About Katrina Kidson

I am a passionate geek about creating happy work places. Happy workplaces perform better and are so good for humans. So that's my goal. Helping you to have a businesses that is really humming; and for you and your people to work happy.

My broad experience includes: high level international executive positions, medium sized CEO roles, working in family business and more. This means that I can quickly look at many different businesses and work at different levels.

My three words that often shape my life are:

  • Kindness,
  • Curiosity, and
  • Courage.

Want to know more? Check my LinkedIn profile and find someone we both know, and get their opinion.

Contact Katrina Today
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Present Philanthropic Roles

I'm passionate about building strong, sustainable communities and have a number of voluntary roles. Past roles include:

  • Businesses for Climate Action - Founder, Trustee, and passionate volunteer
  • Deputy Chair of Nelson Tasman Housing Trust
  • Sustainable Business Network - Business Connector
  • Hospice - Support with Mindfulness.

You may have seen me in other roles as well.  Such as organising the Mayor's Xmas Lunch for 100 senior citizens.

Career Summary

MWH - Executive Officer, Asia Pacific Leadership Team

In 1993, after finishing my Civil Engineering degree, I started work as a consulting engineer.  I worked for MWH (now Stantec) for 17 years, quickly being promoted through the organisation. My final role with this business was being an Executive Officer on the Asia Pacific Leadership Team (across 1,300 people). My role was the right hand of the Asia Pacific President, assisting him with the overview of operations and strategy implementation.

Achievements included:

  • Shifting the strategic capability of the region by leading the development of the first integrated Asia Pacific strategy and implementation plans
  • Enabling the delivery of significantly larger projects and better use of the design centre in India by leading the reorganisation of the Asia Pacific region,
  • Supporting the President to reorganise governance of the region.

Because of my broad and strong management skills and excellent communication skills I was asked to teach management at the MWH University.

Isthmus CEO

As first CEO for this firm I reported to board. Key achievements include:

  • Formalising company strategy,
  • Separating governance and management, and overhauling the board reporting (including financial),
  • Supporting shareholders with ownership succession planning
  • Leading the “Best Places to Work” survey and addressing concerns and celebrating strengths.

Kidson Construction Managing Director and Director

Governance and leadership in a family business can be difficult with their own challenges. During my time as director I led the establishment of more formal governance with regular reporting and meetings.

I assisted the business to get better clarity on its strategy and as Managing Director led the family shareholders through the difficult decision to sell the business.  I arranged a successful sale of the construction business with a smooth transition to the new owners.