Gareth Kiernan
Phone: +64 4 474 2147
Managing Director
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Gareth manages the forecasting team at Infometrics and oversees the company’s subscription services. Within the forecast process, he prepares the financial markets and building and property forecasts. Gareth also regularly does presentations to clients on the economic outlook appropriate to their industry, and has completed a range of consulting projects, many focused on the housing market and construction industry.
Gareth has an in-depth understanding of the construction sector and, through his long involvement in Infometrics’ forecasting team and his dealings with clients, Gareth has an extensive knowledge of the broader NZ economy. His presentations are well-received, providing relevant economic information in an accessible, clear, and entertaining manner.
Gareth’s management experience at Infometrics has given him a good understanding of how economic issues affect business decision making and development. Gareth joined Infometrics in early 1999, having graduated from the University of Canterbury the previous year with a MCom (Hons) in economics and a BSc in economics and statistics. He became managing director of Infometrics in 2006.
Gareth is a born-and-bred Wellingtonian and is married with three children. Trying to keep the kids under control doesn’t leave a lot of time for anything else, but if he does get a chance, Gareth likes to torture himself by supporting the New Zealand cricket team.
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David Grimmond
Phone: +64 4 474 2142
Director, Senior Economist
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Dave provides economic consulting services for Infometrics clients, including model development, customised forecasts, and policy analysis. He has provided economic analysis on a wide range of topics for private business, non-profit organisations, central, and local government. He also provides input to the company's forecasting process.
Dave has played a leading role in preparing economic forecasts at the NZIER, the Treasury, and at Infometrics. Dave graduated from Otago University in 1982 with a BA (Hons) in economics. Along with his experience as an applied economist, he has also had considerable public sector management experience, managing the macroeconomic policy at Treasury, as well as research and evaluation, the future of work, and the labour market information unit at the Department of Labour.
Dave first worked at Infometrics between 1997 and 2000, returning in 2004 after almost four years at the Department of Labour. Dave and his wife, Adrienne, have two teenage children, Che and Meg. Dave breaks up long periods of slothfulness with occasional bike races and masters level football games.
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Adolf Stroombergen
Phone: +64 4 474 2141
Chief Economist, Director
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Dr Adolf Stroombergen is chief economist at Infometrics. He has a PhD in economics and over 25 years of experience in economic consulting, specialising in mathematical economics, econometrics and economic modelling. His work has included general equilibrium analyses of changes in import protection, roading investment, genetic modification and carbon pricing; and econometric estimation of forecasting models and empirical relationships in the areas of energy use, corporate credit risk and organisational structure. He has also developed microsimulation models of savings and the tertiary student loan scheme.
Adolf has been a member of the Advisory Committee on Economic Statistics since 1996 and he was an Expert Reviewer for the IPCC Working Group II 3rd, 4th and 5th Assessment Reports. Adolf is also an Associate of Azimuth Consulting and an Affiliate of Motu Economic and Public Research.
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Matthew Nolan
Phone: +64 4 474 2146
Senior Economist
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Matt has been an economist with the forecasting team at Infometrics since January 2007, following on from his studies at Victoria University of Wellington. He enjoys writing on a broad range of economic issues; however his focus is on the household sector including the labour market and consumer spending. Within Infometrics, he is responsible for forecasting the outlook for consumer spending and the labour market, and giving clients an idea of the risks around these forecasts – and what they mean for their bottom line.
Matt completed a Masters of Commerce and Administration at Victoria University. He has a range of skills, having contributed to quantitative (statistical) projects and also having written in a range of publications. He is primarily focused on staying on top of the trends and behaviour of New Zealand households, and in the New Zealand labour market, but has been known to stray into issues such as monetary policy, land taxes, and water pricing.
In his spare time Matt contributes to a blog about economics, which was described in the Air New Zealand inflight magazine as “a one-stop-shop for discussion on topics as diverse as methodological individualism and whether chocolate will become as pricey as caviar”. He also spends too much time watching his football teams (Liverpool FC and Wellington Phoenix) struggle.
