David Stimpson
Director

+64 4 388 7721
+64 274 888 284
david@stimpson.co.nz

David’s strength is applying financial, economic and project management skills to policy development and commercial deals. Often this means working across different Government agencies, community groups or industry organisations to develop an agreed way forward. Examples of his work include:

• Leadership of the Ministry of Transport team delivering the $2 million review of the shift of the Ports of Auckland proposed by an independent working group. This involved coordination of three governing Ministries and Ministers along with consultancies providing fifteen technical reports.
• Leadership of the exploration and deployment of a  programme to allocate 5 Gigahertz radio spectrum to support the rollout of new 5G mobile communication services. David led the preparation of Ministerial briefings and two Cabinet papers and negotiation of multiple rounds of commercial terms sheets with Mobile Network Operators.
• Management of five Joint Officials’ Groups on transport (Auckland, Wellington, Bay of Plenty, Waikato and Christchurch).
• Management of the Ministerial Advisory Group on Roading costs.
• Principal author of the business case (using the Better Business Case format) for bigger trucks on NZ roads.
• David also applied these skills as Chair of his local primary school.

David has worked three periods as a Principal Policy Adviser since 2018 in the Ministry of Transport Supply Chain, MBIE Radio Spectrum and MBIE Electricity teams. He understands core government processes.

One of David’s areas of expertise is financing strategies within the public sector, especially infrastructure or major public assets. Often this is about blending commercial realties with social or economic objectives. For instance, he reviewed plans to support the financing of Eden Park’s redevelopment for the 2011 Rugby World Cup. David has also completed significant work on funding infrastructure, whether as part of Development Contribution Policies for six Councils, or the evaluation systems for water and sewerage subsidy schemes for the Ministries of Health and Tourism.

David has academic qualifications in regional planning and business and his experience includes a mix of commercial and public policy advisory roles. His first five years experience was with central and local government in the areas of economic impact assessment, airport planning, and local economic development. He subsequently worked in the corporate finance team at KPMG on port restructuring, public private partnerships and local government reform.