Theresa Wells: Connecting data and decisions for better client relationships

Theresa established her career in waste and environmental management, working at a nuclear power station where she found herself responsible for running its geographic information system (GIS) despite having never encountered GIS before.

“I was basically handed a computer with GIS software on it and told to run their capability,” she recalls. What could have been an intimidating moment instead became a turning point, sparking what she describes as a lifelong interest in how data can surface insights that are otherwise impossible to see.

What drew her in was not the technology itself, but its ability to reveal relationships and patterns. “When you bring information together, especially in a geospatial environment, you can unearth trends and connections that people struggle to put together otherwise and do something about these insights,” she says. That early experience shaped how she approached problems: by zooming out, assembling the pieces and asking what story the data was really telling.

After moving to New Zealand, Theresa continued this work in geospatial data roles before joining GHD, where her focus expanded into digital engineering and information management. Across sectors and disciplines, her instinct remained the same.

“I always think of it like a jigsaw puzzle,” she explains. “You never start with the full picture. You start with fragments, and your job is to understand how they fit together and why they matter.” Over time, this way of thinking naturally pulled her towards roles that sat between technical delivery and client decision-making.

In her role as Relationship Manager for NZTA Waka Kotahi, Theresa describes it as being a conductor.

“I’m not every instrument in the orchestra, but I am responsible for making sure they’re playing in sync,” she says. “Everyone who interacts with the client plays a part, and all of that feeds into the collective picture of who we are.” The role is less about holding every relationship and more about orchestrating how the organisation shows up for a complex, high-profile client.

That orchestration starts with deep understanding. Theresa spends significant time with the client to grasp what they care about and why it matters, while also taking a hard look internally at existing capabilities, strengths and gaps.

“It wasn’t about going to the client and saying, ‘Tell me everything you want,’” she explains. “That would take years. Instead, I needed to understand where we’re grounded, what we’re good at and then put that in the context of what the client is trying to achieve.”

One common misconception about the RM role is that it sits outside delivery. Theresa is quick to challenge that. “I don’t need to know everything at a granular level, but I do need to understand what the client is looking for and how we’re helping,” she says. “That means working closely with operations, not around them.”

Sitting between technical specialists and senior decision-makers, Theresa’s approach is grounded in fluency, not just in data or engineering concepts, but in people’s motivations.

With technical teams, that means investing time to understand their processes, language and constraints. “I always insist that people take me on the journey with them and teach me,” she says. “It’s no use me having a surface-level understanding. I need to know how it works so I can represent it properly.”

That curiosity builds credibility. By learning the language and logic of technical teams, she can then translate their work in ways that resonate with senior leaders and clients.

With decision-makers, the focus shifts to framing and relevance. Complex technical detail is articulated as narratives that speak to outcomes, trade-offs and risk. “Once you understand what the technical people care about and why it matters, you can translate that into outcomes decision makers actually value,” she explains.

Often, that translation takes the form of simple but powerful framing: a current state and a future state, with a roadmap that shows what needs to be done to get from one point to the other.

A practical example came through client feedback around risk management. When Waka Kotahi raised concerns about how a specific risk system was being used, Theresa didn’t treat it as a compliance exercise.

“We organised training, but the focus wasn’t just how to use the tool,” she says. “It was why it exists and what it’s trying to achieve.” By helping teams understand the intent behind the system, she helped align delivery with client expectations and strengthened trust in the process.

Looking ahead, Theresa is particularly focused on how data can shape better infrastructure outcomes for New Zealand, especially as the country grapples with ageing assets, resilience challenges and large-scale transport programmes. A growing shift towards maintaining and optimising existing infrastructure places data at the centre of decision-making, from understanding asset condition to prioritising investment.

“We’ve spent years investing in capital projects,” she says, “but we haven’t always invested enough in maintaining what we already have.” That imbalance has put a spotlight on asset data; what exists, where it lives and how it’s used.

Too often, that data is fragmented. “You might get a handover, but it’s in PDFs, spreadsheets, disconnected systems,” she says. “The asset owner isn’t always the builder or the maintainer, and the data gets lost along the way.” For Theresa, the challenge and opportunity lie in treating data as a digital asset with real value. “Why wouldn’t you value your data the same way you value the physical thing it represents?”

She is also deeply engaged in conversations about local and global capability. Major transport initiatives, including complex tunnelling and design-and-construct programmes, require skills that are not always readily available in New Zealand.

“The opportunity lies in combining global experience with local delivery, building capability onshore rather than importing solutions temporarily and losing that knowledge when projects finish,” she says.

Underlying all of this is a belief that data should be treated as a critical asset in its own right. “Standardising how information is requested, structured and handed over using emerging tools such as AI to connect disparate systems opens the door to more informed, timely decisions,” she explains.

“This convergence of infrastructure, data and people is where the most meaningful change will happen,” she says. “If we want resilient, well-performing infrastructure, we have to value data in the same way we value physical assets. When the right information is connected, it transforms how decisions get made.”