Tenure Flag (Long Service)
A neutral observation surfaced on person profiles when an individual has served on a single board or trustee role for more than 10 years. The flag is descriptive, not normative — long service often reflects continuity, deep institutional knowledge, or low board turnover in the sector.
Where you’ll see this label: /people/[slug] · /charity-people/[slug] (Charity Governance Impact panel)
What it measures
For each person we compute the longest single-board tenure across their current and past appointments. When the longest tenure exceeds 10 years, we surface the figure on the person profile in a small footnote alongside their portfolio governance-impact stats.
We surface the metric because length of service is an arithmetic fact derived from publicly-disclosed appointment dates. We frame it neutrally because long tenure on its own is not a governance concern — it can equally reflect the trust of fellow trustees, the skill scarcity of the sector, or the continuity needs of a specialist organisation.
Inputs
- shared.all_positions (current + past)Appointment dates and resignation dates for every charity, iwi, NZX, and public-sector role we have on file. Sourced from the relevant public registers (Charities Register, NZX announcements, Companies Office, Te Kawa Mataaho).
Algorithm
For each appointment row with a non-null start_date:
- If the appointment is current (
resignation_date IS NULL), tenure = today − start_date. - If the appointment has ended, tenure = resignation_date − start_date.
- Convert to years (divide by 365.25).
- Take the maximum across all of the person’s appointments.
- If the maximum exceeds 10 years, render the footnote with hedging copy.
Source code: app/(shared)/people/[name]/PersonDetailClient.tsx · app/(charity)/charity-people/[slug]/CharityPersonTabs.tsx
Editorial guardrails
- The footnote uses neutral-tone styling (no amber alert icon, no “flag” framing) and is accompanied by explicit hedging copy: “Long service often reflects continuity, deep institutional knowledge, or low board turnover in the sector — it does not by itself indicate concentration of power or governance concern.”
- The threshold is 10 years — chosen because it covers a typical board succession cycle (3 × 3-year terms) plus margin. Shorter thresholds would surface routine continuity rather than notable longevity.
- This flag is the ONLY tenure-related observation we surface on person profiles. We do not publish “serial trustee” or “professional director” framings.
Limitations
These are the known limits of the methodology. We disclose them publicly so readers can weigh the observation in context, and so that any qualified-privilege defence under the Defamation Act 1992 §16(2) rests on demonstrably fair and accurate reporting.
- Appointment dates from older charity registrations can be approximate. Some pre-2008 dates default to the charity's registration date rather than the trustee's actual joining date.
- NZX director appointment dates are reliable from 2002 onward; earlier dates are extracted from annual reports and may be approximate.
- A person who has served 9 years on Board A and 11 years on Board B will have the flag fire on Board B, even if their A-board tenure is more material to their public profile.
- The metric does not distinguish executive directors (typically full-time) from non-executive directors (typically part-time, multi-board); both are equally surfaced.
- Long tenure on a small charity board is structurally different from long tenure on a major listed-company board; the threshold treats them identically.
Right of reply
Anyone named in connection with this label has a right of reply via the public dispute & right-of-reply form. Submissions go to our editorial review queue with a 5-business-day response target. We will publish your contextual statement alongside the data point or label it addresses. See Data Principles for the full corrections + removal policy.