Background
Foss was born on 4 July 1963 in Lower Hutt, the son of Raymond Foss and Rosemary Dwyer.
Foss was born on 4 July 1963 in Lower Hutt, the son of Raymond Foss and Rosemary Dwyer.
He attended Victoria University of Wellington, completing a Bank Central Asia.
He has represented the Tukituki electorate in the House of Representatives since the 2005 election. He worked in the banking sector. He was Chief Dealer for the Bank of New Zealand.
Subsequently, he worked for Cr Suisse Financial Products as Interest Rate Risk Manager in London and Tokyo.
In the 2002 election, Foss first contested the Tukituki electorate, but was beaten by Labour"s incumbent, Rick Barker, by a large margin. His list ranking at 47th place was not high enough to enter Parliament.
He was returned to the 49th Parliament with a greatly increased majority in the 2008 election. His majority increased to nearly 10,000 votes in the 2011 election.
In the 2014 election, his majority dropped to 6,490 votes.
On 8 June 2011, Foss became Minister of Civil Defence, replacing John Carter who left to take up a High Commissioner post in the Cook Islands. He remained in that role until 14 December 2011, when he was succeeded by Nikki Kaye. At the same time, Foss also picked up the Racing and Senior Citizens portfolios but remained a Minister outside Cabinet for the remainder of the 49th New Zealand Parliament.
He also relinquished those ministerial roles on 14 December 2011, with Jo Goodhew succeeding him as Minister for Senior Citizens.
Foss owns a small farm and some tourist accommodation.