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THE ENVI.ED
JUDGING PANEL.
2019 ENVIS judges
Our judges had a broad range of diverse backgrounds and expertise. Two judges were allocated to each award category, with the final decision made by the wider judging panel.
Derrick Adams
A civil engineer with more than 30 years’ experience in the engineering and construction sector. He has been the CEO of HEB Construction for the last nine years. During this time they have completed many major projects including the Hobsonville Motorway, Kopu Bridge, Papakura Interchange, Cambridge Bypass, Tauranga Eastern Link and are currently working on Mangere BNR, Huntly Bypass and Transmission Gully.
Priti Ambani
An engineer, researcher, entrepreneur and educator. Her career began in civil and environmental engineering and design. She is the Director of Innovation at Tech Futures Lab – a next-gen education lab where she educates businesses, teams and boards on new business model strategies, platform thinking and workforce capability building to drive innovation and business results in the new economy. She co-founded The Next Billion, an impact-driven enterprise that pools collective resources to invest in female-led businesses. Priti sits on the Boards of Auckland Chamber of Commerce and Super-diverse Women.
Alistair Cattanach
Director of Dunning Thornton, Wellington with over 25 years’ experience consulting in NZ and the UK. He has a passion for heritage buildings and challenging architecturally expressive structures, and is a Fellow of Engineering New Zealand. He has been an innovator in PRESSS and other Low Damage Design techniques in concrete, steel, timber and masonry in New Zealand, and has held advisory/professional consulting roles in many of his areas of interest.
Warner Cowin
The founder and CEO of Height – a business which helps Government departments win and deliver world-class projects and contracts in Australia and New Zealand. He also has strong skills in Tikanga Māori and Iwi facilitation. Height is contracted to NZ Trade and Enterprise to support their clients entering overseas markets.
Geoff Dangerfield
Former Chief Executive of the NZ Transport Agency and also the Ministry of Economic Development, including a period as Chair of the Leadership Development Centre. Geoff now works as an independent company director and consultant for a range of private and public agencies, from infrastructure to the performing arts.
Vanisa Dhiru
National President of the National Council of Women New Zealand. Founded by Kate Sheppard, NCWNZ is an umbrella group leading the Gender Equal NZ campaign. During Vanisa’s recent working career, she has been in CEO level roles in the NGO sector, including CEO of Volunteering New Zealand, Executive Director of the 20/20 Trust and acting General Manager of the YWCA Aotearoa NZ. Her wide community involvement has secured her a place in the BMW Foundation Responsible Leaders Global Network. She is passionate about equality, developing young people and cultural relations.
Michelle Dickinson
An award-winning, passionate researcher and teacher with a love of science and engineering. She has made it her life mission to make science and engineering accessible for all. Her background in biomedical and materials engineering have combined her interests to give her a unique insight into how nature and technology can learn from each other for scientific developments. She is the founder and Director of Nanogirl Labs and is also an honorary academic in engineering at the University of Auckland.
Susan Freeman-Greene
Chief Executive of Engineering New Zealand since February 2015. She has led a massive transformation that’s resulted in a modern, relevant, inclusive and external facing organisation. She is passionate about bringing engineering to life so we can engineer better lives for New Zealanders. Susan was formerly Chief Executive of the Broadcasting Standards Authority and before that was a senior leader and Chief Mediator with the Human Rights Commission. She is also an Independent Director of TeamTalk and is on the Board of the New Zealand Festival.
Dane Hart
Chief Executive of Engineers Without Borders New Zealand. Dane is passionate about making sure that access to engineering capability and leadership is universal across New Zealand and the South Pacific. Since starting in the role, he’s led a change within the organisation to focus on delivering opportunities for engineers to learn the skills required to take a people-centred, strengths-based approach to improving community health, well-being and opportunity.
Rachel Hopkins
Chief Executive at Diversity Works New Zealand. She has a background in a mix of private, listed, charitable and public organisations in the professional services, economic development, training and education sectors. She believes workforce diversity is a powerful engine for the positive economic and social outcomes wanted by all businesses and organisations. Rachel is also on the boards of PledgeMe and The Ministry of Youth Development Partnership Fund.
Andy Kensington
A founding partner of Pure Design & Engineering – a New Zealand based engineering consultancy specialising in the design of advanced composite structures, with a focus on the marine industry. He joined Team New Zealand in 2001 where he was involved in the structural design of the America’s Cup Class racing yachts and the FE Analysis of their structures.
Mike Kerr
Leader in the engineering profession, having worked in the public health, transport and building sectors for the past 30 years. Mike has led Beca’s Central Region for the last 12 years. He has strong sector leadership experience – he’s been President of ACENZ, is active in Engineering New Zealand, chairs the WelTec Industry Advisor Group, and is a director of the New Zealand Board of Engineering Diplomas. Mike is also currently the acting Chief Engineering Partner, a significant leadership role within MBIE.
Dean Kimpton
A consulting engineer and until recently was Auckland Council’s Chief Operating Officer. He is Chair of QuakeCoRE, a Board member of Infrastructure New Zealand and a member of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment’s Building Advisory Panel. He was previously Managing Director of engineering consultancy AECOM NZ.
David Prentice
Currently Chair of the Interim Committee for Climate Change – an independent organisation tasked with providing analysis and recommendations to Government regarding emissions from agriculture and electricity generation. Prior to this David was Chief Executive and Managing Director of Opus International Consultants. He had a number of other senior roles including General Manager, Business Development and Director of Opus’ UK operations before his appointment as CEO in 2010.
Craig Price
Chief Technology Officer for the Beca Group. Craig is responsible for leading the professional practice of Beca and guiding the development of their technical capability across eight countries, 23 offices and more than 3,500 staff. In addition to overseeing the development, implementation and execution of Beca’s project delivery systems Craig is accountable for the project risk framework for the business.
Julie Raine
An Engineering New Zealand Fellow with over 30 years’ experience working in the engineering industry. Her expertise is in Project Management, Traffic and Transportation – design and planning, and Intelligent Transportation Systems. She has managed multi-disciplinary teams on a range of engineering projects in the UK, Middle East and New Zealand. Julie has recently started a new business as a workshop facilitator, speaker and coach. She specialises in tender workshop strategies and presentation skills training, networking, goal setting and leadership for women.
Andrew Read
Director of Pedersen Read Ltd, a consulting electrical engineering firm based in Christchurch. Andrew’s been a consulting engineer for over 30 years and is a Fellow and Chartered Member of Engineering New Zealand, and a Chartered Professional Engineer (CPEng). He is presently Chair of the International Federation of Consulting Engineers (FIDIC) Business Practice Committee.
Elly Strang
Editor of Idealog, an award-winning media brand that champions creative business and goes out to the tech, design and innovation communities within New Zealand. She has an expanded knowledge of New Zealand’s design, tech and start-up sectors and has written more than 500 stories on New Zealand businesses and entrepreneurs in her time at Idealog. Elly won Best Journalist in the Industry/Trade category at the 2017 Magazine Media Awards and was also named a Rising Star finalist.
Mark Symes
A senior lecturer at The Australian Maritime College – a specialist institution of the University of Tasmania. Mark has over 30 years of industry experience and has been involved in higher education over the last nine years. Mark is the President of the Australasian Association for Engineering Education and was awarded the Australasian Council of Engineering Deans National Award for Engineering Education Excellence 2016.
Tania Williams
General Manager of Engineering Leadership at Engineering New Zealand. Tania joined Engineering New Zealand in 2017 after a long career at engineering and management consulting firm MWH, where she was General Manager of Water and Waste. Tania currently takes care of professional engineering practice and policy, a continuing professional development portfolio and fostering relationships with 30 plus technical groups and societies. Tania was made a Fellow of Engineering New Zealand in 2017 in recognition of her contribution to the profession.
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