Rob Everett has been chief executive of the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) for the past seven years and leaves the FMA at the end of this month.

His replacement, Samantha Barrass, will step into the chief executive's role at the end of January.

NZ Capital Growth Partners (NZCGP) has been without a chief executive for the past year after the former CEO resigned in August 2020 just before the release of an organisational review that found instances of low-level bullying, perceptions of an underlying culture of gender discrimination and of disrespectful and inappropriate workplace culture within the company.

Kiwibank’s Daria Murray was offered the role at NZCGP but withdrew for unknown reasons in December last year.

According to Business Desk, NZGCP chairman David Smol says Everett is highly regarded for his business and government networks, as well as financial markets experience.

“He is well-placed to lead the organisation to continue to build a vibrant early-stage technology investment market in New Zealand and support New Zealand tech start-ups, innovators and investors to become world-class,” he says.

Everett trained as a lawyer in the United Kingdom and spent almost two decades working at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, before joining the FMA in 2014.

NZGCP runs two investment funds, the Aspire NZ Seed Fund, which invests in early-stage tech start-ups, and the Elevate NZ Venture Fund, which is distributing $300 million to fund existing venture firms.

Elevate is managed by NZGCP, with oversight from the NZ Superannuation Fund, and has invested in six venture funds so far.