Partnership and engagement lead for the Exotic Caulerpa Accelerated Programme - making sure we are tika with our Treaty relationships and working alongside mana whenua, communities, Councils, agencies and individuals to slow and eliminate the spread of exotic caulerpa.

Lead the Partnerships and Engagement Group in the Readiness and Response Directorate of Biosecurity New Zealand. Our work focuses on developing and servicing partnership and engagement opportunities with primary sector industry bodies, New Zealand businesses, our Treaty partners, and communities. The Group provides specialist services such as marketing, communications, behaviour change and Treaty engagement for biosecurity readiness activities, responses and pest management.

Working across MPI, industry partners, iwi, regional councils, NGO's and community orgnisations to write a plan that increases awareness and understanding, and shifts behaviours to create a biosecurity team of 4.7 million New Zealanders.

My role was to lead Negotiation Managers and their teams to successfully complete iwi negotiations and settlement legislation across the Tauranga Moana, Central North Island, Whanganui and Taranaki regions. With an operating culture that was stretched and stressed, and needing greater senior management support, my focus was on improving team culture, staff development, greater planning and resourcing rigor, and enabling Managers the opportunity to own and drive negotiations. Some successes include:• implementing with my Managers a venture start-up methodology based on agile development that facilitated greater agility across teams and more rapid re-deployment of resources in times of work pressure. The result was a stronger, more efficient cohesive group culture that was able to accept two additional Ministerial priorities over and above existing workload pressures.• through astute use of resources, Ministerial collaboration and negotiation, lifted staff performance and broke deadlocks enabling the completion and introduction of three pieces of Treaty Settlement legislation. • creating development opportunities for staff and managing workload pressures for other staff members without impacting on delivery time-frames.

Following a second restructure, I became responsible for managing a team of 8 conservation Business Development Managers, Account Managers, and Project Managers across New Zealand. As well as continuing to develop new partnership opportunities and increase returns from existing business partners, the team also had responsibility for developing internal business partnership capability within the Department.Some successes included• implementing a national business development and account management framework that has become the template for business partnership across the Department• developing the Business Partnership Strategy creating a roadmap for engagement with external partners• Leading a high performance team of Business Development, Account Managers and Project Managers who delivered successful partnerships including Yealands Winery, Toyota, Meridian Energy and Fulton Hogan • Developed a nationally agreed structure and process that has successfully created and enabled distributed multi disciplinary teams to deliver national business partnership opportunities (eg Crombie Lockwood ‘DOC Buddies’)Perhaps most importantly, the Commercial Partnerships Unit successfully worked, communicated and collaborated to overcome significant internal and external skepticism that business partners could be a force for good in conservation.

Begun as an idea that business could substantially contribute to conservation through partnership, the Commercial Partnership Unit was created to identify, promote and develop business partnerships and commercial opportunities for conservation outcomes. Once described as a ‘mutant virus’, working with the Director General, the Commercial Business Unit went on to become the template for the Department’s 2013 restructure around partnerships. Some achievements• In just over one year I negotiated and signed two new national partnerships worth over $21.5 million dollars described by the Department’s Director General as ‘transformative’ • Shifting senior conservation manager 'skeptics' to 'business partner' converts, resulting in invitations to participate and advise on partnership opportunities across DOC regions.

After my wife made a shirt for my birthday - i went looking for others to add to the collection. Apart from the ubiquitous Hawaiian shirts, there was no alternative for colourful everyday wear shirts. So Carnival Jack was born. Based on previous experience and expertise in online retail, and an understanding of modular systems, carnivaljack.com was created as a platform to enable customers to purchase colourful shirts customised to arm, body, chest and neck measurements.Marketing was through some targeted advertising and via the creation of brand ambassadors (including Brad Feld of Foundry Group, US and Mike O'Donnell - NZ tech and business commentator). PR was also achieved through magazine offers (eg Unlimited). Carnival Jack was also created as an online voice forFacebook and twitter using the logo anime.While sales were initially strong (20 shirts/week) research indicated future growth would primarily be through pop up stores and supported by the online platform - requiring further capital injection. After 8 months I decided to step back from a day to day role to take up an opportunity in one of my other areas of interest - conservation. The business was closed in March 2013.

Launched in February 2009, Powershop now owns the utility ICT space and is the fastest growing electricity retailer in New Zealand. Powershop is the first online electricity retail company in the world where customers can purchase energy online from a range of suppliers at different prices. Responsibilities:* Powershop’s Product Strategy and management of Powershop Online Store* Supplier and key account business development and relationships* Developed Powershop’s SME Strategy and led the business SME sales and service team of 12 reports across 2 sites (Wellington and Masterton)* Managed 2 outsourced business suppliers

The role was to identify and evaluate opportunities for potential venture investment by Meridian Energy. Responsible for:• Researching, evaluating and recommending investment opportunities in carbon based businesses. Achievements• Against a background of political and commercial uncertainty recommended and achieved an A Round $500K investment in a San Francisco based company (Carbonflow) – and had Observer status on the Carbonflow Board.• Tracking global carbon investment performances, recommended that Meridian Energy withdraw from seeking to invest any further in carbon based business opportunities thereby mitigating any future investment hits.

Key focus on transport related environmental issues including Climate Change. The role required preparation of Ministerial briefing papers, oral briefing to two Ministers, and preparation of cross-departmental Cabinet papers.