For the ambitious young associates currently grinding away at their six-minute units in the fluorescent-lit towers of Shortland Street, it’s time to take note – the promised land isn’t necessarily equity partnership. It’s the boardroom.
Look no further than Cathy Quinn ONZM. The former MinterEllisonRuddWatts chair and top-tier corporate lawyer has cemented her status in the upper echelons of New Zealand’s corporate elite, emerging as the country’s second highest-paid director for 2025.
According to recent corporate disclosures and data tracked by BusinessDesk, Quinn is pulling in a highly respectable $708,254 across her major commercial board seats, trailing only the ubiquitous Julia Hoare in the national rankings.
The burdens of modern governance are of course heavy – or so we are repeated told. But the compensation goes some way toward easing the load. Quinn’s governance trifecta breaks down into a lucrative series of retainers:
- Fonterra: $268,462
- Fletcher Building: $230,792
- Tourism Holdings Limited (thl): $209,000 (Chair)
It is doubtless a testament to Quinn’s formidable legal acumen and risk-management pedigree that she commands such figures, even while navigating the turbulent waters of some of New Zealand’s most heavily scrutinized corporates.
Fletcher Building, for instance, a company whose recent market updates haven’t exactly been written in gold leaf, continues to write reasonably golden cheques for the steadying hands at the board table. Meanwhile, she steers the ship as Chair at tourism heavyweight thl and helps keep the milk flowing at Fonterra.
But perhaps the most impressive part of Quinn’s $700,000+ governance haul is that she hasn’t entirely severed the umbilical cord to the legal profession.
While largely leaving the daily grind of corporate dealmaking to the next generation, Quinn keeps a highly qualified toe in the legal waters as a Consultant at her old stomping ground at MinterEllisonRuddWatts. It’s an arrangement that lends a certain gravitas to the firm’s letterhead while allowing Quinn to deploy her decades of M&A and capital markets expertise when the mood or the client demands it.
In an era where directors are quick to bemoan the rising personal liabilities and regulatory headaches of public boards, Quinn’s trajectory proves that the elite end of the governance club remains a highly comfortable place to be.
It certainly beats reviewing discovery documents at 10 p.m. on a Friday.
