Who is Chris Liddell? New Zealander went from 'Hobbiton' to Trump's White House

Donald Trump’s new deputy chief of staff is a New Zealander who hails from the tiny North Island town of Matamata – otherwise known as “Hobbiton”.

Dubbed “New Zealand’s most successful man” by local media, Chris Liddell was a contender to be Trump’s chief economic adviser, and is a former chief financial officer of General Motors, Microsoft, and The International Paper company, the world’s largest pulp and paper company.

Born in 1958 in rural Matamata, Liddell is one of five siblings. Liddell’s school-teacher father died when he was young and Liddell studied at Mount Albert Grammar and Auckland University before gaining a doctorate from Oxford University and pursuing investment banking.

After chairing top New Zealand companies, Liddell was awarded New Zealand business leader of the year in 2010, and was appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to business and philanthropy.

Colleague Rob Drury of New Zealand company Zero told the New Zealand Herald Liddell’s appointment to the inner circle of the White House could be beneficial for New Zealand.

“It’s a great opportunity and to have a New Zealander in that role is I think really good for New Zealand,” said Drury. “We’re just excited for Chris that he’s that close to power. Chris has strong Kiwi values and I think it can only be a really positive appointment for everybody.”

Prime minister Jacinda Ardern told TVNZs Breakfast show Liddell was “very much a Kiwi”.

“I have been asked questions on whether this means will we get our exemptions of aluminium and steel,” said Ardern. “Look, I am sure he will be mindful of the US relationship with New Zealand, but ultimately he is being employed to do a job that is much larger than just that, but who knows what it will mean for us.”

Since relocating to America and gaining US citizenship Liddell worked as chief financial officer for some of America’s largest companies, and was also the executive director of transition planning for the Mitt Romney presidential campaign in 2012.

In January 2017 Liddell was appointed as an assistant to Donald Trump and director of strategic initiatives, and has continued to be promoted through the ranks during Trump’s first year in office.

Liddell told TVNZ’s Q&A programme Trump would be a more moderate president than he had appeared on the campaign trail.

“People focus on the president, as they should, because the president’s the single most important person, but the president works through these huge numbers of other people running various departments and so forth, so who he starts to surround himself, how he manages those people, will define his success,” Liddell said.

“Donald Trump’s a very atypical president. He’s not a traditional Republican. He’s not a traditional Democrat. He’s a mixture of both of them. And if you want to take an optimistic view, and I’m optimistic, I think he will actually come up with some policies that both sides will be willing to look at.”

Liddell is married to Republican socialite and philanthropist Renee Harbers.