Past Presidents: Mike Billinghurst

FCANZ
Jun 30
4 min read

In its 20-year history, FCANZ has benefited from the wisdom, guidance and dedication of six different Presidents. WIRED’s Rosa Watson talked to four of them about the challenges of setting up an incorporated society from scratch, gaining traction with members and corporate partners, their individual focuses as President, and the satisfaction of contributing to the Association’s success.

Mike Billinghurst

FCANZ President, 2016 - 2018

For Mike Billinghurst, serving as FCANZ president for two years gave him the opportunity to forge strong relationships within the industry.

His time on the Board started in 2013 when he decided to step up and get involved.

“I was the only member of that Board that was an Accredited Contractor, so I was put in charge of the accredited membership part of the Board.”

He was elected vice president in 2015, using that time to get to know the partnership agreements and become known to FCANZ partners. This involved calling them regularly and visiting them at Fieldays, where he could.

In 2016, he was voted in as President, replacing Simon Fuller, who made the decision to stand down.

During this time, FCANZ had lost Taratahi as its training provider.

“So, a fair bit of the Board’s time was spent assessing what to do in that space. It certainly was not easy”.

It was a big learning curve, Mike says, but he had the benefit of a solid team sitting alongside him.

“I had a great team. We had a lot of work to do, we did quite a bit of work on partnership agreements, building on strong relationships built by previous Boards, forging new partners, and building the membership base that had been quite stagnant for some years.”

During his tenure, the Board employed a new Administration Officer, a WIRED editor, and an Administration Manager to keep things moving while non-paid Board members were at their daily jobs.

He says some of his finest memories from that time were the relationships he developed, both with Board members and partners that back the industry.

“I really enjoyed my time on the Board.”

It eventually led to him finding work in sales with one of the organisation’s partners, Stockade.

There were at times frustrations with the level of engagement from members.

“You could send an email out to members asking for feedback, and only get a handful of responses. That makes things difficult when trying to steer the industry for them.”

Mike says the fencing industry is full of variety.

“There are contractors who have been chugging along for years as a one-man band and are very happy to do things their way. Others have several gangs of men and spend all week trying to price work and keep the bookings up.”

He says stepping up for representation is something that is ingrained in his family background.

“I was brought up in a family where I saw my father represent all sorts of committees. He was on the school committee, pony club, dog trials, the local hall committee, the church ... the list goes on.

“I saw it as my turn to stand up for an industry I enjoyed working in. I had just had six years as Chairman of the school Board of Trustees (BOT), (and) I had been asked about standing for FCANZ, but I didn’t have time to do both. So, after two terms with the BOT, I decided to accept a nomination.”

He says it was also something he wanted to do for his future.

“I knew that I couldn’t fence forever, so decided I could continue working in the industry I loved in some way. Being on the Board, learning the other side of the industry would stand me in good stead for a career in sales possibly.”

He says that until more members take up the opportunities in training and accreditation, it will be hard to promote things like the Accredited or Master fencing programme.

“The industry is just too small, I feel, to insist to public companies, councils and the like that they have all their work constructed by an Accredited or Certified member.”

His eight years in sales have been entirely with FCANZ industry partners.

“It’s what drives me daily; wanting to supply our fencers with the best product possible, (with) minimal downtime due to issues, and just backing our product 100 per cent.

Looking to the future, he says the Association should move towards becoming less reliant on partnerships for income.

“We do not want it to become a political football pulled in any certain direction.

“Members need to be heard. They also need to speak up and do their bit. Don’t grizzle about how something is tracking if you are not willing to paddle the waka.”

Article written by Rosa Watson

Published in WIRED issue 81/June 2026 by Fencing Contractors Association NZ

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