Professional Career
Beyer was educated at Victoria University of Wellington. He graduated with LL.B. and was admitted to the bar in 1962. His specialities are corporate law and mining law. He was a partner with Simpson Grierson for ten years until 2003, when he became a consultant (the term that Simpson Grierson uses for former partners). As of December 2010, Beyer is no longer listed on the Simpson Grierson website as a consultant.
Beyer is a prominent businessman with considerable governance experience. He was made a Distinguished Fellow of the Institute of Directors in 2006. He has been Chairman of the Accident Compensation Corporation, Government Property Services Ltd., Capital Properties New Zealand Ltd, Tower Ltd and Summit Resources Ltd, and a director of Capital Power Ltd and TrustPower Ltd. He was a ministerial appointee on the Wellington Area Health Board and the Wellington Polytechnic Board.
He was chairman of the Tower Corporation from 1990 until his resignation in 2003. The sacking of managing director James Boonzaier in 2002 under his chairmanship caused some controversy. Beyer was widely criticised in financial circles for publicly blaming Boonzaier for Tower's poor financial performance, and Beyer's decision not to stand for re-election prior to the 2003 AGM is described as having prevented the "possibility of a humiliating defeat". Bruce Sheppard, the founder of the New Zealand Shareholder's Association, has criticised the board of Tower under Beyer's chairmanship over the setting of directors' fees and the payment of retirement allowances. Sheppard has described the practices of the board as "the most outrageous gaming by the most reprehensible group".
Beyer was appointed to the Securities Commission in February 2001 for a four-year term. In early 2005, he was reappointed for a second five-year term by Commerce Minister Pete Hodgson. In 2009, Minister of Commerce Simon Power announced that Beyer would retire in February 2010, to be succeeded by Simon Botherway.
He was the Honorary Consul-General of Finland since 1993 years and was by 2006 the Dean of the Consular Corps in Wellington.
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