Our people

Creating spaces for Aucklanders needs a team of dedicated and passionate people, we have a team that encompasses these traits and share a vision for Auckland’s future.

The team at Panuku cover a broad range of backgrounds and skill sets. Our team covers property managers through to urban designers and a bit of everything in between. One thing that unites us is our desire to make Auckland a better place to live and our vision to shape spaces for Aucklanders to love.

Meet the Board of Directors

Richard Aitken

Chair

Richard Aiken is currently Executive Chairman of Beca Group Ltd - New Zealand’s largest employee - owned professional services consultancy, with around 1000 employee shareholders throughout New Zealand, Australia and Asia.

His career at Beca has spanned more than 40 years, covering various senior executive positions and directorships within the company. Richard is a Director of TrustPowe and he is the Chairman of the Construction Strategy Group - a high-level strategy group addressing industry-wide issues. He is also on the Trust Board of the Power Engineering Excellence Trust at the University of Canterbury; a member of the King’s College Board of Governors; and is the Chairman of the New Zealand Division of the Institution of Structural Engineers, based in the UK.

Dr Susan Macken

Deputy Chair

Dr Macken has BSc and BCom degrees from Auckland University, and a PhD in Economics from Cambridge University. Dr Macken held various high level roles at Fletcher Challenge before becoming CEO of the Problem Gambling Foundation, then CEO of the Auckland Regional Economic Development Strategy. Since then she has been a Company Director and Business Consultant.

Dr Macken is currently Chair of Kiwibank and Deputy Chair of the Tamaki Redevelopment Company. She is also a member of the New Zealand Treasury's Advisory Board.

Richard Leggat

Richard Leggat brings to the board 30 years of experience across manufacturing, sales and marketing, and financial management in a range of industries.

For the past three years Richard has been a full time director with positions on a number of government and sporting organisations. Amongst his positions Richard is a Director of Tourism NZ, Education NZ, NZ Post, Chair of the NZ Cycle Trail, Director of Cycling NZ and Director of SnowSports NZ.

Paul Majurey

Paul has been a lawyer for over 30 years. He is a senior partner at Atkins Holm Majurey, and prior to its establishment in 2009 was a senior partner at Russell McVeagh.

Paul has extensive governance experience. He chairs several statutory entities and companies, and is a director on many company boards. He also has extensive experience chairing three separate iwi/hapū collectives comprising 30 iwi/hapū.

Mike Pohio

Mike Pohio is an independent director, serving on a number of boards including, Transpower, NIWA and Bay Radiotherapy Services. Mike is also a Ministerial Appointee and Vice Chancellor of the University of Waikato and Chairman of BNZ Partners, Waikato Region. His executive career has spanned a wide range of industries and roles, most recently as CEO of Tainui Group Holdings.

In 2013 he was awarded a Fellowship by Chartered Accountants Australia + New Zealand, gained an MBA from IMD in 1999 and is a member of the New Zealand Institute of Directors.

Martin Udale

Martin Udale has more than 30 years’ experience in commercial and residential property development and investment in UK, Australia and New Zealand. Before moving to New Zealand in 2003, Martin spent 22 years working in the Australian property markets holdings senior roles in a number of organisations.

Martin’s interests lie in the areas of business and how property works for it; urban strategy and city development; urban regeneration and major projects; developing successful partnership models for public and private sector participation; and, institutional transformation.

From 2003 - 2009 Martin led McConnell Property as a general manager and then CEO.

Martin holds a number of board and governance roles and is a current or past member of The Auckland Mayoral Taskforce on Urban Design; Tamaki Transformation Programme, Committee for Auckland; Property Council of New Zealand Urban Issues and Infrastructure Committee; Auckland City Urban Design Panel; New Zealand Government Taskforce on Urban Intensification; Sustainable Urban Development Unit working group; and NSW Urban taskforce.

David Kennedy

David has significant experience in the property and entertainment industries. He is currently Chief Executive of Ngāi Tahu Property, the property development and investment arm of Ngāi Tahu Group

David has held previous executive roles including CEO at the Eden Park Trust, GM roles at SKYCITY Entertainment Group, CEO of St Lukes Group/Westfield NZ and property development roles with Fletcher Construction/Challenge Properties.

Previous governance roles include chairing the Auckland Central Community Response Forum, Counties Manukau Sport and Sportnet NZ.

Meet the Senior Leadership Team

Roger MacDonald

Chief Executive

Roger has lead property and infrastructure projects in the Middle East, the UK, Europe, India, the US and Africa. The Englishman has a wealth of experience delivering truly sustainable mixed use developments, including a wide range of complex government projects, particularly in the UK.

