Jon Calder

Qualifications : MBA, PGDipMS, University of Waikato.

Jon is an experienced leader with a proven record in leading change, through organisational transformation and process redesign. Jon’s passion lies in designing strategy and building organisation-wide capability to execute and deliver a superior level of performance and profitability. His success has been demonstrated through a track record of growing brands and creating sustainable performance improvement to realise value.

As Chief Executive of Tompkins Wake, Jon leads the firm, combining our 100 years of history with some of New Zealand’s most talented legal practitioners and since 2016, has guided the firm through its growth to become a leading New Zealand law firm, with Tompkins Wake being named New Zealand Mid-size Law Firm of the Year in 2019, 2020 and again in 2021.

In 2018, Jon was named Chief Executive of the Year at the Westpac Waikato Business Awards recognising his leadership and achievement with the Judges commenting that “Jon is courageously confident yet humble, grounded and always looking for ways to improve. He has found his own authentic leadership style.”

2019 saw Jon named Managing Partner (Chief Executive) of the Year (<100 Lawyers) at the New Zealand Law Awards and he won the award again in 2020 becoming the first law firm leader to win the award two years consecutively.

Prior to joining Tompkins Wake, Jon held senior leadership roles with a number of iconic New Zealand organisations including Air New Zealand and Infratil.

An experienced and confident communicator, Jon has a proven ability to engage and connect with stakeholders at all levels including experience in international business and government level forums.

Other Credentials

• Excellence Awardee (and Finalist), Law Firm Leader of the Year (>100 lawyers), 2023 NZ Law Awards
• Leading the Law Firm of the Future Program, Harvard Law School, Harvard University, 2022
• Excellence Awardee (and Finalist), Managing Partner of the Year (<100 lawyers), 2022 NZ Law Awards
• Most Influential Lawyers List, NZ Lawyer 2021
• Managing Partner (Chief Executive) of the Year (<100 lawyers), 2020 NZ Law Awards
• Managing Partner (Chief Executive) of the Year (<100 lawyers), 2019 NZ Law Awards
• Leadership in Law Firms, Harvard Law School, Harvard University, 2018
• Chief Executive of the Year, Westpac Waikato Business Awards, 2018
• Foundation Board member, Agenda Waikato
• Member and Alumnus, Te Hono Movement
• Te Hono Bootcamp IV, Stanford Graduate School of Business, Stanford, 2015
• Member, New Zealand Institute of Directors