The board of Port of Tauranga rings in the changes on July 29, 2022, with long-serving chair David Pilkington stepping down and a new director appointed. Departing Swire Shipping country manager Brodie Stevens is to join the top table, while Pilkington retires on July 29, 2022 after 17 years as a director, nine as chair. Pilkington will be succeeded as chair by Julia Hoare.

She joined the board of the country's main export port in 2015 and chairs the audit committee. Trained as a lawyer, Stevens joined Freightways Group as a management trainee in 1982 and spent 10 years with the company before joining the Owens Group. He was divisional general manager of Seatrans New Zealand and Owens Shipping Services during his 12 years at Owens.

He joined China Navigation Company (trading as Swire Shipping) in 2004. During his time there, the company expanded into freight forwarding, shipping agency and stevedoring. Incoming chair Hoare has a range of commercial, financial, tax, regulatory and sustainability experience through governance roles and over two decades as a partner with PwC.

She is deputy chair of a2 Milk and a director of Auckland International Airport and Meridian Energy. She is president of the Institute of Directors and a member of the Chapter Zero New Zealand steering committee.