New GHD global chairman Ian Fraser will likely spend 100 days away from his Christchurch home over the next year.
That is nothing new for the first Kiwi head of the global design, engineering and environmental services company.
Earlier this month, he took over the responsibility of leading the governance for a business with a workforce of 12,000 employees, many of them shareholders, and turning over more than $3 billion.
Returning from the Philippines only last Saturday, he accepts long-haul flights come with the territory.
“In the last few years, it would be in excess of 100 days away a year. That is the reality of the job and it is important for us to remain connected with the business and the owners across the world so that I can hear what they need and what their clients are needing.”
From experience, he’s learnt to travel lightly, avoiding check-in luggage.
Christchurch will continue to remain home for him and his family.
Unlike many companies, GHD is without a central headquarters and its staff work in more than 160 offices on five continents, while the executive team and board members live and work around the world.
“We have a virtual leadership team and a virtual board and always have had this — so as long as people are prepared to work the clock a little bit for the different time zones you can typically live where it is best for you in one of our major offices around the world. We have 140 people here in Christchurch now, so it’s quite a decent-sized office for GHD. It’s a good lifestyle here. We see the value in people working together in offices, but our executives are typically very mobile, having to travel a lot as part of our jobs. Hence having a home base where you have got your family and extended friends is a really strong thing for when you come home.”
GHD can be found operating internationally in water, energy and resources, environment, property and buildings, and transportation.
Established in 1928, it delivers advisory, digital, engineering, architecture, environmental and construction services to public and private sector clients.
More locally, it is among one of three consortiums shortlisted for the tender design for the next stage of the Ara Tūhono project extending the Northern Motorway (SH1) in the upper north.
Other work includes supporting local governments’ water and transport infrastructure needs and building projects for Corrections and the Ministry of Education among others.
Before the new role, Mr Fraser was chief executive of GHD’s Australia, Asia and Pacific operations for three years.
He started with the company just over 10 years ago, initially managing its New Zealand business and then joining the executive leadership team.
That led to him being a board member for the past two years.
The transition from former chairman Canberra-based Rob Knott to him has been in the offing for a year.
“I worked closely with Rob for 10 years and he’s retired, so it’s been a planned succession and I’ve been in a succession handover period for the last year and have had a great apprenticeship. He was a great leader and left big shoes to fill.”
Ahead of him is the task of running the board and working with executive leaders to seamlessly develop and drive the long-term strategy of the business.
Ultimately, he was accountable to the shareholding to make sure the business continued to thrive, he said.
GHD is owned by just over a quarter of its 12,000-odd employees.
“There’s not many large, privately held professional services companies in the world now. About 27% of our employees are shareholders and they receive a dividend for their investment and are the only people with a stake in the company. It enables the company to be self-determined because there’s no third-party investors influencing our strategy and it’s really managed by us, for us and for our clients.”
The breadth of its business was diverse, he said.
“We like to call ourselves a professional services company now because we definitely do quite a lot of up-front business advisory work right through to engineering design and construction supervision and we are a full services company. Predominantly, we are involved with the built environment in roads, water, buildings and energy infrastructure.”
Gross revenue for the 2024 financial year of about $3.1b was up on previous years and another good result was likely.
“Continued growth in transport, energy and water infrastructure is needed around the world from continuing urbanisation. The growth has slowed a little bit this year, but those fundamentals of a growing population around the world will need good-quality infrastructure.”
After graduating from the University of Auckland as a geologist, Mr Fraser spent more than 30 years in environmental and engineering consulting, previously living and working in the United States, and working on projects throughout the Pacific, Southeast Asia, South America and Mexico.
In northern Mexico’s Saltillo, he worked for several months, on and off, preparing plans for a much-needed upgrade of the drinking water system.
Another early project was the Tiwi geothermal field in the Philippines in 1992 and his connection with the nation’s development has remained strong following many visits since.
Closer to home, he’s been involved with the environmental assessment and cleanup of many contaminated sites in New Zealand, including industrial properties and petrol stations.
About 20 years ago he moved towards leading teams, challenging himself to keep learning which has evolved to the next governance chapter.
He said it was an immense honour to take over as chairman, particularly as the first to hold the position from New Zealand.
“We have got a very strong leadership team and a great CEO in Jim Giannopoulos in Melbourne and I am supported by a very experienced board. The company is going to turn 100 years old in 2028, so it will be a privilege to be chair at a time when it is celebrating it centenary”, Mr Fraser said.
Christchurch-born of Scottish parents who migrated in 1961, he started his schooling years in North Canterbury’s Hawarden.
Continuing to be based in Christchurch had many advantages.
The city was a great place for an international role and the time zones were good to work into the US most of the morning, he said.
“And it’s got an international airport you can get off to Asia and Australia pretty easily in the morning. New Zealand and New Zealanders are well respected overseas and have a lot to offer.”
A certain Christchurch symmetry in GHD is also not lost on him.
“GHD was formed interestingly by Gordon Gutteridge, Gerald Haskins and Geoffrey Davey and Haskins was a Christchurch man who went to Australia and then joined the other two to form GHD. So it is quite a nice parallel there. Haskins’ dad was the town clerk for Christchurch city, so there is a Kiwi in the H of the acronym. I love the fact Haskins was there nearly 100 years ago and now there’s another Kiwi in the governance of the business.”
tim.cronshaw@odt.co.nz
