Investing in his future

Is it possible to come to governance by accident? That’s how Te Aorangi Murphy-Fell CMInstD (Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāi Tahu, Ngāti Apa) describes his pathway to board roles. Now he is on three – BayTrust, Squash Bay of Plenty and the Hepatitis Foundation of New Zealand, where he is a member of the investment committee providing independent financial oversight.

“Two out of the three board roles are very much investment portfolio-focused,” says the youngest IoD member to go through the chartered pathway. While not a legislative requirement to sit on a board, the chartered status demonstrates a commitment and dedication to the role of governance and its principles.

At 24 years of age, Murphy-Fell is something of an anomaly – the chartered pathway is often undertaken by experienced directors at the mid-to-top end of their executive careers. But with an interest in investing and markets from a young age, Murphy-Fell is not your run-of-the-mill early twentysomething. By the time he was 15, he already had his first investment portfolio.

“I had about $2,000 back when I was 15 from different jobs and I had nowhere to put that money, so my parents said to me, ‘Why don’t you think about putting it into shares?’”

They met with an investment advisor and Murphy-Fell continued contributing to the portfolio. “Eventually, I purchased my home with it. That’s what really built my fascination with investments, and markets and portfolios,” he says.

Pursuing his interest in investing, Murphy-Fell majored in finance and minored in te reo Māori and strategic management as part of his management honour’s degree from the University of Waikato (2019). This year he completed his master’s degree in te reo Māori.

While completing his undergraduate degree, he had the opportunity to spend time with ASB’s global markets team. But his full-time focus now is working in his whānau’s consulting business, Haemata Limited. 

“That’s still my day-to-day work, managing projects that deliver better outcomes for Māori. Much of our work is focused on the public sector,” he says.

While governance is part-time for now, Murphy-Fell refers to it as a huge passion and a long-term focus, which enables him to utilise his financial background while also ensuring that boards and organisations are cognisant of their impact – or potential impact – on Māori communities. “That’s partly why I find board roles fascinating, particularly the ones I’m on at the moment.”

It also allows him to have a voice on what he sees as important kaupapa. Being young and Māori gives him a voice at the table, which he says is important for what Aotearoa will look like in the future.

“I think about where governance is heading in New Zealand and who the decision-makers are going to be in 20 to 30 years’ time. We’re becoming more diverse, people are getting older, but ultimately it’s still going to be Māori [who are] making decisions in the future.”

Already with some experience under his belt, Murphy-Fell is seeing change in the air, especially regarding the digital side of investing, which he says has gone hand- in-hand with the world of finance for some time now.

“With AI and digital, it’s absolutely on my radar. I’m actually reading a book called The World in 2050 where the author talks a lot about the kind of future demographics and powers in the world, the socio and geopolitical things we’re starting to see at the moment, and the role that technology plays as a leveller but also as an empowerer.”

Murphy-Fell says a large portion of what happens in the portfolios, markets and modelling space is now technology- based compared to 30 or 50 years ago when practices were still very much done manually. This has come in handy when trying to analyse what future markets may look like.

“In the markets space, we’re seeing examples now of AI models that are able to predict which companies are going to fall over in the next 10 to 15 years. That’s partly exciting and partly scary.”

He is hopeful humans will still be needed, especially where decision-making is concerned. “Technology is providing us with more and more information that ensures any decisions we make at the board level regarding finance and investment are evidence-based.”

All for technology and embracing the benefits that come with it, Murphy-Fell says one thing he has learnt from his board roles is that the level of investment management is more removed from the day-to-day operations and budgets.

“Ultimately, your job is to ensure the portfolio remains aligned with the overall objectives and purpose of the organisation. From that perspective, the role that technology has at the governance level is probably not quite as profound at the moment, but will definitely be [moreso] in the future.”

He believes there is still a significant need for people to make investment decisions. “Particularly generative AI, where those artificial intelligence machines are able to start thinking on their own, I don’t necessarily think it will replace the role of humans on boards in the short term.

There’s still a need for humans because there are certain things humans can do at the moment that AI hasn’t even really started to consider, particularly when you [look at] external stakeholders and managing relationships.”

But where board practices are concerned, he is hoping much of it will be streamlined over the next five to 10 years, if it isn’t already happening on some boards. “On one of the boards I was still getting hardcopy paper . . . in 20 years’ time, I don’t even think that’ll be a thing,” he says, emphatically.

As for what it means to be an up-and- coming director, Murphy-Fell says one of the biggest challenges for younger people interested in board roles is a lack of access to information, including on the steps to get there, and the barriers that exist to gain that initial experience.

He recognises that if boards want diversity it means creating opportunities and ensuring these are accessible through the recruitment process, and that it is unrealistic for boards to expect younger people to come with governance experience when in their early twenties they may have only been in the workforce for “the best part of a few years”.

On the other side of that discussion is how to behave when you get a seat at the table. Cognisant of the tone and level of experience in the boardroom, Murphy- Fell warns younger people keen to step into governance roles to be considerate of everyone’s views.

A big mistake would be to “act as if you already know everything” and this is where Murphy-Fell says it is important to carefully balance the level of respect for others. “Technically, I’m dealing with people my parents’ age. I’m trying to manage that while not coming across as being ‘whakahīhī’, which is being too proud of yourself,” he says.

In terms of his career, Murphy-Fell doesn’t need to rely on AI to determine what his future will look like. With his eyes cast firmly on the prize, he knows exactly where he wants to be – sitting on large company boards, with Air New Zealand at the top of his list.

“I think Air New Zealand’s a great Kiwi company and it represents a lot of what’s good about New Zealand, what we are about and what we’re really good at as a nation.”