December 30, 2025 • 6 mins
Leading figures, in motorsport, business, medicine and the arts are becoming Knights in today's New Year Honours List.
Xero founder Rod Drury, of Ngāi Tahu, has supported multiple infrastructure and philanthropy projects - particularly in Queenstown Lakes District.
He told Andrew Dickens that the title, "Doesn't kind of roll off the tongue yet, that's for sure."
LISTEN ABOVE
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
You're listening to a podcast from News Talks be follow
this and our wide range of podcasts now on iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Sir Rod Drury is being honored for his services to business,
the technology industry and philanthropy. He of course, founded the
global business accounting platform zero back in two thousand and six.
He was CEO there until twenty eighteen. It's our second
largest tech exporter. In the last few years, though, he's
focused on public good, infrastructure and philanthropy projects. And Sir
(00:38):
Rod Drury is with us this morning. Good oning to you,
sir Rod.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Heyway, thanks for the call.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
It's a pleasure. How are you handling me? Calling you,
sir Rod?
Speaker 3 (00:47):
Oh? Very strange. Stilln't kind of roll off the tongue yet,
that's for sure.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
I've talked to many new Nights before and they often
say or just call me Rod.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Are you going to be like that too, Yes, very much, sir.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
How do you feel about it?
Speaker 3 (01:01):
I mean it's a pretty humbling thing to feel a
huge amount of a gratitude for all the people I've
worked with over the last few Decas you know, these
things are always about teams, and you know, having a
great group of people around you and then you have
this really interesting feeling because I've always grown up with
sort of Knights and Dames being a New Zealand hero,
so to be pulled up into that group, as you know,
(01:23):
that certainly takes a bit of processing.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Well, you are a hero, Sarad. You made a really
amazing company, which is one thing. But the thing that
really stands out when people have that sort of business
success is when they move on into philanthropy, which you
have done tremendously and in fact, I think you're getting
the natve really for that. As much as zero, I'm.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
Really ambitious to New Zealand, and you know, we have
a few challenges going on at the moment, and I
think when you're from a technology background, and you know
we've got a global business with I think like four
or five thousand staff all over the world, you kind
of have a keen eye on all the big trends
that are happening and I think, you know, New Zealand's
probably not the strongest point. And to be able to
(02:08):
to use the business schools and the resources I have
to go and try to make things better for New
Zealand is something I really want to do for the
next twenty years, so you know kind of strategy. I
moved to Queenstown four or five years ago. It's a
good place if you're not working too much, and you know,
we have some infrastructure issues and our kind of feeling
as if we can solve some of our problems here.
(02:29):
So it's a good example for New Zealand and the
rest of the world. So I've been really enjoying the
last few years kind of leaning into a few projects,
and I think it's also been a bit of a
narrative around business not being good. I've always found that business,
you know, it is a really good thing. You're always
conscious about creating opportunities for your staff, for people, and
(02:49):
being able to use those schools to fix some of
the infrastructure problems. And you know, that's that definitely gives
me a lot of purpose right now.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Well, back in the day, of course, we had Helen
Clark banging on about the knowledge economy and you are
an example of that knowledge economy out of New Zealand
going to the world.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
Yeah, and it all comes back to you know, had
had two amazing school teachers back and that your boys,
Bob McCaw who was a pioneer at bringing computers into
school and he kind of unlocked that love of programming,
just the scale of it, and had a really good
accounting teacher, Fred Westrup, and I really enjoyed both classes.
(03:29):
And you know, over the last twenty years, both of
those things have come back together. But you know, we
didn't have much where I grew up, and just the
idea that you could build scale from New Zealand, I
think you're from a small set of locks and the
South specific you kind of have a bit of a chip
on your shoulder wanting to prove ourselves globally, and you know,
it's kind of kind of crazy looking back seeing how
(03:50):
big we are, I think four and a half million
small business customers around the world. You know, we were
a lost we were a loss making public company, and
that first sort of ten years in our lives, you know,
and now we're doing over two billion of revenue. So
it's wild.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
I'm fully aware. I've got a mate who who invested
in Apple in the early days when you're living in America,
came to live here. First thing invested in was zero
and and so obviously he's retired and living quite nicely,
thank you, because of this incredible success that you have
had and also Apple have had, so he'd be very
happy that you get knighthood. You say you're helping out
(04:27):
with the Queens sound infrastructures and stuff. Does that mean
you're a gondola guy, a light rail guy, or a
bus guy?
