Our executive leadership team

Brett Gliddon is one of New Zealand’s foremost transport professionals, having worked in the sector for more than 20 years. He was the Group General Manager of Transport Services of NZTA, the business group responsible for the planning, design, delivery and operations of New Zealand’s integrated transport system. He is now Acting CE.

Brett’s background is in engineering, and he has successfully delivered projects including Tauranga Northern Link, the Northern Busway and Waterview Tunnel. He is a system leader with a focus on whole of life transport system outcomes, strategic planning and multimodal integration. He’s dedicated to engagement with iwi, the community and local government.

He is experienced in leading the establishment and delivery of diverse funding models, including Public Private Partnerships and Alliances, and is committed to driving excellence in the supply chain and improving health and safety. Brett is also passionate about environmental outcomes that can be achieved through improving the transport system.

Current areas of focus include the evolution of contracts to maintain the state highway network into an integrated delivery model, the resilience strategy for the country’s transport system and delivery of projects to improve safety and connectivity across Aotearoa New Zealand.

Brent joined NZTA in September 2023 as Group General Manager Regulatory and Director of Land Transport.

Brent is a senior regulator with a strong commercial background and has previously worked at the Chief Executive at Mary Potter Hospice where he was responsible for managing a strategic shift in the delivery of care. He has practical experience in establishing and successfully operating regulator regimes, and has been deeply involved in all facets of regulation.

Brent holds a Master of Arts in Political Studies and a Bachelor of Arts (hons) in Economics from the University of Otago. He is passionate about improving outcomes for all New Zealanders through the regulation system.

Caz joined NZTA in February 2024. With a career spanning financial and professional services, manufacturing and infrastructure, Caz brought her well-rounded HR skillset and commercial leadership experience across some of New Zealand’s most well-known organisations to NZTA.   

She has over 20 years of HR experience, including senior global roles at Fonterra, Fletcher Building and Channel Infrastructure (formerly Refining NZ). She has an in-depth understanding of commercial drivers and is passionate about stakeholder management, iwi engagement and change management. She has practical experience in leading strategy and organisational model realignment and enjoys challenging problems that have the power to change ways of working and doing business. 

Caz came to NZTA from her role as Chief People Officer at Channel Infrastructure where she worked for 3 years alongside the Chief Executive to support the business to transition from an oil refinery to a fuel import terminal. Caz was instrumental in the design and delivery of the new operating model for Channel Infrastructure and in managing the workforce transition throughout the change.

During her time at Fletcher Building, Caz progressed her commercial leadership experience. She held the roles of General Manager of Roof Tile Group and Central Branch Manager of Fletcher Residential.  

Caz holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Victoria University and lives in Auckland.

Karen joined NZTA in March 2020. She is passionate about working in large operational organisations and in roles that make a difference to New Zealanders. She is motivated by the NZTA mandate to keep our country moving and to reduce harm through a safer land transport network.

Karen has a strong background in central government leadership. Before joining NZTA, she was Deputy Director General People and Engagement at the Department of Conservation where she led the human resources, organisational development, health and safety, security, customer engagement and office of the executive teams.  

Karen’s other previous roles include a secondment to the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet as Executive Director Strategy, Governance and Engagement where she led the corporate support functions and assisted with the establishment of the new National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA). She also spent more than five years working in the executive team at NZ Police as Deputy Chief Executive Public Affairs, leading the internal and external communications, channels, media, social media, engagement and recruitment marketing functions.

Liz joined NZTA in October 2021 as Chief Digital Officer.

Liz is a seasoned leader who brings significant experience with leadership of large transformation programmes, payments and digital technology. She is the former Head of Digital and Transformation at ANZ Bank in New Zealand and was a member of ANZ NZ’s executive leadership team for 4 years.

Liz is passionate about using digital technology to improve the services we provide to New Zealand and New Zealanders.

Liz is a member of the NZ Institute of Directors and serves on the board of Education Payroll Ltd, a Crown entity. Liz has a Bachelor of Commerce in Management Studies and Labour Relations from the University of Auckland.

Richard Forgan joined NZTA in August 2024. He is an experienced executive director, with a strong public sector and public delivery background. He was a former Partner and Board member at PricewaterhouseCoopers. While there, he had a focus on public sector work across financial and economic analysis, fiscal and financial management and analysis, major policy and reform programmes, budget bids and business cases, regulation, machinery of government, and public/private financing and contracting.  

More recently, Richard was a member of the executive team at Te Pūkenga NZ Institute of Skills & Technology, working on the merger of 16 polytechnics and some of the operations of 8 Industry Training Organisations.  

Richard joined NZTA in May 2018 and has served as Senior Manager Government and Deputy General Manager Te Waka Kōtuia Engagement and Partnerships. He was appointed as Chief of Staff in August 2021, and works closely with our Board, Chief Executive and Executive Leadership Team to guide the strategic priorities and partnerships of NZTA.

Prior to joining NZTA, Richard built up extensive experience in the New Zealand Parliament, spending 12 years in various roles including as a Senior Ministerial Advisor to the Minister of Transport and Defence and as Chief of Staff to a Government support partner.

Sara joined NZTA in January 2023 as Group General Manager Commercial and Corporate.

Sara is an experienced finance and corporate services leader and leads our procurement and commercial, investment and finance, legal, governance, risk, enterprise change, business support and enterprise portfolio management functions.

Sara is the former Chief Financial Officer for the Wellington City Council. Before that Sara was the Executive Officer for Auckland Council and also held the Head of Financial Transformation, Head of Financial Transactions, and General Manager Procurement roles during her time there. Before Auckland Council, she was General Manager of Commercial Services at MBIE. Sara has been a board member and treasurer from early 2022, and is also a member of the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply.

Sarina joined NZTA in March 2023 as Chief Customer and Services Officer.

Sarina has extensive expertise in contact centre strategy and operations and has previously worked as the General Manager ANZ Contact Centre, where she was responsible for managing 20 million customer interactions annually across multiple channels and led one of New Zealand’s largest contact centres (more than 1,000 people). She has led multiple complex organisational changes and is an experienced people leader.

Sarina holds a Bachelor of Commerce and Administration (BCA) in Marketing (Hons) and Management from Victoria University of Wellington. She is passionate about providing great customer experience, supporting digital transformation and creating a culture where people can thrive. 

As Interim Group General Manager Te Toki Transport Services, Vanessa is currently a member of the NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi Executive Leadership Team.

Vanessa has worked at NZTA for 12 years, and in her substantive role as National Manager of Portfolio and Standards has been responsible for leading the team that enables asset management and project delivery excellence for NZ’s state highway network. This has recently included landing a new operating model to support the core functions of portfolio management (P3M), asset management direction and technical authority

Vanessa has previously worked in England, Ireland and Australia, and spent 10 years at URS (now AECOM) as a Principal Environmental Specialist, with a focus on sustainability. Her areas of expertise have expanded across the transport infrastructure and asset management fields, as well as infrastructure portfolio management and operational policy

As a senior leader, Vanessa is motivated by care for people and the environment. She is passionate about delivering value for NZ through asset management excellence, and working to create highly aligned, high performing teams. Vanessa has a BSc in geography and a MPhil in Resource and Environmental Planning.