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:
- Project Manager
- Change Manager
- Facilitator and Collaborator
- Effective Communicator
- Problem Solver
- Strategist
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 |
| Pearl GTL Plant, The Netherlands | $17b | Design phase |