Speaker 3 (04:35):
A gondola guy. So he looked at a lot of
technologies over the last five years, but really by doing
the work. So I kind of love this idea of
a venture philanthropy where you're not just giving money away,
you're actually leaning in and putting time to things. So
working with a small team here, I managed to grab
ros Cope and it was the head of the Instructure Commission.
(04:56):
He's a big brain guy. And rather than him going
back into normal work, I said, well, why don't we
just spend a bit of spend a few years just
doing the work that needs to be done. So identified
we need more electricity coming into Queenstown. Kind of a
baby here, more than and then seventy percent of the
people that need to drive two hours for medical services
(05:18):
live in Queenstown, and we have these big issues with
public transport, which has lost our social license to tourism.
So we've just spent our time just investing in understanding
those problems working at the best solution. So on the
Gonzola project, we're just on the fast track process. We're
doing it closely with Motahu, bringing the community on board
(05:40):
with us, and we've done a heavy lifting. So now
in quite a short amount of time we've got a
project which is getting close to being fundable. But the
big judo move we're trying to do at the moment
is how do we get at community owned so that
the any superprofits that come in from tourists coming and
using the system can take the load off our rate
(06:02):
paths because one of our big issues in Queenstown we
have thirty times more tourism tourists than pairs that don't
have a direct nichromism for those tourists to fund their infrastructure.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Well, excellent work, so Rod and I thank you so
much for your time today. What a great New Zealander.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
EH For more from News Talks B listen live on
air or online and keep our shows with you wherever
you go with our podcasts on iHeartRadio.
You're listening to a podcast from News Talks be follow
this and our wide range of podcasts now on iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Sir Rod Drury is being honored for his services to business,
the technology industry and philanthropy. He of course, founded the
global business accounting platform zero back in two thousand and six.
He was CEO there until twenty eighteen. It's our second
largest tech exporter. In the last few years, though, he's
focused on public good, infrastructure and philanthropy projects. And Sir
(00:38):
Rod Drury is with us this morning. Good oning to you,
sir Rod.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Heyway, thanks for the call.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
It's a pleasure. How are you handling me? Calling you,
sir Rod?
Speaker 3 (00:47):
Oh? Very strange. Stilln't kind of roll off the tongue yet,
that's for sure.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
I've talked to many new Nights before and they often
say or just call me Rod.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Are you going to be like that too, Yes, very much, sir.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
How do you feel about it?
Speaker 3 (01:01):
I mean it's a pretty humbling thing to feel a
huge amount of a gratitude for all the people I've
worked with over the last few Decas you know, these
things are always about teams, and you know, having a
great group of people around you and then you have
this really interesting feeling because I've always grown up with
sort of Knights and Dames being a New Zealand hero,
so to be pulled up into that group, as you know,
(01:23):
that certainly takes a bit of processing.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Well, you are a hero, Sarad. You made a really
amazing company, which is one thing. But the thing that
really stands out when people have that sort of business
success is when they move on into philanthropy, which you
have done tremendously and in fact, I think you're getting
the natve really for that. As much as zero, I'm.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
Really ambitious to New Zealand, and you know, we have
a few challenges going on at the moment, and I
think when you're from a technology background, and you know
we've got a global business with I think like four
or five thousand staff all over the world, you kind
of have a keen eye on all the big trends
that are happening and I think, you know, New Zealand's
probably not the strongest point. And to be able to
(02:08):
to use the business schools and the resources I have
to go and try to make things better for New
Zealand is something I really want to do for the
next twenty years, so you know kind of strategy. I
moved to Queenstown four or five years ago. It's a
good place if you're not working too much, and you know,
we have some infrastructure issues and our kind of feeling
as if we can solve some of our problems here.
