John Pettigrew’s cv

QualificationsBA(Hons) Victoria University of Wellington
History …  Most recent first …

Oct 2010 to present:  Self-employed consultant.

Jul 2000 to Sep 2010: Progressively – consultant to the Establishment Unit of Industry NZ, then full-time employee with that organisation, then employee of NZ Trade and Enterprise after Industry NZ merged with TradeNZ. My role (under various titles) was to assist highly entrepreneurial, internationally competitive businesses to develop their potential, especially in exporting. This included advice (mentoring, challenging assumptions, clarifying future directions, helping them tap into NZTE’s global network); helping to develop contacts and networks within New Zealand; and evaluating them for grant funding.

Oct 1998 to Sep 2001: Self-employed consultant, working with private companies and public sector organisations. These included: Archives NZ, Broadcasting Standards Authority, Clicksuite / Telecom NZ, Department of Conservation, Department for Courts, Ministry of Economic Development, NZ Engineering Task Force, NZ Fire Service, NZ Manufacturers’ Federation, Queen’s Wharf Events Centre, Toast Martinborough, Tonkin and Taylor / Auckland City Council, Wairarapa Health, Wellington City Council.

Work done for these included:

Budgeting, feasibility studies, and/or business planning for:

Coastal shipping operation, vineyard, winery, rotational plastic moulding company, injection moulding company, annual wine and food festival, parking buildings operation, district health board, conference facility, seafood exporter.

Development of management reporting systems, supporting databases, spreadsheets for:

Department for Courts: Reduced time to create quarterly management reports from three weeks to two days. Set up Oracle Express system to summarise regular management data and to provide on-demand analysis for planning.

Broadcasting Standards Authority; Developed A multi-user database of Authority decisions for user-friendly data entry and reporting. First in Borland Paradox, then I re-wrote it in Microsoft Access.

Wellington City Council: Provided ‘clinic-style’ advice to small startup businesses. Delivered pparts of business courses. Developed customised spreadsheets with highly simplified menus, for course participants with no spreadsheet or computer skills. Written in (progressively over several years) Lotus 1-2-3, SuperCalc, Baler compiler, Excel.

Courses, training materials, operational manuals, ministerial briefings, annual reports for NZ Fire Service, ClickSuite/Telecom NZ, NZ Inst of Directors, Victoria University

Interviewing, questionnaire analysis, free-form submission analysis, and writing for Department of Conservation and Wellington City Council (multiple projects for each).

Wrote for publication: “Advancing Public Awareness” (Science for Conservation 27) Department of Conservation 1996; “Your Small Business” (‘The Law and You’ series. GP Books (Government Printing Office) 1990.

Sep 1979 to Oct 1988: Development Finance Corporation / DFC (NZ) Ltd

For small and medium businesses I evaluated and helped develop business plans, and monitored and advised clients on expansion, exporting, financial structuring, marketing, planning, and intellectual property. I assessed and negotiated loan, equity, and R&D finance. Sat on the Boards of several innovative startups. Involved in loan recovery and management of receiverships.

Prior to 1979: Self-employed in film, audio, video, and print

Film, audiovisual, and audio productions:*

Tertiary geology: “VUWAE 15, Darwin Mountains, Antarctica”, “Challenger Sails South”.

NZ Department of Education “It’s Not the Acting: creative drama in the secondary classroom”; “Flying Things”; “Steps”; “Rotational Transformations”; “The Micro-Giants: The social impact of computers”; “Village Life in Papua New Guinea”; “Tugs: A Wellington Harbour tug at work”; “Fourteen NZ Painters” (audio recordings); East Coast kaumatua oral history (audio recordings).

Ministry of Works : “Public Participation in Town Planning”

The Brian Edwards Show (tv): Weekly satirical animation

Forlong Productions: “Rangi’s Catch”

*Role varied by title, from Second Assistant Director to production, writing, photography, sound recording, editing, co-financing, marketing.

Various articles for ‘Affairs’ (monthly magazine for school students); ‘After School’ (careers magazine for school leavers); ‘Focus’ (monthly magazine for universities); ‘New Zealand Whole Earth Catalogue’; Nation Review (Australia); Industrial Shellman; Boardroom Magazine (NZ Inst of Directors); ‘Salient’ (Victoria University) and others.

Did part-time university study, working in telephone demand planning and other areas for the NZ Post Office, factory production planning for Feltex NZ Ltd, and in other jobs. Was a member of the student executive, ran an Arts Festival, wrote for the university newspaper.

Courses developed and delivered

Through Victoria Uni Dept of Extension:
Film productionUsing the internet (delivered to MFAT, OFLC, Mobil Oil)Using the internet for business (public)The internet demystified for parents (public)Using spreadsheets for budgeting (public)Through NZ Institute of Directors:
IT issues at Board level
Qualifications earned and structured courses taken

BA (Hons) in Political Science, Victoria University of Wellington.This is a one year post-graduate course, after which a thesis could turn itn into an MA (if I felt a desire to remain in academe, which I didn’t.)

Over the years I have attended innumerable short courses. 
Multi-day and residential courses I have attended include: 
Hard Business Network facilitation  (Tradenz)Professional  Management (Louis Allen Assoc Inc)Professional Selling Skills System (Xerox Corp)Negotiating for Results (Coverdale/Harvard)Company Directors’ Course (NZ Inst of Directors)Strategy and Portfolio Development for New Products (Dr Robert Cooper)Leading Complexity (Ak Uni Bus School / Christian Dahmen)Motivation and Leadership (Ak Uni Bus School / Dr Lester Levy)Oracle Express Foundations (Oracle Corp).

In recent years I have focused on decision making under uncertainty and complexity. In an increasingly volatile and uncertain world, this demands a ‘systems’ perspective and skills in:
Problem structuring – asking the right questions, challenging the obvious, digging deeperCollaborative and online sense-making and understanding.Alternatives to text – graphics, diagrams, concept maps, dialogue maps.