New Zealand Leadership Team

Ian has led WSP in New Zealand since 2017. Prior to this time, he spent most of his career in banking and consultancy. Ian has led very large teams in Australia and New Zealand, responsible for annual revenue in excess of $1Bn and thousands of people. He has also worked in the banking industry in USA and Asia.

With a career characterised by growth, a client focus and innovation, Ian thrives in fast paced environments. Ian is also passionate about creating diverse and inclusive work environments where his teams can thrive.

During his time at WSP the business has experienced exponential growth. Ian has enjoyed building an exceptional team that is driven to help clients deliver innovative solutions for the benefit of Aotearoa.

Kelly joined WSP in July 2018. She is an experienced General Counsel and executive leader with strong commercial acumen, having spent her career managing complex legal issues in the
infrastructure sector within both private practise and in-house counsel roles across New Zealand and Australia.
Kelly is responsible for leading WSP’s Legal function and the Project Excellence Group (‘PEG’), a corporate function charged with driving best practice in project delivery and risk management through robust systems and processes, education and thought leadership.
Kelly holds degrees in Commerce and Law (with honours) from the University of Auckland and a Master of Laws degree from the University of Melbourne’s specialist Construction Law programme. In 2018 and 2019 she was named in the Doyle’s Guide as a Leading In-House Construction & Infrastructure Lawyer – Australia.

Bridget is passionate about creating the best experiences for people and clients.

Bridget is accountable for WSP in New Zealand’s Brand, Marketing & Communications, Client Experience, Bids and Future Ready Strategies.

With over 15 years’ experience in business strategy, corporate affairs, brand and marketing, Bridget brings a passion for truly understanding client and people needs and creating experiences that delight them.

Prior to joining WSP in 2017, Bridget worked in financial services across New Zealand and the UK, including with Westpac and Barclays Bank.

Guy enjoys interpreting our fast moving and uncertain world to guide and grow people, teams, and businesses.

David leads our People function with overall responsibility for the People Strategy and the implementation of programmes and initiatives to support WSP achieve its strategic objectives. He also heads our Research & Innovation and Digital businesses, which focuses on developing and commercialising innovative technologies in infrastructure and for the environment. With a career spanning various industries and leadership roles in New Zealand, Japan, and Australia, David is dedicated to creating a fulfilling, inclusive environment where our people can thrive.

Ben joined WSP (then Opus) in 1998 when he emigrated to New Zealand. He is best known in major projects and project governance roles having over thirty years’ experience delivering large scale infrastructure projects mainly in New Zealand. For the last decade he led the development of WSP’s (and previously Opus’) project delivery framework, policy and procedures culminating in leading the commercial function and the project risk management committee. This understanding of our people, processes, clients and projects gives him a deep and wide view of how WSP operates in New Zealand bringing a commercial lens to the CFO role.
Prior to these roles Ben was the business manager of a regional office (Nelson) and our research facility in Petone. This breadth of experience and knowledge of our history gives him a deep appreciation of the business understanding the implication of decisions and impacts on our front-line people. Prior to emigrating to New Zealand, Ben worked for Mott MacDonald and IBM in the U.K.
Ben is a Fellow of Engineering New Zealand and, having spent 8 years on the board of Engineering New Zealand including a period as chair, is well known and respected in the profession both within and outside WSP. Ben’s governance roles outside WSP include Chair of the New Zealand Department of Conservation Risk and Assurance Committee as well as engineering stakeholder advisory group for the New Zealand Open Polytechnic.

Chris is a Chartered Professional Engineer that has been with the WSP business in numerous roles across the country for 21 years.
The Regional business is comprised of 21 local offices and 10 laboratories from Whangarei to Invercargill and is the largest component of the WSP New Zealand business with over 750 professionals providing multidisciplinary infrastructure solutions across all the market sectors we operate in. Our Regional business is founded on very close and personal client relationships that often span decades. The distribution of the local offices within New Zealand provides for
unprecedented access to all key clients across New Zealand with a strong focus on Local Authority clients.
Chris is dedicated and inspired to growing the capacity and capability of our people to holistically and sustainably meet local infrastructure challenges and to make a meaningful difference to the communities that we live and serve.

In his role at WSP, Carl provides leadership to the Water, Earth and Environment sectors in New Zealand. Since joining WSP in 2020 his aspiration is for WSP to become the leading provider of Water and Environmental services in NZ and for his team to walk alongside our clients as they enhance the environment for the next 150 years.
Carl is passionate about delivering quality outcomes for clients and building strong and resilient teams to achieve this. In a time of growing environmental awareness he is building teams that are alive and responsive to change and agile in their responses to the New Zealand market.

Ko Hikurangi te maunga. Ko Waiapu te awa. Ko Horouta te waka. Ko Ngāti Porou te iwi. Tēnā tatou.
In the role of Pou Arataki – Director Māori, Reginald leads the execution of WSP’s Rautaki Māori (Māori Strategy).
The Rautaki provides strategic direction on how WSP will integrate Te Ao Māori, including Te Reo Māori, into the organisation and the work it produces, and how it will work with Māori to support them to achieve their aspirations.
Previously, Reginald was the Business Manager of WSP Gisborne, a team of 16 civil, structural, geotechnical and water engineers and laboratory technologists. Reginald joined WSP in 2019 after time at Gisborne District Council as the Consents Manager. Reginald has extensive resource management planning experience, practises as an Independent Hearing Commissioner, and is currently the Chair of Te Kokiringa Taumata | New Zealand Planning Institute. Reginald has extensive experience working with integrating Māori culture with iwi, hapū, business and local government processes.

With 3000+ building structures professionals across the globe a key aspect of his role is to facilitate the movement of thought across our various regions for the betterment of our Clients, collaborators and local teams. Harnessing that knowledge base provides us with the ability to drive innovative design no matter the challenge.

Having progressed through WSP from Team Leader – Bridge Design, rebuilding the bridge design capability then developing the technical capability of the NZ business as Technical Capability Lead, he now oversees the transportation business including a number of multi-million-dollar infrastructure projects and transportation contracts. 

His entire career has been characterised by challenges of leading and developing people whilst maintaining focus on delivering to our clients. 

When he has spare time, he likes to stay active, coach kids sport such as rugby and touch rugby, as well as spending time in the hills.