New Zealand - Head of Government

The Hon John Key took office on 19 November 2008 after his National Party (NP) won the 8 November general election.

He is concurrently Tourism Minister.

Mr Key was elected as NP leader in November 2006 after becoming its Spokesperson on Finance in 2004. He won a parliamentary seat in 2002 as an NP representative for Helensville.

Before his entry into politics, Mr Key was a member of the Foreign Exchange Committee of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York from 1999 to 2001. He had earlier worked for Merrill Lynch in Singapore, London and Sydney. Mr Key started his career in investment banking in the mid-1980s.

He has a Bachelor’s degree in Commerce from the University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand.

Mr Key was born on 9 August 1961 in Auckland.