Project Leadership

Maree Cotter leads through relationships, not just process. At Auckland Transport she held the senior relationships with iwi, community boards, and executive sponsors that shaped how major projects were consulted on and delivered, from wayfinding and signage across the network to the changes commuters saw on their daily bus and train routes. She later carried that same approach into the NZ$3 billion iReX ferry replacement programme, leading stakeholder engagement and communications across a multi-partner delivery consortium. In both cases, her role was the same: leading the teams doing the on-the-ground work, while making sure what leadership agreed to actually matched what people experienced.