Ollie Farnsworth

The proud Aucklander is currently the Chief Financial Officer at Tourism Holdings Limited (THL), but has previously held senior leadership roles here in Aotearoa, as well as the USA and China.

“I aim to put myself in good places, commit to learning and try to make a difference,” he says. “I believe that if you focus on these things, the rest will sort itself out.”

Long before he was named the New Zealand Young Executive of the Year in the Deloitte Top 200 awards, Farnsworth’s passion for business leadership started at Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland. Beyond securing a Bachelor of Commerce degree with first class honours, he says it was the environment around his studies that had the biggest impact.

“I spent three years working almost full-time on campus as a business development manager at StudentCard, which gave me early work experience and connected me to all elements of the University. I also got involved in the University’s ‘Spark’ programme due to my interest in entrepreneurship,” he says. “These experiences collectively landed me a graduate job with Deloitte Consulting.”

From there, his career has taken him around the world, including launching a food and beverage start-up in Beijing, running consultancies in Shanghai, New York and Atlanta, and a range of executive roles back in New Zealand. Of course, that globetrotting journey hasn’t been without its trials. One of his biggest professional challenges came in China, where his start-up closed after a tough 18 months.

“Despite the challenges, I wasn’t ready to call it quits on Asia, so I ended up teaching English to pay rent. It took me about 200 job applications to land my next job, which I finally found in Shanghai.”

Another test came when the Covid-19 pandemic hit. Farnsworth was Chief Commercial Officer at THL when tourism revenues fell to zero overnight. Ever the optimist, he and his team focused on finding new opportunities. This included unlocking a new domestic market with the award-winning campaign “Get Moving to get New Zealand Moving”, which allowed Kiwis to rent campervans from $29 a day.

“It blew up, literally,” he says. “Many of our systems stalled under the weight of demand, where four months of bookings were made in days.”

Outside of the business realm, Farnsworth enjoys a busy life in Auckland with his partner and three young kids. In his spare time, he applies the ‘opposite worlds’ approach made famous by New Zealand-based leadership researcher Nick Petrie, throwing himself into environments that could not be more different to the business world. For example, he’s learned a lot from performing improvised comedy over the last three years.

“It helps me get comfortable with imperfection, practice connection and stay creatively fresh,” he says.

Farnsworth isn’t one to soak up the spotlight.

“Achieving something on your own is great, but it's even sweeter when you've been in the trenches with someone and can celebrate together.”

And while he focuses on staying present, there is a lot of excitement about where things might go next.

“I like to keep getting challenged,” he says. “My goal has always been more about the journey than the destination.”