Executives

Dave Chambers

Chief Executive

The Board has appointed Dave as acting chief executive until Entity A is stood up. Dave has been a director of Watercare since late 2019 so he has a firm grasp on the business.
 
Dave is a highly experienced business leader with a background in large-scale customer-centric organisations. He was Managing Director of Progressive Enterprises NZ and Director of Woolworths Supermarkets in Australia, and has held various other leadership roles. Previously he was a board member of the New Zealand Business and Parliament Trust.

General disclosure of interests: Director, Paper Plus New Zealand Limited; Director, GB & DD’s Outfit Limited; Director, Turners and Growers Fresh Limited; Director, Watercare Services Limited (on sabbatical whilst acting chief executive).

Amanda Singleton, BA Communications

Chief Customer Officer

Amanda is originally from South Africa, where she worked in the telecommunications industry, as well as consulting for a number of major corporates in brand and corporate strategy. A passionate customer advocate, she has held senior customer roles at Genesis Energy and Vodafone since moving to New Zealand in 2014. Amanda was appointed Watercare’s Chief Customer Officer in May 2018 and has responsibility for building a customer-centric culture and overseeing all the customer touch-points in the business.

Mark Bourne, Dip Business and NZCE (Civil)

Chief Operations Officer

Mark is a New Zealand water industry professional with more than 30 years’ experience. He’s also worked in Australia and England in the infrastructure and gas sectors. He has held a very wide variety of roles including infrastructure planning, trade waste, and operations management since he first joined us in 1992. His most recent role was head of servicing and consents. He was appointed as chief operations officer in August 2021. Mark is responsible for the operation of our water and wastewater assets, networks and treatment facilities, along with asset integrity functions, and operations control centre.

Steve Webster, Dip CM, BE (Hons), NZCE (Civil)

Chief Infrastructure Officer​

Steve is a civil engineer with more than 20 years’ experience in senior leadership roles, predominantly in the infrastructure sectors in New Zealand and Australia, delivering projects and maintenance services to government, local authority and private asset owners. He was appointed Watercare’s General Manager – Infrastructure Delivery in May 2015 and appointed Chief Infrastructure Officer in January 2018. Steve is responsible for Watercare’s delivery of infrastructure projects from servicing strategies, through planning to construction and for supporting external developer services to enable growth in Auckland.

Shayne Cunis BE CIVIL (HONS), FENGNZ, CMENGNZ

Executive Programme Director - Central Interceptor

Shayne is a chartered professional engineer and Fellow of Engineering NZ with more than 20 years’ experience in the Auckland water supply industry. He was appointed the executive programme director for the Central Interceptor in January 2018 and reports to the chief executive. Shayne has previously held senior operational management and executive roles at Watercare and has served on the board of Water New Zealand.

Jamie Sinclair BMS (Hons), PGDipSci, CA

Chief Corporate Services Officer

Jamie is a chartered accountant with 20 years’ experience in the UK and Aotearoa, New Zealand, working across multiple sectors at executive and board level. Prior to joining Watercare, Jamie spent six years working for Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei and was the inaugural chief executive for the post-settlement governance entity. Jamie leads our corporate services team and is responsible for the sustainability, supply chain, digital, finance, legal and governance, health and safety, risk and resilience departments.

Sarah Phillips GradDipBusStuds (HRM)

Chief People Officer

Sarah is originally from the north east of England. Throughout her career, she has worked in human resources roles covering the public and private sectors. Her experience is vast and spans the justice, manufacturing and utilities industries. In 2018, she began her career with us, and in 2023 was promoted from General Manager People and Capability to her current role. Sarah is responsible for various areas across the business including driving company culture, talent acquisition, plus learning and development. She is passionate about creating a workplace where everyone can be their authentic selves and thrive.

Richard Waiwai

Tumuaki Rautaki ā-Iwi me ngā Hononga – Chief, Māori Strategy and Relationships

Dedicated to bringing a greater understanding of the Māori world view to a corporate environment, Richie is responsible for ensuring we have the structures and resources to meet our obligations under Te Tiriti o Waitangi. An advocate for te reo and tikanga Māori, he has extensive experience working with iwi and mana whenua across the private and public sectors.