Iain Blakeley is the Chairman of Family Business New Zealand. A lawyer and enrolled as a Barrister and Solicitor of the High Courts of New Zealand and Fiji.

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He brings with him more than 25 years experience in New Zealand as a civil/commercial litigator, government lawyer, tax and business advisor.

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For five years he headed up the Fiji Inland Revenue Department legal section providing advice to the Fiji Government on tax policy, drafting tax and investment legislation and conducting tax cases for the Commissioner of Inland Revenue.

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For more than 18 years he worked at EY, a global “Big 4” professional services firm, 13 of them as a Partner. In that time he provided tax specialist services to global and local clients, headed up the New Zealand Indirect Tax (GST and Customs) practice, specialised in real estate taxation, led the Auckland mid-market practice focussed on advising privately owned fast growing businesses, helped entrepreneurial businesses with growth strategies and helped high net worth families plan for intergenerational wealth and business succession.

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Iain works across a wide range of industries and have also developed over the years a deep understanding of tax and other business issues affecting the retirement village, aged care, tourism, non-profit, real estate and Maori sectors.

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His approach is practical and down to earth, uncluttered by jargon and unnecessary paperwork. I like to get to the heart of the issue and focus on problem solving

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For more than 10 years he has been an executive board member of the Royal New Zealand Pipe Bands Association. I also have non-exec roles with other piping related organisations and not-for-profit entities.