Brian Wood

Non Executive Director (Chairman)
MBA(Otago) FInstD FNZIM

Brian has had a very distinguished career associated with senior leadership and latterly consulting.

He was previously the Managing Director, Asia Pacific of MWH Limited and was responsible for the overall leadership in New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, China, Taiwan, Vietnam and Brunei with total revenue in excess of US$120 million.  MWH is a global civil engineering consultancy and Brian was a senior member of the MWH Global Management Team that is based in Broomfield, Colorado.  Brian developed a management structure at MWH that focussed on good governance and management practice which transformed the Asia Pacific operations into a profitable unit where total staff grew to 1,400.

Since stepping down from his role with MWH, he is concentrating on external directorships and carrying consulting assignments for a small number of exceptional clients.  Brian is an accredited member and a Fellow of the Institute of Directors in New Zealand (FInstD). He holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA Otago) and is a Fellow of the New Zealand Institute of Management (FNZIM).

Ross Major

Non Executive Director
BE(Mech) FIPENZ

Ross is the Director of the consulting engineering company Selkirk Consulting Limited that specialises in mechanical and building services engineering.  This company was formed when Ross resigned his directorship in what was the company he cofounded Cosgrove Major Consulting Engineers, which grew under his leadership to a staff of twenty.  Prior to this, he worked as the South Island Manager for a private company that manufactured and imported building services equipment and he spent two decades as an engineer with the Ministry of Works and its restructured successors.

As well the directorships in the two consulting engineering companies, his governing experience includes two terms on the Governing Board of the Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand and he is also currently a member of the Building Research Advisory Council.  Ross completed his BE(Mech) at the University of Canterbury and is a Fellow of the Institute of Professional Engineers New Zealand (FIPENZ).

Steve Abley

Executive Director (Managing)
BE(Hons) NZCE FIPENZ CPEng MICE CEng(UK) IntPE(NZ) MInstD

As the founding Director of Abley Transportation Consultants in 1996, Steve is now the Managing Director of a successful company that provides specialist transportation advice in New Zealand and Australia.

Steve left school at the age of 17 and worked as an engineering technician for the then Royds Garden that ultimately became MWH.   He completed his New Zealand Certificate in Engineering (NZCE) while working for Fulton Hogan as a State highways road maintenance manager and went on to complete his Bachelor of Engineering Degree with Honours (BE Hons) at the University of Canterbury.  He worked in the United Kingdom for a specialist transportation consultant for over 4 years and at the same time became a Member the Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand (MIPENZ), a New Zealand Registered Engineer, Member of the Institute of Civil Engineers (MICE) and Chartered Engineer (CEng UK).  While in the UK he also held the position of Honorary Technical Consultant to Living Streets UK.

He returned to New Zealand in 2003 and became increasingly involved in the engineering community and was subsequently elected as the local IPENZ Canterbury Branch Chairman and in 2006 he was one of the youngest engineers to be elected onto the IPENZ Governing Board.  Around this time he also became a Member of the Institute of Directors in New Zealand (MInstD) and a Member of the New Zealand Institute of Management (retired).  He is a Hume Fellowship and Transit New Zealand Scholar and he was a 2006 NZIM/Eagle Technology Young Executive of the Year finalist, a Commonwealth Study Conferences awardee and previous Institute of Directors Aspiring Director of the Year award finalist.  He was recently elected as a Fellow of IPENZ (FIPENZ) in recognition for his technical and leadership skills.

Paul Durdin

Executive Director
BE(Hons) MIPENZ CPEng

Paul was appointed as a Director of the company on 1 December 2009.  He has worked in both New Zealand and Australia where he has provided advice to numerous private and public clients and he has a national reputation for the highest quality deliverables and technical leadership.

He has a Bachelor of Engineering with Honours (BE Hons) degree from the University of Canterbury and was in one of the very first groups of engineers in New Zealand to be recognised under the Chartered Professional Engineers Act (2003), something he achieved in at the very young age of 26.  Paul is a member of the Institute of Professional Engineers New Zealand (MIPENZ) and was the administrator of the Canterbury / West Coast Branch of the IPENZ Transportation Group for 4 years.  He was a national finalist of the 2010 Telecom Association of Consulting Engineers New Zealand (ACENZ) Future Leader Award and in 2011 was a 3M Award finalist at the IPENZ Transportation Group conference.  He was recently elected onto the Canterbury Resource Management Law Association (RMLA) committee.