Drury handed back his New Zealander of the Year title,<\/a> saying he did \u201cnot want the current situation to undermine the integrity of the awards\u201d. He maintained that he completely rejected the current allegations about him.<\/p>\nIn response to Crossan\u2019s claims, a spokesperson for Drury said they had no further comment.<\/p>\n
Reflecting on being shown the picture of her in Drury\u2019s phone, Crossan remembers being \u201cshocked and confused\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI must have looked it, because he then pulled out his phone and showed me the image he was referring to \u2013 a zoomed-in photo of my chest from a picture that had appeared in the paper that weekend of me and my partner at the time,\u201d Crossan said.<\/p>\n
She was struck by the fact that Drury wasn\u2019t showing her the article, Crossan wrote.<\/p>\n
\u201c[The picture] was saved in his camera roll. I had a visceral reaction: oof, gross.\u201d<\/p>\n
That was followed by dread and disappointment, she wrote.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause in that moment, I realised that the basis for the meeting I thought I was having \u2013 founder to founder, seeking advice \u2013 wasn\u2019t what I had believed it to be.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a female founder, that question quietly sits in the background more often than people like to admit: why am I being helped?\u201d<\/p>\n
She\u2019d spent weeks considering whether to say anything before Drury\u2019s \u201ccharacterisation of the current reporting as a \u2018sustained media campaign\u2019 convinced her it was the right time to speak about her experience \u2013 including her interactions with Xero senior leadership and board\u201d. <\/p>\n
Crossan said she \u201ccut the meeting short\u201d after Drury\u2019s comment and then \u201czipped it up \u2013 filed it away, didn\u2019t make a fuss\u201d.<\/p>\n
But in 2018 she shared the story, without naming Drury, after being invited to speak at an International Women\u2019s Day event hosted by Xero\u2019s senior leadership team.<\/p>\n
Afterwards, a Xero senior leader asked if the story was about Drury. Crossan said it was, but turned down an offer for a Xero board member to contact her.<\/p>\n
Aware of the power imbalance between her and Drury and that she had \u201cfar more to lose\u201d, Crossan said she turned the offer down, something she regretted.<\/p>\n
There were \u201cother moments too \u2013 smaller on the surface, but cumulative in how they made me feel\u201d, Crossan said.<\/p>\n
\u201cEmails addressed \u2018Hey, supermodel\u2019, comments that may have been intended as flattery but, in reality, created a sense of dread.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Jenene]()
Jenene Crossan is the founder of the online beauty platform Powered by Flossie. Photo \/ Greg Bowker<\/p>\n
In 2022, Crossan said she told Drury in a text message how the interaction had affected her, a move prompted by seeing a photo of him in the media with his arms around a young female founder and \u201cfeeling instinctively concerned for her safety\u201d.<\/p>\n
The Herald has seen the email and the text exchange with Drury, which Crossan references in her Substack.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve never forgotten the moment you pulled your phone out at our business breakfast meeting and showed me pictures you had stored of me on your phone\u2026 your casual sexualisation of our encounter\u2026 \u2018your tits looked great\u2019. The photos were very clearly zoomed-in images of my breasts. I was mortified,\u201d Crossan writes in the text.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt made me question myself\u2026 what did I do to make you think that was ok? It took me years to realise the answer: nothing. It was never ok.\u201d<\/p>\n
She asked Drury to \u201creflect and hold himself accountable for his behaviour\u201d.<\/p>\n
Drury replied 11 minutes later, writing that he was \u201cso sorry if you\u2019ve carried any of that for a period of time\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m super aware of all the things I got right and wrong over the years\u2026 I care deeply about people and am always striving to get better\u2026 I appreciate the nudge,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n
Crossan didn\u2019t reply, feeling she\u2019d said what she needed to.<\/p>\n
But to Crossan, it also showed Drury\u2019s behaviour wasn\u2019t a \u201cmisunderstanding or something being surfaced for the first time\u201d.<\/p>\n
Crossan said over the past few weeks she\u2019s been considering whether to share her story and has been in contact with Xero\u2019s legal counsel and the King\u2019s Counsel Xero had appointed to review matters in the public domain. <\/p>\n
Xero has opened an external investigation after Naylor\u2019s public complaint, with Maria Dew, KC, leading the review.<\/p>\n
Crossan said she was open to speaking about her experience, but claims she was initially told ones like hers weren\u2019t within the scope of the review.<\/p>\n
Her experience also raised questions about Xero\u2019s governance, given her belief that the incident was known within the company\u2019s leadership in 2018, Crossan wrote.<\/p>\n
In response to questions about Crossan\u2019s account of her dealings with Drury, a Xero spokesperson assured the Herald, \u201cwe treat all allegations of inappropriate conduct seriously\u201d but the company would not comment on the alleged series of events.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe appreciate the difficulty of coming forward with information of this nature and provide different ways for people to speak up and for concerns to be treated confidentially and with the care required,\u201d the Xero spokesperson said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn relation to historical events from 2017 and confidential personnel matters, Xero\u2019s current board and leadership are committed to fully understanding and evaluating the events and Xero\u2019s response with expert assistance.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Thursday, Crossan made an additional online post on social media platform LinkedIn, which she directed the Herald to.<\/p>\n
