About Us
Established in 2016, Desert Road Group is a kiwi owned and operated business which cares deeply for Aotearoa and its people. This is our drive for implementing new and improving outdated capabilities across all New Zealand government entity’s.
Each member of the Desert Road team is a subject matter expert in their own right and also a professionally trained and experienced project/programme manager. When injected into your team, you gain someone who prides themselves on getting things moving, has the experience and communication skills to do so, and who is well acquainted with the subject they are working on, thus providing context and direction to your team and the projects they are tackling.
Justin - Principal
Justin is driven by his desire to ensure that those who serve in New Zealand’s Government agencies have the right equipment to do their job effectively and as safely as possible. Justin served 12 years within the New Zealand Defence Force where he had multiple deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq.
Graduating Massey University with a Bachelor of Business with Economics, Justin cut his teeth managing Truck Moves NZ before establishing Desert Road Group with the aim of bringing his passion for service to New Zealand and love of managing capability projects back to the NZDF. Justin has been successful on this journey and now manages a $75M programme portfolio whilst also advising on capabilities and project management methodology across Government.
Leilani - Principal
Leilani oversees the company in all things outside of Project Management and offers an alternative perspective to the team.
Leilani spent 5 years as aircrew on the RNZAF P-3K Orions and is a Commercial Helicopter Pilot. She also launched a career as a furniture Designer/Maker becoming renowned for her creative thinking and skilful execution.
Leilani has been with Desert Road from the start and was instrumental in setting up the Desert Road business infrastructure and bringing her real world business experience to the company.
Leilani now manages all non-operational aspects of Desert Road and is spearheading the Desert Road growth strategy.
Leilani is affiliated with Kāi Tahu, Ngāti Rārua, Te Atiawa, Rangitāne and Ngāti Apa ki te Rā Tō.
Ally - Technical Director
As Technical Director, Ally advises, resources and delivers both strategic and operational workstreams across AoG information and communication technology sectors.
Ally brings over 20 years of experience working in and leading high performing operational teams and organisational change, on behalf of government agencies. Her area of expertise is the optimisation of team performance in rapidly changing environments, spanning across communications, operational infrastructure and analytical domains. Ally is widely recognised for her ability to support and enable challenged teams to deliver successfully on common goals through technical translation and creative solutions to complex problems.
Paul - Project Manager
Paul is a natural problem solver with an aptitude for mathematics. Paul spent 12 years within the New Zealand Defence Force where he forged a career with multiple deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq. Upon return, Paul led capability change across the New Zealand Army through his work authoring technical training artefacts.
Paul now leads change as a professional project manager. Paul is Prince2 qualified and is currently managing an $18M project portfolio.
GERHARD - SENIOR GEOSPATIAL ADVISOR
As our Senior Geospatial Advisor, Gerhard specialises in solving problems with the power of location. He is driven by a desire to improve our understanding of the world and make positive impact through location intelligence. Gerhard has a passion for customer-focused design, creating innovative solutions, and turning complex geographic challenges into actionable insights.
Gerhard spent a decade within the New Zealand Defence Force and leverages his expertise in geospatial analysis, geographic information system (GIS) technology, remote sensing, and data visualisation to empower organisations with a unique geospatial advantage, delivering precision and efficiency.
Our clients
DESERT ROAD Group IS PROUD TO provide services to THE FOLLOWING AGENCIES IN OUR PREVIOUS AND ONGOING WORK PACKAGES
Contact
If you have any questions, would like to talk to one of our team or are interested in engaging Desert Road Group, please fill out the form below or send us an email at contact@drgp.nz
