Our executive leadership team

Brett is one of New Zealand’s foremost transport professionals and has worked in the sector for over 25 years.  

NZTA plays a critical role in advising where investment will provide the best possible outcomes for our communities. Brett’s experience is invaluable in taking a system view of New Zealand’s transport needs over the coming decades while also adopting a best-practice asset management approach.

Brett’s engineering background includes rebuilding our transport system after extreme events such as the Christchurch earthquake, Kaikoura earthquake and Cyclone Gabrielle, as well as creating significant new connections like the Waterview Tunnel, Transmission Gully, Waikato Expressway, Northern Busway and Northern Gateway.

Brett is committed to driving excellence in the supply chain and improving health and safety. He is also a strong supporter of engagement with iwi, the community and local government.

Brett has decades of experience in leading the procurement and delivery of complex projects, including Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) and Alliancing. As the Deputy Chair of the Austroads Board, Brett also works to understand international trends and developments. This exposure to research and best practice guidance across New Zealand and Australia has enabled us to ensure NZTA remains competitive and innovative.

Brent is an experienced regulator with a strong commercial background. With nine years’ experience as a senior executive at the Commerce Commission, including seven years as CEO, he has an in-depth understanding of modern regulatory practice.

Brent has practical experience in establishing and successfully operating regulatory regimes and has been closely involved at a senior level in all facets of regulation. 

Brent has also held roles as CEO of Mary Potter Hospice, Commercial Manager at New Zealand Oil and Gas, and Corporate Finance Director at Deloitte. Brent holds a Master of Arts in Political Studies and a Bachelor of Arts (hons) in Economics from the University of Otago. 

Caz Jackson is a commercially focused executive leader with extensive experience across people strategy, operational leadership, and organisational transformation. With a career spanning senior global roles including Chief People Officer, Regional General Manager, and HR Director, Caz has led strategic initiatives at major New Zealand and global FMG, construction and infrastructure organisations.

A specialist in leading complex change, Caz has played a pivotal role in delivering new operating models to support transformation. 

Caz holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Victoria University.

Karen has a strong background in central government leadership.

Before joining NZTA, she was Deputy Director General People and Engagement at the Department of Conservation. Other previous roles include a secondment to the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet as Executive Director Strategy, Governance and Engagement and she also spent more than five years as Deputy Chief Executive Public Affairs at NZ Police.

Karen is a member of the Risk and Assurance Committee at Customs NZ and holds a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in English from Victoria University.

Liz is a seasoned leader who brings significant experience with leadership of large transformation programmes, payments and digital technology.

She is the former Head of Digital and Transformation at ANZ Bank in New Zealand and was a member of ANZ NZ’s executive leadership team for 4 years.

Liz is a member of the NZ Institute of Directors and serves on the board of Education Payroll Ltd, a Crown entity and has a Bachelor of Commerce in Management Studies and Labour Relations from the University of Auckland.

Richard is an experienced executive director, with a strong public sector and public delivery background.

He is a former Partner and Board member at PricewaterhouseCoopers. While there, he had a focus on public sector work across financial and economic analysis, fiscal and financial management and analysis, major policy and reform programmes, budget bids and business cases, regulation, machinery of government, and public/private financing and contracting.

He was also part of the executive leadership team at the New Zealand Treasury for four years. 

Sara is an experienced finance and corporate services leader and leads our investment and finance, commercial, procurement, legal, governance, risk, organisational performance, business support and enterprise portfolio management functions.

Sara is the former Chief Financial Officer for the Wellington City Council. Before that, she held a number of roles at Auckland Council including Executive Officer, Head of Financial Transformation, Head of Financial Transactions and General Manager Procurement, and also worked for MBIE as General Manager of Commercial Services.

Sara is the Board Chair of Amnesty International Aotearoa New Zealand.

Sarina has extensive expertise in contact centre strategy and operations and has previously worked as the General Manager ANZ Contact Centre, one of New Zealand’s largest contact centres employing more than 1000 people. There she was responsible for managing 20 million customer interactions annually across multiple channels. She has led multiple complex organisational changes and is an experienced people leader.

Sarina holds a Bachelor of Commerce and Administration (BCA) in Marketing (Hons) and Management from Victoria University of Wellington.

Kevin has over 30 years’ experience delivering major infrastructure projects across New Zealand and Australia. A civil engineer by background, he has held senior roles including Chief Infrastructure Officer at Auckland Transport and CEO of the Office of Projects Victoria.

Kevin has led key NZTA initiatives such as the Transmission Gully Public Private Partnership and Pūhoi to Warkworth business case and played a pivotal role in City Rail Link procurement. Prior to his current role, he was Group Director at Beca, overseeing a team of 800+ across the Asia Pacific region.  Kevin is widely respected across the transport sector for his expertise in procurement and stakeholder engagement.