Chris Dare
Company: AECOM New Zealand
Job title: Area Manager Waikato and Bay of Plenty
What Regional Chair position are you interested in? Waikato
About Chris
Born and bred in Australia, I came to Hamilton / Cambridge just over two years ago and I am loving it.
My formal background started in forestry but has spread to agribusiness, electrical distribution, environmental impact assessment, safety and quality management, and then into project management.
I have been at AECOM for six years, which includes two years in Hamilton as the Area Manager. I bring a diverse background that allows me to relate to members of varying business size and focus.
Pepeha or whakapapa/family history
I have three children back in Australia scattered from Canberra to Brisbane, and have spent time up and down the Eastern seaboard living in Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne and Tasmania. My wife and I moved to Cambridge two years ago.
Since being in Hamilton, I have been active in joining Waikato Sunrise Rotary Club and I am the current president. Rotary and the opportunity with ACE New Zealand align with my ‘give back’ mentality to build stronger communities through teamwork and business success.
What strengths do you bring to the Regional Chair role?
I have a good working relationship with a number of ACE members, some council leaders, and NZTA. I have a diverse background across many industries enabling a good understanding of the challenges we face.
Importantly, I bring energy and a willingness to bring new and old people together. I have a focus on bringing a pragmatic approach to new technology to improve our (collective) business efficiency. I have already organised panel events with Hamilton City Council looking at exploring career paths for young female professionals and I am keen to see how we can expand this to a wider audience of ACE members and potential clients to encourage and diversify our engineering cohort.
How would you support ACE's mahi in your region?
ACE has been quiet in the Waikato region over the last two years and I would look to increase the profile and activity with regional members through active engagement with key clients like councils and NZTA, but also through ACE events looking to build closer contacts between companies and staff. I am also keen to leverage ACE’s networks to see what we can do for the community.
Many of us are already talking but this could be expanded. One way is potentially through quarterly events spread across a number of member companies with opportunities to highlight member strengths.
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