(02:29):
So it's a good example for New Zealand and the
rest of the world. So I've been really enjoying the
last few years kind of leaning into a few projects,
and I think it's also been a bit of a
narrative around business not being good. I've always found that business,
you know, it is a really good thing. You're always
conscious about creating opportunities for your staff, for people, and
(02:49):
being able to use those schools to fix some of
the infrastructure problems. And you know, that's that definitely gives
me a lot of purpose right now.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Well, back in the day, of course, we had Helen
Clark banging on about the knowledge economy and you are
an example of that knowledge economy out of New Zealand
going to the world.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
Yeah, and it all comes back to you know, had
had two amazing school teachers back and that your boys,
Bob McCaw who was a pioneer at bringing computers into
school and he kind of unlocked that love of programming,
just the scale of it, and had a really good
accounting teacher, Fred Westrup, and I really enjoyed both classes.
(03:29):
And you know, over the last twenty years, both of
those things have come back together. But you know, we
didn't have much where I grew up, and just the
idea that you could build scale from New Zealand, I
think you're from a small set of locks and the
South specific you kind of have a bit of a chip
on your shoulder wanting to prove ourselves globally, and you know,
it's kind of kind of crazy looking back seeing how
(03:50):
big we are, I think four and a half million
small business customers around the world. You know, we were
a lost we were a loss making public company, and
that first sort of ten years in our lives, you know,
and now we're doing over two billion of revenue. So
it's wild.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
I'm fully aware. I've got a mate who who invested
in Apple in the early days when you're living in America,
came to live here. First thing invested in was zero
and and so obviously he's retired and living quite nicely,
thank you, because of this incredible success that you have
had and also Apple have had, so he'd be very
happy that you get knighthood. You say you're helping out
(04:27):
with the Queens sound infrastructures and stuff. Does that mean
you're a gondola guy, a light rail guy, or a
bus guy?
Speaker 3 (04:35):
A gondola guy. So he looked at a lot of
technologies over the last five years, but really by doing
the work. So I kind of love this idea of
a venture philanthropy where you're not just giving money away,
you're actually leaning in and putting time to things. So
working with a small team here, I managed to grab
ros Cope and it was the head of the Instructure Commission.
(04:56):
He's a big brain guy. And rather than him going
back into normal work, I said, well, why don't we
just spend a bit of spend a few years just
doing the work that needs to be done. So identified
we need more electricity coming into Queenstown. Kind of a
baby here, more than and then seventy percent of the
people that need to drive two hours for medical services
(05:18):
live in Queenstown, and we have these big issues with
public transport, which has lost our social license to tourism.
So we've just spent our time just investing in understanding
those problems working at the best solution. So on the
Gonzola project, we're just on the fast track process. We're
doing it closely with Motahu, bringing the community on board
(05:40):
with us, and we've done a heavy lifting. So now
in quite a short amount of time we've got a
project which is getting close to being fundable. But the
big judo move we're trying to do at the moment
is how do we get at community owned so that
the any superprofits that come in from tourists coming and
using the system can take the load off our rate
(06:02):
paths because one of our big issues in Queenstown we
have thirty times more tourism tourists than pairs that don't
have a direct nichromism for those tourists to fund their infrastructure.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Well, excellent work, so Rod and I thank you so
much for your time today. What a great New Zealander.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
EH For more from News Talks B listen live on
air or online and keep our shows with you wherever
you go with our podcasts on iHeartRadio.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.
Two Guys, Five Rings: Matt, Bowen & The Olympics
Two Guys (Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers). Five Rings (you know, from the Olympics logo). One essential podcast for the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics. Bowen Yang (SNL, Wicked) and Matt Rogers (Palm Royale, No Good Deed) of Las Culturistas are back for a second season of Two Guys, Five Rings, a collaboration with NBC Sports and iHeartRadio. In this 15-episode event, Bowen and Matt discuss the top storylines, obsess over Italian culture, and find out what really goes on in the Olympic Village.