Theresa Gattung is a New Zealand business leader, entrepreneur, author, philanthropist and investor. Her best-selling autobiography Bird on a Wire was published in 2010.
Perhaps best known for her role as CEO of Telecom New Zealand, she was the first female CEO of an NZX listed company. Since leaving Telecom, she divides her time between professional governance, entrepreneurial projects, and philanthropic work.
She has held multiple governance positions; Chair of AIA Australia and AIA New Zealand, Chair Telco Technology Services, Chair CoOfWomen, Chair of the Wellington Board of the SPCA and then on the Royal New Zealand SPCA (RNZSPCA) National Board. She is a member of the National Advisory Council on the Employment of Women and on the board of Global Women.
As co-founder of My Food Bag, alongside Cecilia Robinson and Nadia Lim, she helped take the start-up to a nationwide company with a turnover of over $130m.
She is also the New Zealand lead of SheEO, an international community that supports, finances, and celebrates female innovators.
In 2019 she became Chair of Tend, a primary healthcare provider with a mission to put digital healthcare in the hands of all Kiwis.
Theresa is involved with a number of not-for-profit and philanthropic interests, including being on the Global Board of World Pulse, being co-founder of the World Women Charitable Trust and Patron of the Cambodia Charitable Trust. She is a supporter of The Pūriri Education Charitable Trust,Kootuitui ki Papakura, Gandhi Nivas, the Aunties and Amnesty International.
In the 2015 New Year’s Honours List, Theresa was made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to business and philanthropy. In September 2018 she was awarded the Lifetime Achievement award at the Women of Influence Awards.
She lives in New Zealand between Auckland and the Bay of Plenty.