Mr. Brian Lynch succeeds Mr. Denis McNamara as the new chair of NZPECC (NZ committee for PECC). 

Mr. Lynch is a graduate of Canterbury University with double masters degrees. He was a member of the New Zealand diplomatic service from 1964 to 1981. He served in New York (United Nations), Singapore, and London missions.

Following ten years as Deputy Secretary of Transport, he was chief executive for eleven years (1992-2003) of the New Zealand association of meat companies. He was the founding chair of the Trade Liberalisation Network (now the New Zealand International Business Forum) and the New Zealand Food Industry Foundation. For nine years he was chair of a government statutory agency (Horticulture Export Authority) and board member for six years of another (New Zealand Meat Board). Between 2004 and 2013, he was chair and a board member of three non-government/not-for-profit organizations in the refugee, creative arts and service club sectors.

During 2003-2012, Brian was Executive Director of the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs (NZIIA) and was made a life member in 2012. He chairs Education Wellington International and the Wellington branch of the NZIIA, and is a Member of the Institute of Directors. He was the New Zealand alternate member of the APEC Business Advisory Council from 2004 to 2009, and since 2013, has been a Senior Fellow at the Centre for Strategic Studies, Victoria University of Wellington. In 2004 Mr Lynch was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit (ONZM).