Roger has delivered many of the projects in his resume from concept to completion, and the developments have been across the retail, residential, commercial, hospitality, education and healthcare sectors.

The major projects that Roger has worked on include the mixed use Government development programmes in London’s Marsham Street, Dubai’s Jumeria Garden City and the new Khalifa Port and Industrial Zone in Abu Dhabi.

Roger is a Fellow of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors and has a Master of Science in Information Technology and Business Communications.

David Rankin

Chief Operating Officer

The strategy directorate identifies opportunities for Panuku to add value to Auckland Council’s property assets, shapes these opportunities into robust project plans, and brings stakeholders and the public on the journey with best practice communication and engagement. David Rankin’s team helps to articulate the vision for the organisation and progress our goals and objectives through a strategic framework.

David was previously the Chief Executive of Auckland Council Property Limited, a subsidiary of the Auckland Council formed on 1 November 2010.

Prior to the restructure of Local Government in Auckland David Rankin was Chief Executive of the former Auckland City Council, previously the largest Council in New Zealand. Mr Rankin started with the Auckland City Council in 1989 and held a wide variety of roles including Industrial Relations Manager and Finance Director. He was appointed Chief Executive in 2005. A graduate in Law from Auckland University, David has been a resident of Auckland almost all his life.

Rod Marler

Director, Place Shaping

Rod Marler’s team leads the masterplanning process to ensure that each development opportunity achieves strong design outcomes and optimises commercial opportunities, while balancing economic, social, cultural and environment considerations.

Rod has more than 30 years’ experience delivering large and complex projects. He joined Waterfront Auckland at its inceptionin November 2010 following an eight-year role as General Manager Design, Westfield New Zealand. He holds a degree in Architecture and an MBA, both from Auckland University.

As GM Development at Waterfront Auckland, Rod led a team of planners, designers, development and project managers to deliver projects across Auckland’s waterfront on behalf of Auckland Council. Rod led the Waterfront Auckland team responsible for delivering the 2012 Waterfront Plan which articulates the 30-year vision for Auckland’s waterfront.

In May 2012 Rod was seconded to CERA (Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority) for three months to lead the development of the Christchurch Central Recovery Plan and the Blueprint team responsible for the masterplan for the redevelopment of central Christchurch.

In February 2014 Rod was invited to join a Local Government NZ team to assist the Samoan government with the development of a waterfront strategy for Apia. Working with the Samoan planning and urban design team, this will lead to the production of a Waterfront Plan for Apia.

Allan Young

Director, Development

Allan Young’s team is responsible for directing the successful delivery of development projects. The team works right across the organisation and with partners and stakeholders, throughout the lifecycle of a project.

Allan has vast private sector experience within the property investment and development industry, specialising in commercial design/build projects and residential development.

His career in these fields has spanned more than 20 years.

Joining Local Government in 2008, Allan was the Manager of Manukau City Council’s Property Investment and Development unit until the amalgamation in 2010. Allan lead the Development team at Auckland Council Property Limited before the establishment of Panuku.

Carl Gosbee

Director, Corporate Services

The Corporate Services directorate ensures that Panuku has effective and efficient internal control mechanisms, processes and systems to support the safe delivery of projects and business functions.

Carl Gosbee has over 20 years’ experience in corporate financial management for property, regeneration and housing companies.

He is a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, and has held executive financial roles in the United Kingdom and New Zealand. Carl has extensive experience leading high performance teams within the back office, property investment and customer service arenas.

Carl joined Waterfront Auckland in early 2012. In September 2015 Carl was appointed his current role as Director of Corporate Services.

Ian Wheeler

Director, Portfolio Management

Ian Wheeler leads a diverse team with extensive property expertise. The Portfolio Management directorate is responsible for the management and performance of the Panuku property portfolio including land, buildings, marina and place assets and the provision of a range of property services and advice including asset development and renewal, statutory processes, acquisitions and disposals.

Prior to joining Panuku Ian held senior property management and development roles at Auckland Council and Housing New Zealand Corporation. At Auckland Council, his role as general manager property covered the management of a large and diverse multi-billion dollar property portfolio including office, recreational, community and residential assets. Prior to working in New Zealand, Ian was the Chief Executive of an affordable housing company in South Africa, Durban.

Ian has been involved in various industry bodies including the Construction Clients Group and the New Zealand Green Building Council. He has 25 years’ experience in the property industry covering management and governance roles within the private, public and not-for-profit sectors in New Zealand and abroad.

