{"id":391581,"date":"2026-04-22T05:05:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T05:05:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/391581\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T05:05:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T05:05:10","slug":"xero-founder-sir-rod-drury-denies-misconduct-claims-by-former-staffer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/391581\/","title":{"rendered":"Xero founder Sir Rod Drury denies misconduct claims by former staffer"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Xero<\/p>\n

\nFormer Xero CEO Sir Rod Drury. (File photo)
\nPhoto: RNZ \/ Diego Opatowski\n<\/p>\n

The 2026 New Zealander of the year and founder of Xero, Sir Rod Drury, has denied claims of misconduct against a former staffer after it was revealed a police complaint had been laid<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The complaint alleged misconduct when former Xero staffer Ally Naylor was a junior Xero employee in 2017.<\/p>\n

Now, Drury has released a response to those complaints, labelling his relationship with Naylor as a “limited, consensual relationship”.<\/p>\n

The accounting software company had launched a review into its handling of the allegations<\/a> at the time.<\/p>\n

In a statement, Drury said he had always tried to be “open and honest throughout his life”.<\/p>\n

” I do not intend to engage in public back-and-forth on private matters or cause further distress to those involved. However, given the relentless nature of the reporting, I believe it is important to provide context.<\/p>\n

“I reject any allegation of wrongdoing. Reports have mischaracterised the nature of a friendship over several years. Ally Naylor and I had a limited, consensual relationship 10 years ago.”<\/p>\n

Drury said Naylor had been a “willing participant” in that “relationship” and it was based on working closely together and having children of a similar age.<\/p>\n

“We spent time together socially, including her arranging a visit to my holiday home over Summer.<\/p>\n

“I have given that detail reluctantly to give more context and accuracy to the nature of the relationship because the media reporting has been selective and misleading. Any other relationships I had over that period were consensual and mutual.”<\/p>\n

He said Xero undertook an investigation in 2017\/2018 and until then he had “no idea” Naylor viewed the relationship as anything other than “consensual and mutual”.<\/p>\n

“After the investigation concluded, I stayed on the board for several years. From my perspective the matter was closed.<\/p>\n

“I hope this public experience and scrutiny doesn’t dissuade other New Zealanders from participating in public awards and honours.<\/p>\n

“I know I may be criticised by some for making this statement but, given the level of attention and the way this has been reported, I believe it is important to set the record straight for my sake and my family’s. I would like to continue focusing on the New Zealand Inc projects, thought leadership and the many philanthropic initiatives I’ve dedicated my post-career life to.”<\/p>\n

Last week Naylor told RNZ she expected to speak to police about her complaint this week.<\/p>\n

Police have refused to confirm to RNZ whether they were investigating Drury, who founded Xero in 2006 and was its chief executive until 2018.<\/p>\n

Sign up for Ng\u0101 Pitopito K\u014drero<\/a>, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Xero CEO Sir Rod Drury. (File photo) Photo: RNZ \/ Diego Opatowski The 2026 New Zealander of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":337356,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[48,138,47,111,43,139,69,49,46,44,45],"class_list":{"0":"post-391581","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-audio","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-current-affairs","11":"tag-new-zealand","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-newzealand","14":"tag-nz","15":"tag-podcasts","16":"tag-public-radio","17":"tag-radio-new-zealand","18":"tag-rnz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/391581","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=391581"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/391581\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/337356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=391581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=391581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=391581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}