Our Board

Julie Bohnenn (Chair)

Julie Bohnenn is a Professional Director with many years of governance experience. Julie is Chair of the Ballantynes Board. Her other current governance roles include Independent Director and Chair of Audit and Risk Committee for Farmlands Cooperative Society Limited, Independent Director of Forte Health Limited and Reform Radiology Limited. Julie is a Fellow of the Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand and also holds a Certificate in Company Direction from the Institute of Directors. She is a passionate Cantabrian and also spends time on the West Coast where she owns a farm in partnership with her husband.

Mark O’Donnell

Mark O’Donnell is Chief Executive Officer of Rockit Global Limited. He brings experience from a broad sector of businesses with experience in technology, FMCG, retail, manufacturing and B2B and B2C services. He relocated from Auckland in 2020 and is based in Hawkes Bay living in Te Awanga a small seaside area on a 10-acre lifestyle block.

Previously he has worked for House of Travel Holdings, Orbit World Travel, Fonterra Brands NZ; Spark/Telecom NZ and Lion Nathan.

He has held governance roles with Orcon, Super Liquor and The Icehouse. He joined the board of Ballantynes in 2020 where he chairs Audit and Risk. He joined Fingermark Holdings in 2022 as an independent director, he is also on the board of Primary Collaboration NZ which is a Shanghai based company set up as an incubator for NZ exporters. He is a Member of the Institute of Directors in NZ and has a bachelor’s degree in Accounting and Finance.

Jonathan Ballantyne

Jonathan Ballantyne has spent over 20 years in banking where he has held senior roles at BNP Paribas, Sumitomo Bank and Westpac. Most of this time has been focused on the financing of large infrastructure and resources projects. Prior to his banking career, Jonathan was a project manager for the property group, Lend Lease, involved in the development and refurbishment of shopping centres across Australia.

In 2018 Jonathan was an adviser to the Board of J Ballantyne & Co Ltd, assisting with the post-earthquake rebuild of the Christchurch store.

Jonathan holds Bachelor degrees in Commence and Civil Engineering and is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. Jonathan resides in Sydney but was born in Christchurch. He is the great-great grandson of the founder of Ballantynes.