Angelika Cutler

Director Corporate Affairs

Angelika has worked in public relations and senior executive roles in both the private sector and local government in New Zealand and Singapore. This has been in a variety of roles, most recently as General Manager Strategy for Waterfront Auckland. She has broad experience in corporate strategy, strategic communications and stakeholder relations, crisis management, internal communications and project management.

As Director Corporate Affairs, Angelika is focused on how the organisation can work with key partners from Central Government and the private sector, locally and internationally to generate urban regeneration at speed and at scale. Angelika believes the biggest challenge for Panuku is to strike a balance between achieving commercial outcomes for the benefit of its shareholder (Auckland Council), while ensuring that Panuku realises its vision of creating spaces that Aucklanders love.

Meet some of our staff

Tom Warren

General Manager, Marinas

Tom Warren joined Waterfront Auckland in September 2012. As General Manager Marinas, Tom leads the overall management and strategic development of Westhaven, the largest marina in the southern hemisphere alongside Silo Marina and Viaduct Marina.

Tom brings to Panuku a wealth of marina and sailing experience. From 1987 – 1990 Tom sailed for Fisher and Paykel New Zealand as part of the Whitbread round the world yacht race. He was involved with the development of the American Express Americas Cup Village in Viaduct Harbour and more recently held positions with Gulf Harbour Marina and the New Zealand Marina Operators Association.

After almost 7 years as an independent marine consultant Tom enjoys the variety and challenges that managing these precious assets bring.

Frith Walker

Manager, Place Making

Originally hailing from theatre and events, Frith joined the Waterfront Auckland team in 2011, as Placemaker for the Wynyard Quarter, with a specific focus on the programming and place management of the new public spaces on the CBD Waterfront.

Her appointment and the creation of a place making team came from an understanding that if we focussed solely on the aesthetics of the physical setting we would miss a fundamental factor in planning a new, positive addition to the city – the people. You don’t make a show without thinking about the audience, after all.

As Manager Place Making for Panuku her role now sees her working within the Place Shaping directorate on the creation of successful public space networks, supporting the programming and activation of our public spaces, and championing the difference a healthy public realm can make in terms of creating liveable cities.

Tim Watts

Head of Design

With over 20 years’ experience, Tim has worked as an urban development leader and practitioner on large-scale transformations. Tim has experience working in a range of settings from development agencies to private practices and local government. He specialises in masterplanning, design codes, urban regeneration strategies and site design, and development briefs.

Tim joined Panuku late 2015 as Head of Design in the Place Shaping Directorate. Tim is responsible for leading masterplans and frameworks and realising design quality in associated public realm upgrades and development schemes.

Margrit de Man

Property Portfolio Manager

Margrit is a seasoned property management professional with over 20 years’ experience in managing both private and public sector property assets. Margrit has worked in a number of property management roles in New Zealand. This has included social housing management, shopping centre management, national retail network roles and management of large industrial and commercial sites.

As Property Portfolio Manager at Panuku, Margrit and her team manage a large portfolio of property assets which includes commercial tenancies, residential flats and houses, ground leases, grazing licences, quarries and landfills.

Margrit relishes the challenges involved in managing such a diverse portfolio of assets and in knowing that our property management efforts result in improved returns for the shareholders, benefiting all of Auckland.

Clive Fuhr

Project Development Director

Clive has extensive experience in property development and urban renewal in both the UK and New Zealand. He worked in London Docklands to both redevelop and refurbish older housing areas. He also managed projects to increase the density of older public housing estates.

In New Zealand, Clive has worked in both the public and private sector delivering property and transport infrastructure projects. He has held senior management positions in a number of organisations. He is a Chartered Surveyor (FRICS) and past Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Housing.

Katelyn Orton

Project Development Director - Waterfront

Katelyn holds a qualification in town planning and project management and has more than 20 years of industry experience within the residential development and aged care sectors. Katelyn has worked with some of Australia’s leading property development companies and retirement village providers delivering a range of projects such as master planned communities, large scale residential and mixed use land subdivisions, retirement villages comprising community facilities, independent living units, assisted living apartments and Residential Aged Care Facilities.

Katelyn is passionate about creating communities that people want to live in: places that protect and enhance the natural environment, are built for resilience, and that have people at their heart.

Katelyn grew up in Mildura and had lived in Melbourne until she moved with her Kiwi husband and two daughters to New Zealand in 2014.

Panuku Development Auckland