity and, while an announcement was yet to be made, seeing the response and value the energy investment sector put on the business was rewarding, he said.
“To me, that’s the cherry on the cake. I think once a new investment partner is publicly notified, people will understand the value of our business and value the partnership will bring … having a commitment of equity to come in, the new chief executive can move this business forward.”
He was also proud to see one of the company’s own, Peter McClean, who had been with Pioneer for more than a decade, appointed chief executive.
But there were also mixed emotions about departing as he acknowledged he was feeling both happy and sad. “It’s still my baby,” he said.
Rather than retirement, Mr Jonker, 57, said it was more like a change in career and he was looking at what he could give back.
He was keen to focus on governance — he already has some governance positions, including in the energy sector — and also spend time on his small farm which was his “happy place”.
Coincidentally, it was sheep grazing on Auckland’s One Tree Hill which inadvertently contributed to Mr Jonker moving to New Zealand in the first place.
He was farming and running an electrical engineering consultancy business in his home country of South Africa when he and his wife Aletta started questioning if they really wanted to raise their two children there.
With a career that was very transferable, the plan initially was to move to Australia; Perth was a particular favourite and, while visiting there, they decided to check out Sydney.
Once there, they realised it was only three hours from Auckland, where they had friends living, so in a spur-of-the-moment decision, decided to visit for a weekend.
Their friends took them for a tour around and Mr Jonker thought “what a country!”. He was captivated by the environment, the greenness — and the sheep he spotted on One Tree Hill.
On the flight home, the couple looked at each other and decided they would move to New Zealand if Mr Jonker could get a job.
“It just felt like the right place,” he said.
While he initially studied medicine for a year, Mr Jonker always had a technical bent. He grew up on a farm and his father gave him the choice of either going farming or gaining qualifications.
He completed degrees in electrical engineering and commerce and then worked in the distribution environment for a few years before a friend moved to New Zealand and asked if he wanted his role in a consulting firm.
Mr Jonker later started his own consulting business, where he enjoyed being his own boss, and combined that with farming.
He ran sheep and also grew wheat, maize, carrots, pumpkins, melons and watermelons under irrigation. He also established a 2000-tree pecan nut orchard.
Farming was something he particularly enjoyed — “that was in my heart” — but with the unrest in South Africa, the “massive” decision to move was made, leaving behind both his and his wife’s families and selling the farm.
His father was upset with him, having thought his son would take over his own farm, and Mr Jonker admitted he probably settled when his father later visited the family in New Zealand and said he could see why they made the move, and he was happy.
Mr Jonker’s first job was at electricity distribution network company Unison in Hawke’s Bay in 2004 and, after two years, he was offered a job in Auckland with Northpower, reporting to the chief executive.
He spent four years as general manager in Auckland, looking after the company’s Australian business and contracting business in New Zealand.
During that time, the family visited Queenstown for a weekend and the area reminded him of the dry and remote area where he used to live.
About a year later, by accident, he picked up the paper and saw the Pioneer Energy chief executive role advertised and decided to apply.
Not a big city boy, he said he would buy some land if he got the job, making the move south in 2010 even more attractive.
Pioneer was formed in 1999 after the electricity industry reforms and evolved from the generation assets of the former Otago Central Electric Power Board, and it now owned and operated a diverse portfolio of energy assets, products and investments.
It pays an annual dividend to the Central Lakes Trust. The money is given by the trust to community projects and services and, since its inception in 2000, it has distributed more than $115 million.
Pioneer had received strong continued support from the Central Lakes Trust, and the late Sir Eion Edgar — who had a long involvement with CLT — made a “massive” difference to Mr Jonker, both as a mentor and a leader and the way he looked at enabling the company to be successful.
There had also been good support from Pioneer’s board of directors, he had served under three chairmen — firstly, Allan Kane, then Stuart Heal and now Rob Hewett.
In 2012 Pioneer acquired Energy for Industry, an industrial thermal energy supply business. In 2016, the company became the majority shareholder in the Pulse Energy retail business, partnering with Buller Energy Ltd to strengthen its position in the energy market.
Following the construction of Pioneer’s second wind farm in 2015, the company joined forces with Southern Partners, Roaring 40’s, the shareholders of PowerNet Ltd to establish the Southern Generation Limited Partnership (SGLP).
That partnership fuelled substantial growth in renewable generation, leading to the acquisition of multiple hydro power schemes across New Zealand, including two developed by Pioneer in 2019 and 2021.
Pioneer also ventured into the waste-to-energy sector through a partnership with Ecostock Ltd, forming Ecogas Ltd Partnership.
In 2022, the business commissioned its first site in Reporoa, cementing its leadership in New Zealand’s organic food waste processing sector.
The facility diverts organic waste from landfills to produce biomethane and it became the first site in New Zealand to inject biomethane into the country’s reticulated natural gas network.
In 2024, Pioneer acquired full ownership of SGLP, restructuring its business to position for future growth and the introduction of additional equity partners.
As part of the transition, Pioneer also became the sole shareholder of Pulse Energy, with Buller Energy Ltd taking a stake in Pioneer Energy Renewables LP.
Asked how he would sum up his tenure at Pioneer, Mr Jonker said it had been mostly fun and there was never a dull moment.
He had support and the freedom to bring ideas to the board and could make a lot of those “fly”. “It was exciting,” he said.
A challenge, as the company grew, was to stay nimble and not become a corporate and the ability to “make quick decisions and get on with things” was a strength.
Several things stood out; the southern partnership and the Ecogas business — “stuff happens, you get ideas” — which was was awarded the Auckland Council’s 20-year kerbside food scrap processing contract, the only small New Zealand company to put in a bid — the rest were multinationals.
It then secured a contract with the Christchurch City Council to build a food waste-to-bioenergy facility.
Another highlight was seeing people develop and embrace the change. When a business was constantly doing new things, then that drove energy.
There was a lot of of excitement in the energy space and continued growth of the Pioneer business was good for the community.
The trust realised that as it had grown and diversified the business, the returns the community got out of the business became more stable, he said.
The nicest part of the role was the people and the toughest part of the role was also people. A lot of Pioneer’s growth was through partnerships and keeping everyone aligned was probably the hardest thing, he said.
But, if you got it right, then that was rewarding. And, like a marriage, you could never stop working on it. Speaking of marriage, Mr Jonker said it was important to have support in roles like he had and his wife had always been very supportive of him.
The couple’s 10-hectare farmlet — “you can almost believe you’re on a farm again” — had also provided a good break from the business, whether it was mowing a paddock or baling hay.
One thing about farming was the rewards were shorter and more immediate.
“One thing as CEO, although we had a lot of successes in my tenure, by the time it’s celebrated, you’ve moved on to the next thing. Farming is rewarding in that sense.”
