Meet the Team

The leader of the pack, Gareth, CEO has a proven record across senior management roles within the ICT, Manufacturing and horticultural sectors. With multiple experiences being the leader of multinational companies, the manufacturing industry was calling his name and now, CEO of Farra, Gareth is inspired by the depth of talent that the company holds to be a true driver of ongoing development for the company.

Gareth brings a balanced set of skills to the table, with a Masters of Management from MGSM in Australia and an Engineering Degree from Manukau, NZ. In charge of everything people management, he is busy communicating with the Management team, external stakeholders, and ongoing planning of the running of the business. Experience with living in different countries provides Gareth with a wealth of experience in international markets meaning he is a true asset to Farra. 

Outside of work you will find Gareth skiing the slopes of New Zealand’s beautiful mountains, or travelling around the world with his family to some of his favourite places, such as France and the Czech Republic.

Sally, the Chief Financial Officer, is a deadline focused, personable team player that puts her communication and analytical skills into play. Her role within Farra is complemented well with her skill set that she brings to the table.

Prior to working at Farra, Sally has had various roles such as business banking and management accounting within diverse organisations around the country from large corporates like Calder Stewart to competitive sports organisations like the Waikato Rugby Union. She has now been at Farra for over a year and has faced many different tasks on a daily basis, from monthly reporting, accounts, project managing and payroll. Her favourite aspect of working within the Farra team is the variety of work and the interaction with different people.

When not in the Farra office, Sally has her hands full with three children, ages 13, 9 and 6. She also loves to go to the gym to unwind after a day full of different jobs.

Meet Andrew. Andrew is a mechanical engineer by trade and has also obtained a Masters in Business Administration to perfectly complement his role at Farra as our Business Development Manager.

In a reasonably new role for the company, Andrew is in charge of everything business related to which point no day is quite the same. Everything from looking for new business opportunities, deepening sales channels, maintaining existing relationships, marketing efforts and much more. Seeing as it is a relatively new role, Andrew is busy developing new resources to aid the role.

Outside of the Farra office you will find Andy scoping out the best waves at local surfing hot spots, and he is a Harley Davidson enthusiast!

With a background in Mechanical Engineering and an interest in renewable energy, Thomas was the perfect fit for the project manager role seven years ago. Now, he is the manager of the Design & Innovation team. Thomas puts his creative skills in to play. Having the creative freedom to create new products and bespoke solutions is only one of Thomas’s highlights of working at Farra.

Having a mix of both national and international clients, Thomas gets to travel to inspect, strategize and implement product outcomes. This allows him to see the problem needing a solution first hand and ensures the client relationship is an engaged, informed and happy one. One of his most enjoyable products was the High-Riser solution developed for the re-cladding operation on Spencer on Byron Hotel in Auckland. This allowed the team to rethink maintenance systems and create a world-first innovative solution, which is a Best Awards finalist. 

When Thomas isn’t thinking of his next solution to client's problems, you can find him playing squash, out trail riding, and diving.

With a BCOM in Management, BSC in Information Technology and 12 years’ experience enhancing project deliverance, Robyn has joined our team as our Major Projects Manager.

Thriving in making order from chaos, Robyn thoroughly enjoys the challenges of improving a company’s processes and will be working with our Project Managers to enhance Farra’s project management capability, helping to drive project success, and will ensure how we deliver all projects is consistent and scalable.

Within her role Robyn enjoys how all the moving parts of a project are never the same, providing variety every single day. A prime example of this has been the Material Transfer Unit project in Queenstown as the installation of the unit is complex and is providing an exciting challenge for the project team to solve.

Robyn’s Top Tips are:

• “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail”
• “Enjoy the people that are around you and ask for help”

Outside of work Robyn enjoys spending time with her family and makes sure to find time to partake in some painting, fishing, karaoke, and enjoying live music events. She even likes practising her fake welding skills on the side.

Meet Mike, affectionately known as the ‘general dogsbody’ in the Machining shop. Mike has been the Manager for 16 years and enjoys the mix of work that the division gets to be involved with.

Prior to Farra, Mike had various different roles within the engineering sector from workshop supervisor to a metal spray engineer. Mike's wealth of experience as a mechanical engineer makes him a real asset to the team at Farra. His favourite projects include the Burrinjuck repairs due to the unique setting that it was located within and the Manapouri repairs. During these projects, the team had to place many different facets together to create a solution that worked for the client as well as doing the job right the first time.

When Mike isn’t playing ‘dogsbody’ he is a massive sports fan, including watching his sons rugby, going with his family to grass kart events, and also enjoys water sports.

