Dr Rodger Spiller
Rodger’s long-standing passion for human development had early roots. At age 11 he was reading books on consciousness that were emerging from the USA in the early 1970s and he attended his first personal development workshops shortly thereafter. He was also passionate about business, taking courses on accounting and economics at age 13. This theory helped build on the experience from his early enterprises, which at that stage already included being a driving force for a significant fund-raising initiative, creating and selling a coin collection and managing two daily and one weekly delivery rounds.
He established Rodger Spiller & Associates and began presenting courses on leadership in 1984, when at age 20 he was one of New Zealand’s youngest full-time lecturers in business and successfully presented his in-house executive course to one of the country’s largest organizations. Since then he has continued to research and develop his leadership development training and coaching, including qualifying in the USA as an Authorised Provider of The Leadership Challenge®, a Certified Immunity-to-Change™ Coach and Facilitator, a Certfied and Authorised Teacher with the Enneagram InstituteSM and a Courage & Renewal facilitator with the Center for Courage & Renewal.
Rodger completed a Bachelor of Commerce (1983), winning the Senior Prize in Accountancy for research on accounting for business social responsibility, then qualified as a Chartered Accountant. Studying part-time while lecturing, he then completed a Management Diploma and postgraduate papers in Training and Development, Organisational Behaviour and Business Communication. Then he completed a Master of Commerce degree (1990) (First Class Honours) with papers including Advanced Organisational Behaviour and a thesis that included investment and leadership development, which was presented internationally. In 1999 he graduated with a Doctorate: his dissertation researched philosophy including virtue ethics, responsible investment and the development of responsible business leadership internationally and locally. Rodger’s PhD research was published and presented at international academic conferences and he continues to research and write about leadership for international publications, most recently a chapter on responsible investment and authentic leadership in the book Authentic Leadership (Spiller, C. & Ladkin, D., 2013).
In addition to his excellent academic credentials Rodger brings a vast wealth of coaching, presenting and consulting experience to his leadership development work. He also brings his perspective as an experienced business leader and leading investment adviser. Rodger has led his own investment advisory business, Money Matters (NZ) Ltd since 1993. It specialises in responsible investment and in helping investors seeking to make money and make a difference. The focus is investing in companies that are researched and rated as Responsible Leaders, which includes consideration of how these businesses develop their leaders. Rodger has extensive experience as a media commentator including offering financial guidance in the television series Money Doctor. Most recently he has featured on radio and television as an expert on ethics, responsible business and responsible investment.
In 1997 the New Zealand Institute of Management awarded Rodger its Small Business Manager of the Year Award. Two years later he won the inaugural Good Returns New Zealand Financial Planner of the Year Award. Rodger is a former Chairman of the New Zealand professional association for investment advisers and financial planners where he represented New Zealand internationally and worked with the International Certified Financial Planner (CFP) Standards Board to bring the CFP professional certification to New Zealand. He has also served as a Member of the NZ Securities Commission where he contributed to the creation and promotion of Corporate Governance Principles for NZ. Rodger also served as a Member of the Nominating Committee of the New Zealand Superannuation Fund and Director of Transparency International (NZ), Oxfam (NZ) and the Responsible Investment Association Australasia.
Rodger’s business career has also included serving as New Zealand Executive Director of the Australasian investment research firm IPAC Securities for five years from 1998 to 1993; Executive Director and a Founding Member of NZ Businesses for Social Responsibility (now the Sustainable Business Network); Executive Director of the NZ Business Council for Sustainable Development (now the Sustainable Business Council) and in that capacity in 2002 representing New Zealand business at the United Nations World Summit on Sustainable Development, where he also presented on a business panel.
Now some 40 years on from attending that first personal development course, Rodger continues to attend a wide range of personal and professional development courses and to participate in other opportunities that depth his potential to support others to develop. Rodger Spiller & Associates’ clients reap the harvest of his forty year investment and can be assured that he truly walks the talk.
Rodger is married to Chellie, is passionate about helping individuals and organizations to make money and make a difference, attending and presenting personal and professional leadership development courses and being with his family and friends.