Robert White
Company: GHD
Job title: Technical Director / Water & Wastewater
Robert White
About Robert
I am an experienced engineer and manager with a broad range of consultancy experience, across sector, company size, and geographic location, and with governance experience and training.
Whakapapa pepeha
I am a civil engineer, with over thirty years’ experience, having worked for small, medium, and large consultancies in the UK, Africa and New Zealand, including undertaking projects in Australia and the Pacific. Whilst being a proud water and wastewater engineer, I also see myself as a business manager and have spent a significant part of my career running businesses and leading teams. The interest started as a teenager, doing the paperwork for my father’s small building business, and led to running a regional consultancy office in Wales for five years with 50 staff (2000 - 2005). I have also been a director and principal shareholder of AWT Water Ltd (2007 – 2014) and now work as a Principal and Technical Director with GHD, based in Auckland.
I live in a female-dominated household, with my better half running her own small consultancy business providing urban design services, and two adult daughters who are both (hopefully) in their respective final years at university. I enjoy travelling, reading, socialising, and relaxing at home. I am also a keen photographer, long-suffering Blues rugby supporter and row an ERG for fitness and my mental health.
As a family of four, we were born across three different continents, immigrated to New Zealand 16 years ago and are now all New Zealand citizens and call New Zealand home.
For more information see my LinkedIn profile
Strategic vision
My strategic vision for ACE New Zealand is for it to be recognised by the government, councils, and clients (including councils, contractors, and the general public) as the respected advocate for consultancy and engineering businesses and the supporter of the wider consultancy business sector, particularly the small and medium enterprises that don’t have the internal legal or business teams available to larger businesses.
Whilst we are (typically) engineers who design things, we are first and foremost businesses, and need to operate as such. It is where I see ACE New Zealand positioning itself as the trusted advisor, from the business perspective, rather than the technical perspective which is covered by the likes of Engineering New Zealand or the Institute of Architects.
For me, advocacy covers contracts and commercial arrangements, business competence, and the role and status of consultancy and engineering businesses within the general wider society.
A particular interest over the next few years will be water reform, combined with the establishment of the new water entities and the impact that this will have on the wider consultancy sector. I believe that ACE New Zealand will have an important role to play as the current 67 water providers are reduced to the four proposed and the potential impact that this will have on the consultancy sector.
I also see a significant role in ACE New Zealand supporting the consultancy sector in the drive to carbon neutrality, which I see as critical for us all and particularly for younger and future generations, who are going to have to live with the effects of climate change more than older generations.
Strengths
I am an experienced engineer, manager, and strategic thinker, with governance experience. I have previous board experience as a co-opted board member of ACENZ (2015 to 2018) and as a principal shareholder and director of AWT Water Ltd, a medium-sized employee-owned New Zealand based consultancy between 2007 and 2014. I am currently a board member of Engineers without Borders Incorporated and am a Member of the Institute of Directors (IoD).
I have undertaken director training, including completing the IoD Not for Profit Governance Essentials and Not-for-Profit Finance Fundamentals training courses and am familiar with the Four Pillars of Governance.
I have also completed the Post Graduate Diploma in Business Administration at Auckland University (2010), undertaken to develop my skills associated with running a business, with papers including accountancy, organisational behaviour and strategy.
What does diversity and inclusion mean to you?
For me, diversity means diversity of thought as is often reflected by culture, gender, age, ethnicity, nationality, work experience and background.
A common comment of mine is, “if there is a group of you in a circle all looking in different directions (based on your individual perspectives), it is hard for someone to creep up behind you”. Diversity allows a group to see things from different viewpoints, and therefore come up with better solutions.
Inclusion, to me, means a diverse range of people being included equally in the discussions and collectively reaching an agreement.