Douglas was appointed a Trustee in October 2014 and became Chairman of the Eastern Bay Community Foundation in September 2015. He has had wide ranging governance roles as either a director or a chairman of co-operative companies, their subsidiaries and the New Zealand Dairy Board along with its stand-alone entities both within New Zealand and overseas.

Douglas is a retired farmer and company director. His farming career was in the Bay of Plenty where he developed a large dairy farm, recently sold.  He and his wife Stephanie live in the previous farm homestead on Braemar Road, in Onepu a rural part of the Whakatane District.

Early in his career he understood the need to participate and became a contributing member within the community and agricultural industry. He was awarded a Nuffield Scholarship to study in the UK and held executive positions within Federated Farmers locally and nationally.  For over 20 years he was a dairy company director including 10 years on the NZ Dairy Board.  His interest in governance came through such roles with the NZ Dairy Board, its Audit and Finance committee, along with chairing other subsidiaries like the NZ Dairy Research Institute, Whey Corporation and Ambreed.

Douglas has considerable experience in leadership as a Rotarian with 40 years service.  He is a Member of the Institute of Directors, a JP and Past President of the Eastern BOP JP Association, and has served within the community on a number of Trusts and committees. Douglas and his late wife Tess have a family of three grown daughters and six granddaughters. Douglas' recreational interests are their Coromandel holiday home, fishing and boating, Rotary and his involvement in humanitarian work projects in the Pacific Islands. Douglas is currently the supervisor/mentor of a large Maori Land Trust in the Ruatoki Valley running dairy cows and is involved with two other trusts.