Survey and Spatial NZ (S+SNZ) board chairman Daniel Williams has announced the appointment of Ashley Church as the new chief executive.

Ashley Church has an extensive background in property, most recently as CEO of the Property Institute of New Zealand, a role he held from 2015 to 2019. Prior to this he has been CEO of the Newmarket Business Association and the Auckland Property Investors Association.

Mr Church is also a high-profile media commentator on the state of New Zealand’s property market and currently writes a weekly column for One Roof and participates in a regular NewsTalk ZB radio show dealing with property matters. He is also a regular commentator on property matters on TVNZ.

“I am looking forward to Ashley joining S+SNZ,” Mr Williams said. “He brings with him strong managerial and media focused skill-sets that will benefit S+SNZ going forward.”

Mr Church will commence his role at S+SNZ National Office in Wellington on Monday 3 February.

The appointment follows the recent election of Dr Kat Salm as the president of Survey and Spatial New Zealand.