Meet our leadership team
One of our core values at Voco is 'People First'.
Our people are the heart and soul of our business and their growth and fulfilment are key goals we're truly committed to.
We genuinely care for our team members, and provide a supportive and inclusive environment where everyone's voices are heard and respected. We prioritise work-life balance, personal development, and a sense of belonging, because we understand that when our people thrive, our company thrives.
And it all starts with our leadership team...
Julia Dol - Partner
I love being part of Voco.
It’s our people that make it special, and I’m really proud of the team we’ve put together over the past few years.
As consultants, we're invariably brought in to help clients answer the really difficult questions in their business, and find solutions to their most complex problems.
So our people have to be exceptional.
They have to be talented professionals with a huge amount of experience in their field. But they also have to be calm, confident, capable and have that rare ability to fit into each new client's culture seamlessly. It’s the 4 Cs that we look for when we are bringing people on board, are they calm, confident, capable and a good cultural fit?
The people who work for us are incredibly well rounded, and that’s why they’re able to add value to our clients quickly and efficiently.
So what makes me well rounded? I rely heavily on a tool that I learnt early in my career called the 'Wheel of Life', a good example is below. The essence is that every wheel of life turns best when it's mostly round, and that requires balance. So, it's no good having a life that is rich in my career if it's depleted in family or friends, as the wheel just won’t turn.
Currently I’m keeping my wheel in balance with a mixture of work and spending time skiing, cycling or skippering the boat and dropping a line over the side. My children are now adults and our family part of the wheel is filled with their adventures, their friends and spending time with them all.
When time allows, I love nothing more than trying out new recipes in the kitchen and hosting friends for great food and company.
Work is a big part of my life. And keeping my 'Wheel of Life' in balance, turning pretty smoothly makes me better at my work.
Find that balance in your life and you’ll find your wheel should turn freely too!
Click here for the Wheel of Life - https://lnkd.in/gzKa2pKP
Dudley Harris - Partner
I also think life is about balance.
I'm proud of the work I do at Voco. It’s a real privilege to work on projects like the Covid response – solving complex problems at pace alongside the Ministry of Health and making a real difference to the lives of all New Zealanders.
I’m proud of the Kiwi consultancy I’ve built alongside my fellow partners, Julia and Vaughn, and the incredible team we’ve put together to support our wonderful clients.
But I’m also thankful for the life I’m able to lead outside of work.
When I’m off duty you’ll find me mountain biking, fishing, or chilling out at a lazy concert in a vineyard somewhere around NZ. And if I'm not doing those things, I'm probably annoying one of my four kids :)
Being consultants means we get to work on problems that don’t have easy or obvious answers. And it feels like finding the right balance between our professional and personal lives is becoming more challenging every day.
My advice is simple... bring your whole self to work. Be real and authentic. And you’ll find that you can be just as passionate at work as you are at working on your passions…
Vaughn Woods - Partner
I love a challenge and achieving shared outcomes, both at work and in my down time. And there’s nothing more challenging (and rewarding) than completing a triathlon or adventure race with family or great friends, and great teammates.
There's always an immense amount of experience and learning to be gained from undertaking a challenging event where finishing is not a given, and where success means everyone putting in more than they thought they had as part of the team.
I’m constantly amazed by what's possible when you harness ‘The Power of Many’ and give them a clear goal or purpose. For me these experiences define new limits each time.
It’s the same with the work we do at Voco.
We are often engaged to help our clients solve a tough business challenge that there's no immediate answer to. It's the exceptional capability and experience of our team that enables us to make a difference, bringing perspectives and insights that can quickly uncover what needs to be done and how best to do it.
While at Voco, I've been fortunate to work with many fantastic organisations and people. The diverse clients we work with and the business transformations we get involved with make it both exciting and rewarding.
We've been able to deliver transformational outcomes that have helped change the fundamentals of the business and enable sustainable change. And we've done it many times over.
So if you’re looking to find your business limits, and achieve more than you ever thought your team and organisation were capable of, reach out to myself, Julia, or Dudley and let's talk.
Kelsey Mead - Senior manager
Kia ora, I’m Kelsey, a senior manager at Voco and lover of all things outdoors (except spiders!)
You might sense there are a couple of common themes across our team here.
One of those is around our core value of 'Get Shit Done'. It describes exactly what we do, and it’s the reason I’m here.
Some say you are what you're surrounded by – and our team are a bunch of high performing individuals who live full lives and are specialists in their own fields.
I’m kept busy at Voco growing the business applications practice and team. Being responsible for the growth, strategy, and management of the practice is a role I’m super proud to have.
I like to think my "serve and support" leadership style helps the practice to grow and supports our clients’ outcomes.
The second theme you might have noticed is the outdoorsy, go get 'em nature of our people.
When I’m not supporting the team, speaking with clients, or strategising, you’ll find me chasing my family around a mountain bike track, rocking it at an Ed Sheeran concert, beaching it, or hiking.
We’re an active family and were lucky enough to be able to live and work in the USA last year – roaming around the dirt race car tracks and incredible national parks.
This was made possible for me because Voco fully supports hybrid working and have embraced the idea that work should flex around your life, not the other way around.
It was an amazing experience for my family and I, and it made me realise that when you find the right employer, you can be productive and effective in your role no matter where you are in the world.
Joe Beesley - Senior manager
I love football, and for the past few seasons I’ve been a coach for my son’s team in my local village of Paekākāriki.
As we wrap up another season in New Zealand, I couldn’t help but think of the similarities between succeeding as a football coach and succeeding at work.
For players at this age, the main goal is to keep them coming back each week. And how do we do that? We make it fun! And when the kids have fun, the results seem to follow.
It’s the same at work.
There’s a wonderful quote from Dale Carnegie: “People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing.”
And that’s part of our philosophy at Voco too - we do what we say we’re going to do and we have fun while doing it.
I’m Joe, a senior manager at Voco, and I’m lucky enough to work closely with our architecture and business applications practices.
Because of the nature of the work we do, every day is both a new challenge and an exciting possibility.
From working with some of our country’s biggest organisations and journeying with them through times of great change, to taking some of the oldest software applications and modernising both the experience and the outcome – there's always great fun to be had in the art of the possible. And our team at Voco team always bring great enthusiasm to every project we work on.
What we do, and the way we do it, has an impact on people. And whether it’s coaching a young football team, or helping a client improve their business, we always want that impact to be positive.
What better way to do that than to make it fun?
Jamie Smith - Senior manager
Hi, I'm Jamie Smith, another senior manager here at Voco, and I work within the consulting practice covering architecture and project delivery.
I aim to bring trust and a calming presence in the complex, and sometimes high stress work, we do.
Being part of great teams that all share common values and genuinely care about the outcomes we deliver for our clients confirms to me I'm in the right place.
With a passion for delivering business outcomes through technology, working with clients on strategies, architectures and all things project delivery, I aim to ensure the journey undertaken is successful.
When not working with clients I love spending time with the family exploring new places both locally and abroad. Taking the kids on short hikes or bike rides, anything to get out, about and enjoying the outdoors. And for those who don’t know me, my wife (a sommelier) and I enjoy all things wine – the vineyards, the production, and of course the enjoyment of it (I won't mention the number of wine bottles we have).
Our value of 'People and Family First' means me and the other leaders not just encouraging our team to take the time out but also leading by example and doing so ourselves.
I've found that a great team and working environment means a less stressful home life and allows me to reflect this in the work I do.
I'm based in Auckland but often in Wellington so reach out if you would like to meet or catch up.