Barry Timmings – High flyer has a taste for Dunedin
As far as Pricewaterhouse Coopers Director Barry Timmings is concerned, Dunedin is about and not or. You can have a great lifestyle and a great career – or doesn’t even come into the equation.
Barry was at Otago Boys’ High School between ‘83 and ‘87 before going into the air force, pursuing an interest in flying which included him going solo at the tender age of 15.
However, at the same time he had also begun to develop an interest in business and accounting through OBHS teacher Brian Ashwin.
“Eventually I came to realise my passion was actually business not flying,” says Barry.
To cut a long story short, Barry stayed on the Air Force path, ending up spending a year at the Australian Defence Forces Academy in Canberra as a University Officer Cadet.
As you would expect the degree included plenty of maths and physics but Barry crammed in as many business-related papers as he could get away with.
After about 18-months he decided to head back to Dunedin and take on a B.Comm at the University of Otago.
Once he had graduated, Barry landed a job with Deloittes working in audit for about four years before getting the opportunity to move to Canada.
“I had two years in Vancouver doing a range of audit and also stock exchange work such as IPOs, capital raising and reporting to the stock exchange.”
Barry returned to Dunedin in 1997, eventually moving to Price Waterhouse Cooper in 2003 to take on more of a business advisory role.
He has clients all over New Zealand and is heavily involved in Price Waterhouse Coopers’ South Island Technology Group, supporting new tech companies at the start-up and early stage level.
Barry is also involved in corporate finance, particular buy-side due diligence with companies in Sydney, Melbourne and New Zealand.
“I feel I have the best of both worlds. I get to live and work here but I also get to work with businesses in other parts of New Zealand and Australia.”
He is extremely positive about the business opportunities Dunedin presents.
“Historically the area has been strong in farming and forestry etc but on top of that we are also making great strides in other areas. There are new technology companies with enormous potential and a number of companies being launched out of technology developed at the University.”
He also points out that companies that were once working to individual order are now creating their own range of products.
“That’s an important step. We need to be asking how do we create new products or market opportunities off the back of those things.”
Dunedin’s business renaissance is also matched by its cultural one, Barry claims.
His own personal favourite is the steamer basin area of the Dunedin waterfront where he has opened the Customhouse Restaurant in late 2006.
“I saw a lot of waterfront development when I was living in Vancouver. I think Dunedin’s waterfront will go from strength to strength with the addition of the Chinese Gardens and the Otago Regional Council’s planned office building,” he says
Barry is on the board of Tourism Dunedin and is delighted by the way people seem to be re-engaging with Dunedin’s heritage, such as Olveston, Speight’s and the railway station.
“I think Dunedin is well-positioned for the future with its heritage, its ecology and the fact is has Central Otago on its doorstep,” he says.
“It’s time to set some objectives and set some goals.”