ABB
Alister was employed in 1990 by ABB (Asea Brown Boveri), a Swiss based global company, to run ABB Service in NZ. ABB Service carried out all sorts of maintenance and service work in the power sector. Later he was asked to lead ABB Industrial Group in NZ which was formed incorporating ABB Service, ABB Motors, ABB Drives, ABB Process Automation and ABB Kent Taylor.
ABB at this time was led globally by Percy Barnevik, a visionary, a wonderful communicator and leader of people. ABB had some 300,000 employees globally.
In 1992 a change was made and ABB NZ began reporting through ABB Australia.
ABB operated a matrix structure so Alister had a lot to do with the Service Business Area, the leader of which was based in Belgium. He attended annual BA conferences and indeed was fortunate enough to get to Zurich and spend a day with Percy Barnevik as part of a future leaders programme. He was also fortunate to get the opportunity to undertake a course of study at IMD (International Institute of Management Development) in Lausanne, Switzerland, focussed on “The Strategies of Change”. This was attended by CEOs, MDs, and GMs from all around the world and proved to be a fantastic learning experience.