NZRL Zones

Southern Zone Board Director Biographies

Rex Capil (Southland) - Chairman
Rex is married to Carolyn and has five children between the ages of 21 to 10 years of age.  He has a Bachelor of Arts (double major in Economics and History) - Otago University, a Diploma of Teaching - Secondary Education from Dunedin College of Education and a Post Graduate Diploma in Sport Management and Coaching - Massey University.  From 1991 - 2001 Rex held roles at Southland Boys' High School, Southland District Council and Sport Southland.  He is currently the Group Manager Community Development and Events at Venture Southland where he manages and develops the Community Development team and central local government contracts, projects and initiatives.  Rex is also involved in Property Management and is a Project Manager for Education Southland.  His community involvement and service includes Chairman of Softball New Zealand Board, NZ delegate to Congress for the International Softball Federation and is the Deputy Chairman for the Southland Girls' High School Board of Trustees.

John Brimble (Otago)
John is the Chief Executive of the regional sports trust Sport Otago and has been in the role for over two years.  Prior to this he worked in the private sector for one of New Zealand's largest Independent Practioner's Associations as Business Manager where he provided services to 17 primary health organisations (PHO).  He also spent an extensive period of time in local Government where as General Manager Operations and Services he had a wide portfolio and further developed his expertise in project management, major infrastructural upgrades and developments.  John is married to Kate and they have three adult sons.  John has a huge passion for sport and sports administration.  He has competed at a national level in athletics and at provincial level for rugby.  He played rugby league for Auckland University and has been associated with Otago University Rugby League with his eldest son having played for Otago.  John is currently on the Board of the New Zealand Masters Games Dunedin for a second term having been a Director for nine years previously.  He is also a member of the New Zealand Universities and Tertiary Rugby League Council and has been involved in a number of SPARC working parties.

Carolyn Harkess  (Canterbury)
Carolyn is currently involved in some Strategic Project work for Southern Pine Products & Stillwater Lumber.  Prior employment history saw Carolyn as the CEO of Kitchen Studio Group and she held a number of positions with Carter Holt Harvey based in New Zealand and Australia.  Carolyn has an MBA from Massey University and a Diploma of Management.  Carolyn commenced on the Southern Zone Board in July 2009 and was reappointed to this board in 2011.  Carolyn is also an Independent Director on the board of the MetService.

Reon Edwards (Canterbury)
Reon is General Manager for SB Global Logistics, an International Freight Forwarding and Logistics business in Christchurch, employing over 60 staff. He serves as an executive director on the SB Board and is also a director on the Aspire Canterbury Board which is the governing body for several disability organizations. His business experience is in general management, sales and marketing, governance, exporting/importing, supply chain and tourism. He is also a member of the Canterbury Institute of Directors.

Reon was born in Christchurch and graduated with an MBA from Massey University. He is married with one daughter and loves keeping fit and healthy through sporting activities. Reon also played Rugby League in Canterbury for over 20 years. He enjoys networking, learning about businesses and adding value by applying his knowledge and skills gained through his education and business background.

Paul Jones (Canterbury)
Paul played rugby league from when he was 8 years old until he was 26. He represented Canterbury in most grades and made the Southern Zone under 15 team and NZ teams for two years in the U19 grade. He captained the Linwood Premier team and played for Canterbury B and a couple of games for Canterbury A Premier grade. He has have coached schoolboy and U17 club teams, and served on the Linwood Club committee for a couple of years.

For the past few years he has been working for a number of Fletcher Building Companies in senior management roles and is presently Business Development Manager /South Island Sales Manager for O'Brien Group (a Fletcher Building Company) a benchtop manufacturing company.