Anna Jane Mowbray (born July 1983) is a New Zealand entrepreneur and businesswoman. Together with her brothers Mat and

Nick Nick may refer to: People and fictional characters * Nick (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Désirée Nick, German actress and writer Places * Nick, Hungary, a village * Nick, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, Poland, a ...

, she leads the Chinese toy manufacturer ZURU; her role is

chief operating officer A chief operating officer (COO), also called chief operations officer, is an executive in charge of the daily operations of an organization (i.e. personnel, resources, and logistics). COOs are usually second-in-command immediately after the C ...

. Using her contacts in China, she organised the delivery of personal protective equipment to New Zealand early on during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

Early life

Mowbray grew up in

Cambridge, New Zealand Cambridge () is a town in the Waipā District of the Waikato region of the North Island of New Zealand. Situated southeast of Hamilton, New Zealand, Hamilton, on the banks of the Waikato River, Cambridge is known as "The Town of Trees & Champi ...

, and was educated at St Peter's School. Her parents owned a dairy farm in Cambridge.

ZURU

Her brothers relocated to Hong Kong in 2003 to set up a toy manufacturing company and soon moved to China. She joined them in China in 2005. First based in

Guangzhou Guangzhou, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Canton or Kwangchow, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Guangdong Provinces of China, province in South China, southern China. Located on the Pearl River about nor ...

, the company was shifted to

Shenzhen Shenzhen is a prefecture-level city in the province of Guangdong, China. A Special economic zones of China, special economic zone, it is located on the east bank of the Pearl River (China), Pearl River estuary on the central coast of Guangdong ...

to be closer to

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

(where international buyers come to) and because the Shenzhen workforce is claimed to be more highly educated. As of 2020, Mowbray was ZURU's

COVID-19 response

Mowbray relocated from Hong Kong to Coatesville north of

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

in late January 2020 as schools had shut in Hong Kong due to the

. Having experienced the rapid progression of the pandemic in China and Hong Kong, she publicly spoke out on 13 March 2020 and urged the New Zealand government to close the borders to all but returning residents. At the end of March, Mowbray foresaw that there would be a world shortage of

personal protective equipment Personal protective equipment (PPE) is protective clothing, helmets, goggles, or other garments or equipment designed to protect the wearer's body from injury or infection. The hazards addressed by protective equipment include physical, elect ...

(PPE) and pulled together a team of ZURU staff based in New Zealand and China to procure product. She worked closely with Rob Fyfe, who was appointed by the New Zealand government to undertake business liaison. Several cargo planes chartered by ZURU from

Air New Zealand Air New Zealand Limited () is the flag carrier of New Zealand. Based in Auckland, the airline operates scheduled passenger flights to 20 domestic and 28 international destinations in 18 countries, primarily within the Pacific Rim. The airline h ...

arrived in New Zealand from early April.

Private life

Mowbray has three children from her first marriage to Blake Wong. Her children were first educated in Shenzhen and then in Hong Kong when she moved there. In 2019, Mowbray began a relationship with

Ali Williams Alexander James Williams (born 30 April 1981) is a retired New Zealand professional rugby union player who played as a lock most notably for Super Rugby club Blues and the New Zealand national team. Williams spent almost all of his playing car ...

, a former

All Black The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks, is the representative men's national team in the sport of rugby union for the nation of New Zealand, which is considered the country's national sport. Famed for th ...

, who has two girls from his former marriage, and the couple married in Fiji in August 2024. The Mowbray siblings bought Coatesville mansion in Coatesville in 2017 for NZ$32.5 million when they were in their early 30s. The mansion is one of New Zealand's most expensive homes and is famous for the January 2012 raid when

Kim Dotcom Kim Dotcom (né Schmitz; born 21 January 1974), also known as Kimble and Kim Tim Jim Vestor, is a Finnish-German Internet entrepreneur and political activist who lives in Glenorchy, New Zealand. He rose to fame in Germany in the 1990s as a ha ...

lived there. According to the ''

National Business Review ''National Business Review'' (or ''NBR'') is one of New Zealand's business news publishing websites. The NBR has focused on delivering breaking business news and analysis since its founding in 1970. NBR is known for its independent journalism f ...

'', the net worth of the siblings is NZ$3bn. In 2020, Mowbray and Williams bought a NZ$24m waterfront property in the Auckland suburb of Westmere; the house was previously owned by film maker

Andrew Adamson Andrew Ralph Adamson (born 1 December 1966) is a New Zealand film director, producer, screenwriter and animator. He is best known for directing the DreamWorks Animation, DreamWorks animated film ''Shrek'' (2001), which is based on the Shrek!, ...

. Mowbray also has an investment in the new

A League A-League Men, also known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional soccer league in Australia and New Zealand and the highest level of the Australian soccer league system. Established in 2004 as the A-League by the ...

franchise

Auckland FC Auckland Football Club, commonly known as Auckland FC, is a professional football club based in Auckland, New Zealand that competes in the A-League Men, the top flight of Australian soccer. Established on 14 March 2024, the club is under lic ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mowbray, Anna New Zealand manufacturing businesspeople New Zealand billionaires People educated at St Peter's School, Cambridge Living people 1983 births