Matt joined the Farra Stainless team 18 months ago after being self-employed in a smaller scale engineering business. A back injury and subsequent back operation made him re-evaluate his physical job. When he heard of an opportunity at Farra Stainless in the office Matt was keen to check it out and was very happy to land a role as a Project Manager, utilising his varied and experienced engineering knowledge and expertise.

Matt enjoys the people of Farra and the change from small scale engineering to the large scale workshop and projects that Stainless offer. Projects that include stainless tanks for Fonterra and breweries all over NZ. Matt is happy to have the best seat in the office next to the TV and heat pump.

Matt's tip:

• Think about what a product could be, not what it is. Innovation is the key.

One great job that Matt recalls being especially enjoyable and challenging was rebuilding an aerial atom chassis for a customer and the great communication with the customer. This included smart thinking and detailed planning to achieve the final product. It was a fun enjoyable project.

Outside of work Matt enjoys all sports (not so much the player anymore though), hanging out with Sarah and wee Blake.

Adrian started at Farra 18 years ago when he began his apprenticeship as a Fitter Turner. He then left for 18 months and worked at Donaghys as a fitter until he got a call from the Machining Foreman to come back to Farra. Adrian completed his apprenticeship and went on to run the large CNC Borer and was heavily involved in site work. It was hard work, with long hours but was always interesting and rewarding, while working with great people.

Adrian suffered a knee injury from motorbiking and found workshop/sitework more and more difficult and it was suggested he should look for a different job. He has been pursued in the past to take the foreman role at Machining and had always resisted, but two years ago this seemed like the best option and he decided to go for it. Adrian is now the Works Manager for the Machining workshop and enjoys role organising the workshop, men, and job flow on a daily basis. Farra Machining use and deal with very expensive machinery which is a huge responsibility in itself to manage.

One of Adrian's memorable work times was the Manapouri Upgrade. He was responsible for machining many parts then being on site underground installing the parts. The project had long days, was hard work, but was a satisfying experience shared with many other onsite workers living in a hostel.

Outside of work Adrian still enjoys motorbiking and spending time with his family.

Jamie started working in fabrication as a Heavy Fabricator/Welder in 2008 and a couple of years later decided he wanted to experience working in the office.  Jamie moved to a new role as Works Manager for the Heavy Fabrication Workshop and has found his practical hands-on experience has been a great asset in assisting this transition.

In 2013 Jamie set off on his OE with his girlfriend to the UK for a year and a half where he earned more work experience in engineering and landscaping. Jamie did extensive travelling before returning to Dunedin and Farra were happy to have Jamie back on the team, offering him a position as Project Manager within the fabrication division.

Jamie enjoys his job for the varied and interesting projects that come his way. One of his favourite jobs has been project managing the NSR High Riser project, a new product design for Farra that brought with it lots of challenges.

Jamie’s top tips are:

• Never be too comfortable in your job and always be ready to learn new things.
• Two hands receive a hospital pass!

Jamie's favourite quirky saying is “tis the way it is Lad!”

Outside of work Jamie enjoys, diving, landscaping, rugby, surfing and relaxing with his family.

A veteran in the Farra Family, Grant has been with us for 37 years and is one of the longest standing team members. What started as an apprenticeship in the Sheetmetal division straight out of school has naturally progressed to Grant becoming the Stainless division manager and now a Project Manager for major projects.

Being organised, methodical and having awesome people skills makes Grant the perfect Project Manager. During a typical day, you could find Grant job planning, invoicing, quoting or putting to use his HR skills. His favourite element of the job is that something different is always happening and having new challenges presenting themselves which keeps him on his toes!

As a Project Manager, Grant sees a lot of projects come through the workshop, but to date, his favourite projects include the Brew Tanks for Emerson's brewery, Speights redevelopment and the small brew pubs that he has helped out with over the past 37 years.  

Outside of work, you can find Grant watching sport and his son playing football. He also, following on from his favourite projects, enjoys trying new beers!

Based in our Christchurch Office, Russell is our Business Development Manager working towards expanding our Business Development Capabilities in the Canterbury region. With a Bachelor in Mechanical Engineering and experience as a Hydraulic Sales Engineer he brings a range of skills to his current role within the Farra team.

Russell's role is customer focused, working to build new business opportunities while maintaining existing relationships and he enjoys the share scale and variety of projects that he helps to bring into the Farra workshops.

Outside of the Farra office Russell is passionate about Motorsports and is currently renovating his 100-year-old house. Eight months into renovations and there seems to be no end in sight.