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Our People
Robert Finch
Chief Executive
B.E (Hons.), PhD, Grad. Dip. Wine Business
Originally Robert did a Mechanical Engineering degree with first class honours and a PhD in Materials Engineering at Adelaide University.
During his working career he has worked in numerous industries including coal mining and power generation, materials engineering research and development, textiles research, development and commercialisation more recently food research and commercialisation and now structural timber R&D. He has considerable experience with proving next generation technology platforms in industrial environments and negotiating and commercialising research outcomes.
In the past he has been Global Group Manager – Technical Marketing for the Woolmark Company (based in UK), General Manager – Research and Development for Canesis Network Ltd and more recently General Manager, Food and Textiles for AgResearch Ltd, the largest Crown Research Institute in New Zealand.
He has lived and worked in Australia, United Kingdom and New Zealand and has also previously ran his own Consulting business in Australia, providing business and brand development services to small and medium wineries and local Government economic development corporations.
Prof. Andy Buchanan
Research Director
Dr Andy Buchanan is Professor of Timber Design at the University of Canterbury, where he teaches and researches in structural design.His main interest now is multi-storey timber buildings, but he also has interests in earthquake engineering, fire safety and environmental impact of timber, steel and concrete buildings.
He has degrees from the University of Canterbury, California, and British Columbia. Before joining the University of Canterbury in 1987 he was a consulting structural engineer in Christchurch, first for Holmes Consulting Group, then for Buchanan and Fletcher which he started in 1984.
Andy is past president of the NZ Timber Design Society, Research Director of STIC (Structural Timber Innovation Company Ltd), and on the Management Team for the NZ Wood programme.
He has written 3 books; 'The Timber Design Guide', 'The Fire Engineering Design Guide', and 'Structural Design for Fire Safety', plus over 100 academic papers.
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