2024/2025 TSS Executive Committee
The Sustainability Society committee comprises passionate sustainability practitioners who traverse different disciplines and contexts. We firmly believe that a sustainable and regenerative future for our built environment requires a whole-of-system approach and we embody that diversity across our team. We acknowledge the leadership and energy that all of our executive committee members give voluntarily to The Sustainability Society’s network and activities.
Karen K Creagh
Karen is the Environmental Services Manager (North) at Awa Environmental. Karen has spent the last two decades working in the fields of ecological research, ecological economics and strategic sustainability consulting to deliver better outcomes for people, communities and the environment. She has worked across continents, as well as the public, private and community sectors to set the bar higher to maintain, restore or create healthy ecosystems. Karen subscribes to being “nature positive”, supporting the transformation of nations, cities, businesses, investors and consumers behaviours. This includes promoting and facilitating the uptake of ecologically sound green infrastructure and developments, from business case development, through concept design, overseeing implementation, peer review and evaluation of completed projects.
Uki Dele
Uki Dele is a professional engineer with nearly 20 years of experience in the water sector, working across the United States and New Zealand. Her passion for environmental stewardship and sustainable communities is evident throughout her career, where she has focused on developing innovative and sustainable solutions for stormwater and wastewater management. Currently, as the Chief Advisor Stormwater and Climate Resilience for Wellington Water, Uki champions a holistic approach that considers both functionality and long-term social- ecological impacts. Her experience in both private consulting and local government positions has provided her with a unique understanding of the challenges and opportunities for creating sustainable communities. Uki holds a Master’s degree in Environmental Planning and Management from Johns Hopkins University and a Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering, bringing a well-rounded perspective to her work.
Warner Brunton
Warner is the Advisory Sector Lead for New Zealand at Mott MacDonald, and specialises in integrated environmental sustainability for the built environment. He has a particular interest in close collaboration with clients, architects, consultants and project stakeholders to enhance whole of life sustainability outcomes based on proven and pragmatic solutions.
Stu Farrant (Chair)
Stu Farrant is the Water Sensitive Design Lead at Morphum Environmmental. He is an ecological engineer who specialises in the water aspects of ecologically sustainable development, particularly integrated urban water cycle management and water sensitive urban design (WSUD), and he has extensive skills and experience in the planning, design and implementation of innovative and practical water management projects.
Ben Fountain
So where do we start- burn the patriarchy, circle the linear economy, emissions reduction, post-colonisation reimagining, biodiversity recovery? There’s a lot to be done and sometimes it’s hard to shift our systems in the right direction. One of the great things about New Zealand is that there are loads of passionate people who are already making the world a better place. Connecting passionate people is what excites me about the work of The Sustainability Society. What I bring is the knack of simplifying complexity, building partnerships, and getting things done. These strengths have served me well in my varied career. While I am a Chartered Professional Engineer with 25 years’ of experience, much of my work these days is in shaping strategy, managing risk, organisational alignment, and empowering others. I understand the commercial, contractual, and regulatory environment in which infrastructure and land use management is undertaken in the New Zealand context. My experience in flood risk management, stormwater management, climate change and water quality is recognised nationally and I have consulted and worked with central government, academics, territorial authorities and regional councils to help shape policy and implement work programmes to address the many water related challenges our communities and environment are facing.
Erica Olesson
Erica trained as a civil and environmental engineer and began her career in the waste and resource sector, before moving into sustainability 15 years ago with a combination of corporate sustainability and infrastructure sustainability. She is passionate about helping organisations understand the impacts they have (directly and indirectly) on their communities and natural environment, and work towards shaping a brighter future through big and small changes in what they do and how they do it. Erica leads Tonkin + Taylor’s sustainability strategy, which includes working with internal teams to ‘walk the talk’ and integrate sustainability into all client work. Erica is an Infrastructure Sustainability Accredited Professional and completed Masters and Doctoral research on the integration of sustainability in organisations focused on the built environment.
Ed Clayton
Ed is a Stormwater Asset Planning Engineer at Tauranga City Council. His background is in environmental science, water quality and hydrological monitoring, and he made the change to asset services after moving to Tauranga from Tāmaki Makaurau with his young family. He is interested in how the decisions we make about infrastructure and materials affect our environment. He is passionate about biophilic design principles and urban areas that work to enhance, rather than degrade, our natural systems. If you are interested in similar topics, green infrastructure, water sensitive urban design or promoting active travel and public transport, then please get in touch!
Downloads:
> TSS Committee 2025/26 nomination form
> AGM rules (31 KB PDF)
> The Sustainability Society’s Charter (49 KB PDF)
General enquiries should be directed to the Society’s Secretariat