[NZX: WHS] chief executive Mark Powell is making a foray into politics and wants to stand for the National party.

Mr Powell, who hails from Wales, says he’s attending the political party’s “candidate college” so it remains to be seen if he will be selected.

“Whether that comes about or not depends on a number of factors but it’s certainly something I’m exploring,” he tells NBR from Los Angeles, where he is holidaying.

His chances appear to be healthy, given he was the keynote speaker at the political party’s Professional Business Forum last month.

Mr Powell declined to comment on where he would like to stand and what sort of values he would champion, saying he would give more details once he returns to New Zealand later this month.

NBR understands he has expressed interest in standing for Auckland’s East Coast Bays, which will be left vacant if Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully doesn’t contest it in 2017. Mr McCully has previously said he won’t stand.

“I’ve always had an interest in politics and in New Zealand flourishing,” Mr Powell says.

“For that, it needs a strong economy and people with experience in business. I’ve always said business is important for society and society’s important for business.”

“If you’ve got experiences and skills, you should use them to help. That’s the general approach I’ve always taken.”

Mr Powell headed the Warehouse Group for five years and during his tenure introduced a “career retailer wage,” increasing the pay for employees who had worked for more than three years to between $18.50 and $20 an hour.

He announced he would leave the company in March last year, which saw him playing down rumours that he was pushed out. He was succeeded by Nick Grayston in February.

Earlier this year, Mr Powell became Massey University’s “CEO-in-residence,” which saw him serve as a liason between the university and the business community, a guest lecturer, a mentor for students and a strategic consultant to the business school’s executive team.

He was supportive of the university setting up its bachelor of retail and business management.

Mr Powell is a Baptist and wants to finish his master’s degree in theology and philosophy at the end of this year, which he says has been a “bit of a hobby” for past six years.

He also holds a bachelor’s degree in mining engineering and master’s degrees in logistics and business.