"Beca gave me the opportunity to manage people and projects early on, which was a huge turning point in my career."
Neil has been with Beca since 1983 and his current role is a Technical Director of the Survey Group in Auckland.
As a surveyor, Neil is involved at the front-end of project designs but as a Technical Director he oversees multiple survey projects at any one time. "The challenge is balancing them against one other because each job is just as important," he says. Most recently, he has worked for the Victoria Park Tunnel, SH16 Cycleway legalisation work and a project in in Kiribati involving the establishment of new benchmarks.
After completing a Land Surveying degree at Otago University, Neil was recruited by Beca for a four month surveying role in Malaysia. He continued with Beca in Brunei for a three month assignment that turned into 11 years away from home. Promoted to Survey Manager, Neil's passion for managing people and process developed – something that continues in his current role. Under his leadership, the survey team in Brunei grew to 45 people at the height of the 1990s economic boom.
Neil enjoys guiding his geospatial team on a range of projects as well as being the face of Beca to the client. There is also an unknown component to his job as no one day is the same. "It's exciting coming to work not knowing what is around the corner," he says. "It's the thrill of the chase, the hunt for the next job that counteracts any rare, dull moment."
Neil believes the people surrounding him have made it easy to stay with Beca for 28 years. "The key figures within Beca definitely create a great culture that drives the whole company." Neil was inspired by his peers early on with their intelligence, honesty and straightforwardness – qualities capturing much of what Beca represents.