New leadership appointments at Aurecon New Zealand draw on the company’s existing talent pool to address the changing needs of clients.
International design, engineering and advisory company, Aurecon, has appointed Matt Capon to lead Aurecon’s Sustaining Capital offering, with Jonny Papa being appointed as Aotearoa New Zealand’s new buildings leader, replacing Capon.
As New Zealand’s infrastructure industry navigates a changing market, Aurecon has looked to ensure it has their high performing leaders focused on the sectors where it sees growth in the external market. Papa and Capon’s new roles are focused on growing the right sectors to support the future of New Zealand’s infrastructure industry.
Tracey Ryan, Aurecon’s chief executive for New Zealand, says: “I’ve always been extremely proud of the existing talent we have in our business and to be able to draw on this leadership pool as we look to fill critical leadership positions in answer to the changing needs of our clients across the motu (country) is exciting.”
Matt Capon, sustaining capital leader – New Zealand, said: “With an infrastructure pipeline of $147.6bn, New Zealand faces many challenges. As a country, we cannot afford to build all the infrastructure required, therefore a main focus is to upgrade and renew the infrastructure assets we already have, which in turn positively impacts our environment through sustainability and carbon outputs.”
Working closely with Aurecon’s infrastructure advisory and technical engineering teams, Capon will be driving Aurecon’s Sustaining Capital offering across the whole business. “Our clients tell us they want to engage one company to design and deliver their assets, to manage those assets and to build their business. Sustaining Capital is about doing that through integrated advisory, engineering and digital offerings that find and solve those challenges across the entire asset investment lifecycle,” Capon said.
“My focus will be to work through asset performance, renewal, replacement and growth programmes with our clients to ensure they have an asset base that is not only optimised for the needs of today but also set up to enable growth into the future,” said Capon.
Jonny Papa, Aurecon’s new buildings leader for New Zealand, has been with Aurecon for over 16 years where he joined the company as a structural engineer. Over the years, he has become a highly respected leader and most recently led the Auckland buildings structures team, growing it threefold during his tenure. He has extensive experience as a project director and structural technical director, with a particular focus in the healthcare sector.
He has also led Aurecon’s design teams on several of Health NZ’s largest capital projects in the northern region, including the recently completed Totara Haumaru project and the central plant and tunnels project currently under construction. He is also on the New Zealand Health Design Council committee. Papa is also a keen supporter of several university and engineering groups focused on developing future Māori and Pasifika leaders.
Commenting on his new role, Papa said: “I’m really looking forward to continuing the legacy our team has been creating through supporting our clients with large, complex and highly serviced building portfolios across Aotearoa New Zealand. Technical excellence is the foundation of our business and my focus will be on our people and clients who are the secret sauce of what really makes our teams successful.”
