James Shaw

Background

Shaw was born in Wellington, and raised by his mother.

Education

He attended Wellington High School (1985–1990) and Victoria University of Wellington. Shaw completed an Master of Science in sustainability and business leadership at the University of Bath School of Management in 2005.

Career

Shaw was elected the party"s male co-leader in May 2015. He lived in London for 12 years, before returning to New Zealand in 2010. Prior to returning to Wellington in 2010, Shaw worked for consultants PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Between 2011 and 2014, Shaw worked as both a consultant for Household Bank bank on "environmental awareness programmes for future leaders" and also at Wellington social enterprise the Akina Foundation.

In the 2011 election, Shaw stood in the Wellington Central electorate, succeeding Sue Kedgley. He was 15th on the 2011 party list and the highest-placed candidate who did not make it into Parliament.

Shaw has said that in the 2011 Greens selection process, party members "didn"t have a lot of time to get to know me" and disregarded him as "an ex-PricewaterhouseCoopers management consultant in a suit". He says he has proved his worth to the party subsequently, and was rewarded with a higher list ranking in the 2014 election.

Shaw was one of two Green Party members with significantly increased draft list rankings in March 2014 (the other is Julie Anne Genter).

Bryce Edwards said in The New Zealand Herald that Shaw represented "the more environmentally-focused, non-left side of the party – what might be called the New Greens faction – people who are more at home in the business world wearing corporate attire than amongst the far left.. There will be many that see Shaw as a future co-leader of the party." First term in Parliament: 2014–present Shaw was elected to Parliament in the 2014 general election on the Green Party list. When Russel Norman announced his retirement from the co-leadership position, Shaw was one of the four candidates who ran to replace him.

During the campaign, he said that as co-leader he would try and connect with "the 28 percent of voters that considered voting Green last year and didn’t and remove all of the barriers that are currently stopping them voting Green".

At the Green Party AGM on 30 May 2015 he received the highest number of votes, and was elected male co-leader. He also said in his first major speech that he wanted the Green Party to be "more like modern New Zealand", and expand its membership both in terms of numbers and to include a more diverse group of people.

Achievements

• Shaw won 54 per cent of the first preference votes, compared to Kevin Hague who won 44 per cent (the other two candidates both won 1 per cent).

Politics

Shaw believes that the market can be reformed to incorporate sustainability within its normal operations. In an interview with the Aro Valley Valley Voice he put forward his views:.