Takapuna resident John Berry has become the 45th laureate inducted into the North Harbour Business Hall of Fame. This accolade recognises his business achievements in the financial sector along with his contribution to charity and community. John was officially inducted into the North Harbour Business Hall of Fame at a lunch held at North Harbour Stadium on Wednesday 16 September.
John has always believed that business has purpose beyond simply making money for shareholders and should put people and planet at its core. John co-founded Pathfinder Asset Management with Paul Brownsey, launching their first sustainability-themed fund in 2010, which was groundbreaking at the time, based in Takapuna. Under John’s leadership, Pathfinder pioneered ethical investing in New Zealand. Pathfinder became New Zealand's leader in ethical and values-based investing across managed funds and KiwiSaver. Growth accelerated for Pathfinder when they aligned with Alvarium in 2019.
John embedded purpose at three levels at Pathfinder. First, what Pathfinder will or won't invest in, aiming to avoid real-world harm and instead tilt towards companies positively benefiting people, planet and animals, including impactful local ventures and social housing, renewable energy and climate tech. Second, John adopted a business model that thinks beyond profit for shareholders, committing a percentage of annual revenue to charity and becoming New Zealand's first certified B Corps and financial services. And third, he consciously encourages others in the financial services to focus on purpose.
John continues to share his conviction on business purpose extensively in podcasts, articles, media interviews and industry conferences. He attributes much of his thinking to conversations with his father since he was young about the dangers of global corporates with excessive power, challenges of runaway technology and risks from over-extracting our planet's finite resources.
John also values personal growth from travel. After law and commerce degrees, the former Rosmini College student worked as a lawyer in Auckland and London.
In London, John met the love of his life, Ange, and switched to investment banking. He ran Deutsche Bank's execution team for all structured capital markets transactions across Europe and the UK, which meant working on deals and interesting destinations from Amsterdam to Budapest and Milan to New York.
Returning to New Zealand with Ange and two boys, Matt and Josh, John took time out before co-founding Pathfinder.
The business has been widely acclaimed, including six consecutive years of recognition from Mindful Money as New Zealand's leading ethical fund manager and the Supreme Transforming New Zealand Award from the Sustainable Business Network in 2023. John was personally recognised by the Sustainable Business Network with the Sustainability Superstar Award and with the Fonterra Sustainability Leadership Award in 2024 at the Robert Walters New Zealand Leadership Awards.
As well as awards for his media work, John's governance roles have included the government-appointed committee designing a code of conduct for financial advice in New Zealand, the advisory board of Francis Valentine's Mind Lab and the board of venture capital tech investor Punakaiki.
John was also on the Men's Health Trust board for 10 years, a topic he's been passionate about. As well as growing silly moustaches, he worked on campaigns encouraging Kiwi men to visit their doctor for regular check-ups and normalising conversations with mates around how they're feeling. 'The New Zealand Herald' and 'Stuff' published John's articles raising awareness of men's health issues. He's given time in recent years to charities seeking his insights for funding, strategy or education.
John sees his greatest achievement as convincing Ange to move to Takapuna in 2004. He says they’ve been blessed to bring up Matt and Josh here, sharing wonderful friendships and enjoying the North Shore lifestyle.
John Berry becomes the 45th laureate inducted into the North Harbour Business Hall of Fame since 2004.
The 45 Laureates are:
*Denotes passed away.