Crossan claimed Xero\u2019s legal representatives provided her further information about the \u201cindependent review\u201d process now underway into the allegations made by ex-employee Ally Naylor.<\/p>\n
Crossan said she had \u201creviewed the material carefully\u201d and was keen to point out that the investigation is \u201cNOT currently framed as a full independent investigation into allegations or broader systemic conduct patterns\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe review is primarily focused on Xero\u2019s handling of a 2017 employee complaint and the company\u2019s decision-making processes at the time,\u201d she writes.<\/p>\n
However, Crossan did \u201cacknowledge there has been some movement\u201d in the scope of the review to allow other individuals to raise concerns related to the management of conduct issues within Xero.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt present, it appears to be a legally bounded review focused primarily on organisational handling and governance processes \u2018at the time\u2019,\u201d Crossan said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat may still produce important insights. But it is not the same thing as a comprehensive external examination of the wider issues many people are now attempting to discuss.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a third Substack post this morning, in which she shared an information sheet provided to her that summarises the terms of reference for the Dew inquiry, Crossan outlined her own expectation of what a \u201csafe\u201d avenue for complainants to report alleged misconduct looks like.<\/p>\n
In the document, also provided to the Herald, under the sub-heading \u201cscope of the review\u201d, Dew writes that: \u201cA central focus of the review is to understand and evaluate Xero\u2019s handling of that complaint and Xero\u2019s decision-making and response. For clarity, this review is not a re-investigation of the factual matters raised in the original complaint.\u201d<\/p>\n
Crossan also provided her own view of a step-by-step process by which a company can provide a safe process to complain about misbehaviour.<\/p>\n
She clarifies that: \u201cI\u2019m not writing this as a subject matter expert. I\u2019m writing this as someone who has experienced harm \u2013 and as someone hearing from others in the same position and trying to work out what we would need to see to engage with a process like this with confidence.\u201d<\/p>\n
Under the headline \u201ca working standard for any \u2018speak-up\u2019 process\u201d, Crossan details a number of criteria she would expect. <\/p>\n
She also expects the scope to be wide enough to include \u201chistoric[al] conduct, not just recent events\u201d and be \u201copen beyond employees to the wider ecosystem\u201d.<\/p>\n
Her expectations to \u201cmake participation genuinely safe\u201d include being: anonymous by default, providing a confidential pathway without required identification that is also through \u201csecure, purpose-built tools\u201d other than email.<\/p>\n
She calls for multiple ways to participate, including \u201cwritten, verbal, supported\u201d, which is \u201ctrauma-informed\u201d and has \u201cexplicit protection against retaliation or harm\u201d.<\/p>\n
Crossan also provides a rundown of how she thinks Xero\u2019s current process \u201cfalls short\u201d, pointing out that \u201canonymity is not available by default\u201d because it requires participants to identify themselves if they proceed.<\/p>\n
However, in the Dew terms of reference posted by Crossan, it does state that: \u201cYour information will not be used in the review without your consent\u201d.<\/p>\n
It also says \u201cexternal confidential counselling support services will also be made available, free of charge, to any current or former employee of Xero who participates in the review. Xero will meet the costs of the external counselling service via its nominated provider\u201d.<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for Xero last week said \u201cthe current board and leadership are committed to fully understanding and evaluating the events and Xero\u2019s response [to Naylor] with expert assistance\u201d.<\/p>\n
When asked if Dew\u2019s inquiry would address the second allegations from Amy, the spokesperson said \u201cadditional matters\u201d could be considered if they were \u201crelevant\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe review will consider Xero\u2019s handling of the 2017 complaint, and the related decision-making processes,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe reviewer has the ability to interview any parties she considers relevant, and to consider any additional matters that arise during the course of the review.\u201d<\/p>\n
Xero said it would not be appropriate to comment further as the review is ongoing.<\/p>\n
Anyone with relevant information can confidentially get in contact through the email review@xero.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Crossan wrote on Substack that she met Drury at an Auckland cafe in 2016 to \u201cshare progress on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":381666,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[78932,26676,44183,150844,3500,215204,215203,114704,2837,8456,71,16133,215202,700,1362,2374,45853,111,43,139,69,1118,16792,12663,89970,17162,312,138287,8485,370,20110,61,138922,6923,1354],"class_list":["post-419023","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-accuse","tag-allegations","tag-behaviour","tag-breasts","tag-ceo","tag-commented","tag-crossan","tag-drury","tag-during","tag-fresh","tag-from","tag-inappropriate","tag-jenene","tag-latest","tag-made","tag-meeting","tag-mentorship","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-of","tag-phone","tag-photo","tag-rod","tag-saved","tag-says","tag-sexualised","tag-sir","tag-tech","tag-thought","tag-to","tag-unwanted","tag-what","tag-woman"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419023","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=419023"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419023\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/381666"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=419023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=419023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=419023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}