Roger Sutton

Roger Sutton (born ) is a business leader in Christchurch, New Zealand. He was chief executive of power lines company Orion New Zealand Limited from 2003 until 13 June 2011, when he commenced as CEO of the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority. He resigned in 2014 after being found guilty of serious misconduct by the State Services Commission. Professional career Sutton grew up in Wellington, Gisborne and Hamilton. He graduated in 1986 from the University of Canterbury with a Bachelor of Engineering (Mechanical). Energy sector Sutton began his career with the Electricity Corporation of New Zealand (ECNZ) as a mechanical engineer at New Plymouth Power Station in 1987. From 1988 to 1989, he worked for ECNZ as a business analyst. From 1996 to 1998, he was general manager trading at Southpower, the electricity generation and distribution arm of Christchurch City Council. As a consequence of Max Bradford's reform of the electricity sector, Southpower had to be split, and Sutton remained with the energy distribution part of one of its successors, Orion New Zealand Ltd, majority-owned by Christchurch City Holdings. From 1998 to 2002, he was general manager commercial at Orion. In December 2002, he was appointed general manager operations. In early March 2003, he became acting CEO of Orion, and took the position of CEO on 1 May 2003, being responsible for 500 staff. In 2011, his salary was $700k. , he is chairman of Connetics, a fully owned Orion subsidiary. He is chair of the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority.