Napier – AM Governance, Leadership and Decision Making

Join us in Napier for our upcoming NZ Technical Session: AM Governance, Leadership and Decision Making. This session will bring together asset management practitioners from local government, utilities and ports to share practical insights into how governance, leadership and effective decision-making support stronger asset management outcomes.

Presentations

Investing in the Right Asset at the Right Time: Why Good Plans Don’t Always Become Good Decisions

Infrastructure asset management has long promoted the principle of investing in the right asset at the right time. Organisations invest heavily in asset information, lifecycle modelling, risk assessment, and long-term planning to support evidence-based decision-making. Yet despite these advances, infrastructure investment decisions frequently diverge from what asset management best practice would recommend.

Drawing on research undertaken as part of a recently completed Master’s at the University of Auckland, this presentation explores why the gap between planning and delivery persists. Through interviews with infrastructure leaders and practitioners across New Zealand, the research examined how investment recommendations are reshaped as they move through governance, funding, political, and organisational decision-making processes.

The findings suggest that investment outcomes are rarely determined by technical evidence alone. Financial constraints, governance arrangements, accountability structures, risk appetite, organisational capability, political influences, and community expectations all interact to influence when, why, and whether investments proceed. The research introduces a practical decision-making framework that helps explain where lifecycle-based recommendations are most commonly deferred, reprioritised, or overridden.

For asset managers, executives, and elected members, the implications are significant. Improving infrastructure outcomes requires more than better data and sharper business cases. It requires decision-making systems that create visibility of trade-offs, strengthen accountability, and maintain alignment between asset management intent and investment outcomes.

The presentation introduces a practical framework for understanding these influences and discusses actions organisations can take to improve transparency, accountability, and alignment between long-term asset value and investment outcomes.

Darren de Klerk is Deputy GM and Director Infrastructure Delivery at Hastings District Council, where he leads the delivery of major transport, waters, resilience, and community infrastructure programmes. With more than two decades of experience across local government, consulting, and infrastructure delivery, Darren specialises in programme leadership, governance, asset management, procurement, and capital investment decision-making. Always keen to learn and challenge himself. Darren recently completed a Master of Engineering at the University of Auckland, researching how public asset-intensive organisations can improve infrastructure investment outcomes through better decision-making. His thesis, Investing in the Right Asset at the Right Time, explores why investment decisions often diverge from lifecycle-based asset management principles and identifies practical ways to improve transparency, accountability, and long-term value. Passionate about bridging the gap between strategy and delivery, Darren is a strong advocate for evidence-based infrastructure planning, continuous improvement, and building organisational capability to achieve better outcomes for communities. Outside of his council role, Darren serves on the Board of Āpōpō and is committed to advancing infrastructure asset management practice across New Zealand and the wider public sector.

Unison’s Asset Management journey: then nexus of process, data, technology and amazing people

Data is a critical enabler of effective asset management, providing the evidence needed to make informed, transparent and value-focused decisions across the asset lifecycle. This presentation shares Unison’s experience of developing, achieving and maintaining an ISO 55001-certified Asset Management System, including how our approach has evolved, where our asset management capability stands today, and the direction of the next stage of our journey. It explores how disciplined processes are brought to life by capable and committed people, supported by trusted data and fit-for-purpose technology. The presentation also considers the importance of giving people clarity about their own development and future opportunities within the organisation and the wider asset management profession. Unison’s experience demonstrates that sustainable asset management maturity is not achieved through certification, process or technology alone; it depends on aligning people, information and ways of working around a shared commitment to delivering long-term value from assets.

Gagan Chadha joined Unison in 2007 as a graduate engineer after completing a Bachelor of Electrical and Electronics Engineering and has since built an extensive career across network planning, operations, and asset management. During his time at Unison, Gagan has played a key role in the development and implementation of the company’s Smart Networks programme and has led both the Long-Term Planning and Network Operations teams. Appointed General Manager Networks & Operations in 2023, he is responsible for delivering safe, reliable, resilient, and cost-effective electricity distribution services to customers across Unison’s network.

We hope you can join us for an informative afternoon of practical discussion, shared experience and networking with New Zealand’s asset management community.