Simon Bridges

Simon Bridges is a lawyer turned senior National politician and MP for Tauranga who held a raft of senior responsibilities in New Zealand politics, including as Leader of the National Party and of the Opposition. Today he is a director and businessperson.

 As a Minister in the Key/English governments Simon held a wide variety of Ministerial portfolios including Economic Development, Transport, Communications, Energy & Resources, Labour, Associate Finance and Leader of the House.

Prior to Parliament, Simon started his career in a national law firm and was then a Crown prosecutor for several years conducting many serious criminal jury trials.

Simon has an LLB (Hons) and BA from Auckland University where he received a Senior Law Prize, and a Bachelor of Civil law from Oxford University. In addition, Simon has studied at the London School of Economics and interned at the British House of Commons as part of a Chevening-Hansard Society Fellowship.

Simon retired from politics in 2022 and today is the CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber. Additionally, he is a non-executive chair and director on a number of company and public boards, and is a businessperson working in a range of sectors.