New Zealand Business Roundtable members have elected Roger Partridge as the new chair of the organisation.
He replaces Rob McLeod who was appointed in July to be managing partner, New Zealand and Australia, based in Sydney.
Partridge has been chairman of Bell Gully since 2007 after heading the firm's litigation department for three years and he has been a member of the Business Roundtable since 2008.
He was also a director of the Legal Research Foundation, New Zealand's leading private law reform body, from 2001 to 2010.
McLeod says he is very pleased to have someone of Partridge's calibre and extensive commercial law experience to succeed him as chairman.
McLeod will continue as a member of the Business Roundtable.
Partridge says he is delighted to accept the position and he looks forward to contributing to the organisation's mission of lifting productivity and raising standards of living for all New Zealanders through encouraging improvements in public policies.