Hugh Pollock is passionate about sustainability, and in his role as Environmental Manager in our New Zealand business, he has the opportunity to support and drive some great initiatives.

One of the elements of his role he enjoys most is getting out into the business to see the work we do.

"I really like visiting the smaller communities we work in around the country," Hugh says. "Meeting colleagues as well as seeing the work we do in those communities, engaging with locals and supporting community groups and businesses."

Working across all our sectors in New Zealand, Hugh is in a unique position to appreciate the breadth of what we offer. His experience in forestry and land management has been invaluable to the work he has done with Ventia since 2008.

"I was a Forest Ranger trained through the NZ Forest Service Forestry School," Hugh says. "I worked in forest management for many years."

Hugh also has a strong connection to the Waikato region on the North Island, with his whakapapa (genealogy) linking him to the Tainui waka. His Iwi (community or people) is Raukawa in the east of the Waikato region, just south of Auckland.

A passion for sustainability

Over the past few months, Hugh has enjoyed getting to know our Kaitohutohu Māori - Strategic Relationships Advisor Māori - Joe Tahana and experience his passion for sustainability.

"I am really impressed with how much Joe has achieved in the short time he's been here," Hugh says. "He has the tenacity to make things happen!"

One of those activities is the recent Māori and Pacifika participation survey we have asked our New Zealand employees to participate in. Understanding the diversity of the people that work for us is key to offering a supportive and culturally safe environment in which to work.

Hugh says he's also pleased to see the commitment to supporting Māori and Pacifika businesses through procurement spend.

"One example is Far North Roading (FNR) who are a civil construction company we've done quite a bit of work with," Hugh says.

Given how diverse our operations are in New Zealand, our spend with suppliers has the opportunity to make a real difference.

Group Manager Sustainability Alex Monson has worked with Hugh for a number of years now and says Hugh is always a champion for all things sustainable.

"Hugh looks for the new and different opportunities to make improvements," Alex says. "He's been involved with our resource efficiency working group and was also a champion of the fuel saving initiative we rolled out across Transport in New Zealand, which got good results. Hugh's ability to dig into the data to bring about significant savings in fuel and dollars for the business was key to that success."

It's clear he has the respect of people right across our organisation, and he's certainly an asset to the environment and sustainability team.