Joanne McGregor

Biography

Joanne McGregor is a civil engineer based in our Auckland office, with a strong interest in projects that balance environmental and social benefit against long-term viability. Her early career path included practical experience within the solid waste industry, providing technical support to in-vessel composting facilities installed at resource recovery centres around the country. From there she moved to the professional consulting field, working on projects that ranged from small-scale projects to larger cross-sector, multi-client and multi-phase initiatives.

Through a combination of industry and consulting experience, Joanne has developed a sound knowledge of the theory, technology options, and operational issues faced when seeking a sustainable approach for managing and reducing waste to landfill. This includes the application of composting and anaerobic digestion technology to reduce waste, mitigate biogenic methane emissions, and create products for soil enhancement, organic fertilisers and biogas. Stakeholder engagement and behaviour change underpin many of these initiatives, crucial to their success.

Joanne is a highly proficient project manager with strong consulting skills, including project scoping and methodology development, cost estimation, tender preparation and evaluation, contract management, and client / stakeholder liaison. She has also worked as a sustainability consultant, assisting clients to prepare and verify triple-bottom-line and multi-criteria assessments, undertake carbon audits and assess obligations under the NZ Emission Trading Scheme.

Joanne is equally comfortable working with private and public sector organisations and understands the differing perspectives that come with both. She is well-versed in the issues faced by decision-makers when working with available and sometimes limited information, political pressures, multiple stakeholders, and the need to balance project outcomes against budget constraints. She utilises her experience and a pragmatic approach to address these challenges.

Prior to joining SLR Joanne was a Senior Investment Manager at the Ministry for the Environment. This role allowed her to apply technical, resource management, project planning, and contract management skills within the context of expanding the national recycling and waste recovery network. With a background in both waste and carbon reduction, Joanne was involved in identifying and supporting projects eligible for the combined Waste Minimisation and Climate Emergency Response Funds.

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