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 with 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 7 years ago. Now, he is the manager of the Engineering Design 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 clients problems, you can find him playing squash, out trail riding and diving.

Murray is our Works Manager in the fabrication division. In charge of logistics, people management and health and safety is no small task and this is why Murray is the perfect man for the job!

Having worked at Farra for close to 13 years, Murray started as the fabrication Foreman and moved into the role of Works Manager 8 years later. For Murray, the highlights of the job are having the opportunity to create bespoke products that test the abilities of the team, ultimately showing new potential and also having different work every day, as no day is the same.

One of Murray’s favourite jobs was the chimney stack project that got everyone in the workshop involved and allowed the older staff to pass over their experience to younger staff members.  Outside of work you will see Murray hanging out with his two beloved labrador dogs.

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. Mikes wealth of experience as a mechanical engineer makes him a real asset to the team at Farra. Mike's 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.

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.

Being organised, methodical and having awesome people skills makes Grant the perfect person to run Stainless. 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!

In charge of the stainless division, 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!

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 and planning their upcoming summer wedding.

Meet Nick, equipped with customer relationship management, negotiation and leadership skills. He is a true leader and tackles the role of CEO of Shape NZ with gusto.

With an unexpected journey to where he is now, he began as a teacher and then progressively diverted towards business development, marketing and operation management roles within several large NZ food companies, which lead to him becoming an owner of a large well-recognised national brand.

A true highlight of working at Shape is that no two days are the same. Shape are able to produce products and concepts that other businesses cannot do. As a more tailored business, Shape have a much smaller client base and that allows more interaction. For this reason, the solutions that Shape provide for bombardier transportation and light rail in Australia are among  Nicks favourite project’s.

When you can’t find Nick in the office or in Dunedin, you will find him spending time with his 3 daughters, getting involved with their school community, in particular he is a member on the board of trustees at Clearview Primary in Rolleston and keeping fit - “a way to clear my head”.

Shape NZ and Farra have been working together for 6 years and work closely as they share common values, common capabilities but have different markets which made them the perfect combo. Around 18 months ago Farra acquired Shape and the two companies now work as one.