Mr Foster (39) took over the role last week from Ken Lister who yesterday marked 24 years at the firm. Mr Lister said the timing felt right to step down after 14 years as branch manager which he described as the "face of Forsyth Barr" in the city.
But he was not retiring; his wife Barbara Bridger recently joined the Central Lakes Trust as chief executive and was now living in Arrowtown. He would be able to now "focus 100%" on clients and transition to Arrowtown over the next couple of years, eventually working from Forsyth Barr’s Queenstown office in 2025.
Brought up in Dunedin and educated at Otago Boys’ High School, Mr Foster completed a commerce degree, majoring in economics, at the University of Otago.
After graduating in 2006, he joined Forsyth Barr where he has remained, apart from a stint as a senior investment adviser at Westpac. With more than 100 staff in Dunedin and about 500 staff nationwide, there were many opportunities within the firm.
It was family ties and a strong community pull that saw Mr Foster remain in the city. Married with two young children, he was the third-generation to play football for Roslyn-Wakari.
Along with a strong network of friends, it was hard to even contemplate moving away, particularly when there were opportunities to develop and thrive career-wise.
"Life in Dunedin is pretty good," he said.
When Mr Lister took over as branch manager, it was the Global Financial Crisis. Now Mr Foster was taking over at another economically challenging time, with high interest rates, high inflation and the cost of living.
Retirees made up a large number of Forsyth Barr’s clients and they were "feeling the pinch". The key challenge was navigating that, Mr Foster said.
A major change at Forsyth Barr had been the firm’s shift in focus from predominantly being a share-broking business to an investment management business, he said.
With that came the change from being transaction-oriented or reactive to what the client wanted to do, to more front footing that, advising and guiding clients.
He was grateful for the large amount of experience in the team of about 15 advisers in Dunedin; there was not high turnover and advisers tended to stay for a long period.
There was also now a much more team-focused approach to managing client relationships, rather than just individuals. That was great for the culture of the business and for the business, he said.
Another good thing about working at Forsyth Barr was it was a staff-owned business so having that buy-in into driving growth in the business was something that was very important. It was also very committed to Dunedin, he said.
One of his ambitions was to continue to grow the business and therefore the team of advisers.
Mr Lister said he was leaving the position knowing that it was in very capable hands. Mr Foster was personable, engaging, bright and showed leadership skills.
