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About Maven

Maven is a New Zealand management consultancy, founded in Wellington in 1998.

For nearly three decades we have worked alongside central and local government, Crown entities, not-for-profit organisations, private sector clients across New Zealand and the Pacific. Nearly 30 years in we know these environments well, the accountability pressures, the fiscal constraints, the stakeholders. And we bring that accumulated understanding to every engagement.

Our history shows in our people. Many of our consultants have been with Maven for years, some for decades. When you work with us, you benefit from relationships and institutional knowledge that can’t be manufactured quickly. Our consultants are genuinely invested in your success because they expect to still be here the next time you need us.

We take a pragmatic approach to every assignment. We listen first, think carefully and then act. We work alongside you, not above you, and we say what needs to be said.

Not everyone needs a 50 page report. What everyone needs is advice they can act on. 

Maven is from the Pacific.

A special place called Aotearoa.

Where there’s no place for pretension,
but plenty of room for ideas, views and opinions.

We’re transparent and real;
we surprise rather than overwhelm;
we’re always the whole and never the sum of parts.

Scenic view of Queenstown, New Zealand with steep, rugged peaks, a body of turquoise water in the foreground, and cloud-covered sky.
A historic building with white and red brick facade, multiple windows, and decorative architectural details, with a clear blue sky overhead.
Close-up of elderly person's hands threading a needle, black-and-white photo.
Close-up of green fern leaves with detailed veins and serrated edges.
Man wearing glasses in a red shirt working at a desk with a large computer monitor displaying a calendar or scheduling app and a tablet.
A person paddling a small, narrow boat with a wooden pole in calm water during sunset, with an island and other boats visible in the distance.
Close-up of a white wall covered with multiple colorful sticky notes, with a person's hand pointing at a yellow sticky note.
Two people having a discussion in an office, seen through a glass wall with colorful sticky notes on it. One person is sitting at a desk, the other is sitting opposite, with an open notebook in front of him.
Warren and Jeff at 'FUTURE BY LOCAL GOVERNMENT' at a conference.
Colorful floating houses and boats along a waterway with lush green hillside in the background.
A man in a checkered shirt sitting at a table, filling out a form or worksheet with informational posters, in an office or conference room setting.
A coastal landscape with ocean water in the foreground, rocky shoreline, and hills or mountains in the background under a clear or slightly hazy sky.
Sailboats with white sails floating on calm, turquoise water near sandy beach under partly cloudy sky.
A cityscape of San Francisco at sunset with high-rise buildings along a waterfront and green hills in the background, under a pink and orange sky with clouds.
Buildings on Lambton Quay, Wellington, New Zealand
Cityscape at sunset with pink and purple sky, tall buildings with illuminated windows, and a bridge or walkway in the foreground where a cyclist and a pedestrian are walking.
Tropical scene with tall palm trees, lush green vegetation, blue ocean, and a partly cloudy sky with white clouds.
A man on a yellow boat near the shore at sunset or sunrise, with rocks and seaweed on the beach in the foreground and a colorful sky with clouds.
Aerial view of white cliffs along a coastline with the ocean in the foreground and rolling hills in the background during sunset.
Two boats floating in calm water near a sandy shoreline, with a hill and cloudy sky in the background.
A corner of a city street at dusk with a large white building labeled 'THE HYDRO'. There are multiple street lamps, one with a bird perched on top, and a sign warning about a shark warning bell. Cars are parked along the street, and there are houses
A panoramic view of a river flowing through a landscape with lush green trees, fields, and distant hills under a blue sky with scattered clouds.
A harbor scene during dusk with boats docked along a wooden pier and power lines against a pastel-colored sky.
View of a river winding through lush green landscape with patches of yellow and white sand, under a blue sky with scattered clouds.

What you can expect from us

The right people,
doing the work.

The team we propose is the team that shows up. There is no back-room B-team. We select people for each engagement based on their knowledge, experience and fit with your organisation and they are the ones accountable for the outcome.

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On time,
to budget.

We commit to clear scope, milestones and deliverables at the outset. If we fall short through our own fault, we wear the cost of putting it right.

Collective knowledge,
fully available.

Maven’s breadth across strategy, organisational design, investment, digital, information and security, means you have access to the full depth of what we know, not just the practice area you engaged us for.

 

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Our Whakapapa

Maven was founded by tangata tiriti, and from the beginning our work has been shaped by the values and ways of relating that are at the heart of Te Ao Māori. This isn’t a statement of aspiration it’s a description of how we actually work with clients.

We recognise that we are bound together by Te Tiriti o Waitangi. That means something practical for us: we invest in the relationship before we invest in the solution. We take time to understand your organisation, your people and your context before offering any answers. We challenge ideas, including our own, through honest dialogue. And we work alongside you in a way that strengthens your capability rather than creating dependency on ours.

Our Team

Our people come from senior roles across government, commercial and not-for-profit organisations. They bring deep sector knowledge, genuine curiosity and the kind of experience that only comes from doing this work for a long time. We are family of experienced Mavens who can be called on as the assignment requires.

We work with clients across New Zealand, from Wellington to Auckland, across the South Island and into the Pacific when the work takes us there.