Emma McDonald

DIRECTOR

Emma is a Chartered Professional Engineer with over 20 years of experience in project leadership, bid management, and strategic planning across the public and private sectors. With an Executive MBA and a background in Chemical and Materials Engineering, she combines technical expertise with commercial and strategic acumen. Her experience spans major infrastructure projects, including PPPs, Alliances, and D&C contracts, where she has successfully led multi-disciplinary teams and managed complex procurement processes.

At Pragmatix, Emma plays a critical role in front-end project delivery. This includes strategic big-picture viewpoint and pulling together a diverse range of ideas, client requirements, wants and needs into a clear project brief that is ready for approval and design. This entails robust masterplanning and skills in feasibility studies (including investment cost-benefit analysis), to ensure projects are set up for success from the start and aligned with the client’s needs.

Emma has a strong track record in front-end project development, contract negotiations, and aligning stakeholders toward shared objectives. As Project Director she has led key projects like masterplanning for Fisher & Paykel’s Karaka Campus and Air NZ’s Jet Base, as well as Kiwi Property’s new metropolitan centre at Drury.

Her leadership in major D&C bids, such as the Auckland Prison PPP, demonstrates her ability to coordinate technical, financial, and operational elements to secure successful outcomes. She has extensive experience liaising with funders, government agencies, and operational teams to navigate commercial risks and drive value-driven solutions.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor of Engineering (Hons), Chemical & Materials – The University of Auckland, 1999
• Masters of Science (Dist.), DIC, Corrosion of Engineering Materials – Imperial College, London, 2001
• Executive MBA – The University of Auckland, 2011
• CMEngNZ, MEngNZ – Chartered Professional Engineer, Member of Engineering NZ (IPENZ)
• CMInstD – Chartered Member of the Institute of Directors NZ, 2021-current

Expertise:

• Front-end Project Development
• Contract Delivery (PPP, Alliance, ECI, D&C)
• Feasibility Studies
• Design Management and Value Engineering
• Infrastructure, Industrial and Energy Sector Expertise
• Change Management and Leadership
• Stakeholder Collaboration and Facilitation
• Strategic Vision and Problem Solving
• Negotiation and Commercial Acumen
• Result-Oriented Team Building

Employment History:

• 2017 – Present Director, Pragmatix Limited
• 2009 – 2017 Bid Manager, The Fletcher Construction Company
• 2015 – 2016 Business Improvement and Change Lead, The Fletcher Construction Company
• 2005 – 2008 Project Engineer, Shell Global Solutions (Malaysia)
• 2001 – 2005 Materials & Corrosion Engineer, Shell Global Solutions (The Netherlands)

SELECTED PROJECTS:

Bid Manager, Project Engineer, Project Manager, for various projects including:

Project	Value	Brief Description of Project Work
Air NZ	TBA	Feasibility studies at the Auckland Campus
F&P Healthcare	TBA	Masterplanning phase for new Karaka Campus
Drury Metropolitan Centre – Kiwi Property	TBA	Masterplanning design and stage 1 phase for new mixed-use metropolitan centre
Modular Showhomes – Kainga Ora	$7-10m	Development of terraced showhomes to demonstrate a new off-shore modular product to the market
Holiday Inn	c. $40m	Development to expand existing hotel, to be built by volumetric modular construction
Waikeria Prison	$1b	PPP tender
Lean Construction Implementation	NA	Business improvement project
Auckland Prison	$270m	PPP tender
Transmission Gully	$900m	PPP tender
SMDS Gas-to-Liquids Plant, Malaysia	$17m – $117m	Brownfield projects, various
Te Mihi Geothermal Power Station	$600m	Design phase
Kokowai Apartments	$60m	Early project briefing phase on development of the 92-apartment complex
Te Rapa Bypass Alliance – NZTA	$170m	Design phase
Mackays to Peka Peka Alliance – NZTA	$630m	Procurement