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Andrew Whiteford
Phone: +64 04 474 2143
Director, Senior Economist
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Andrew is responsible for Infometrics Regional Service. He likes to conceptualise ways in which complex regional data sets can be made accessible to a non-technical audience. He also likes using innovative technology to do a lot of the work so that he can deliver detailed reports in a cost effective way.
Andrew has considerable experience in labour market analysis. He has conducted numerous studies on the demand for and supply of skills for industry training organisations, regional organisations and central government agencies. He received training in occupational forecasting at the Bureau of Labor Statistics in Washington DC and was lead analyst in a multiyear study on future skill needs in South Africa.
Andrew has a masters degree in economics from the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. He has more than 20 years’ experience in a range of organisations including the Human Sciences Research Council (Pretoria), Global Insight Southern Africa and the New Zealand Department of Labour. Andrew moved to New Zealand in 2002 for the trout fishing. He caught his first trout in 2011. Now that he lives in the Wairarapa he has pledged to improve his record.
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Nigel Pinkerton
Phone: +64 4 474 2144
IT Manager
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Nigel joined Infometrics in May 2008, initially as a member of the forecasting team but through necessity and further study has moved full-time into IT development for the business.
Nigel began work on the new Infometrics website in early 2011 and has bought the project through to completion. He also liaises with external suppliers and helps keep our IT systems running.
Nigel usually spends his spare time either in front of a computer screen writing code, or in the great outdoors fishing/mountain biking/kayaking etc.
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Benje Patterson
Phone: +64 4 474 2145
Economist
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Benje’s responsibilities at Infometrics include compiling forecasts and writing commentaries on the transport sector, tourism, fiscal policy, the external sector, and the international economy. As part of his role overseeing the transport sector, he produces our transport monthly and manages our used car price indices.
Benje enjoys applying financial modelling techniques to forecast and understand issues pertaining to fiscal policy and other macroeconomic variables. Benje has also written and presented on his views regarding the need to reform structural fiscal spending on the elderly and tertiary education. He believes that current policy settings protect the interests of people who are least in need and will unnecessarily exacerbate intergenerational tensions.
Benje joined Infometrics in October 2011, following two years at the University of Freiburg in Germany on scholarship from the German Academic Exchange Service. In Freiburg, he graduated with a Master of Arts in economics and politics and worked as an academic assistant. Before Freiburg, Benje studied economics and finance at Otago University.
Benje hails from the Deep South and still proudly rolls his r’s with vigour. Benje is also an avid sportsman and in 2006 was the individual champion at the Speight’s two day Coast to Coast multisport race.
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Jacqui Clarke
Phone: +64 4 473 0630
Client Relationship Manager
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Jacqui joined Infometrics in 2010 and works part-time in a marketing and sales role. She is responsible for liaising with clients, creating marketing material and promoting Infometrics.
Before immigrating to New Zealand from South Africa, Jacqui worked in a marketing role in the travel industry which lead to taking some time off to travel. When she returned she went back to university to complete a BA(Hons) in Geographical Information Systems. She worked in a utilities engineering and software company, principally creating the technical documentation for custom built GIS software packages.
Jacqui and her husband live with their two children in the Wairarapa. She enjoys the access to outdoor life that her new home provides as well as the wonderful landscape painting opportunities.
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Suzanne Heyworth
Phone: +64 4 473 0630
Office and Accounts Manager
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Suzanne joined Infometrics in February 2011 and works 4 days a week. She is responsible for making sure the office runs smoothly and co-ordinates client information on our database. She also processes our accounts and most importantly the payroll! Prior to having her family, Suzanne started working life with the Justice Department, then moved to Melbourne, Australia for two years and worked for Marquand & Co., Chartered Accountants in a secretarial role. This was followed by a two year OE of England and Europe working for various companies, before settling back down in Wellington as a PA to the Assistant General Manager of Sun Alliance Insurance.
While her children were young she attained a Diploma in Information and Library Studies and worked as a Public Librarian for 6 years once her youngest children (twins) started school, but decided she missed the buzz of the corporate world and chose to return. Suzanne enjoys meeting people and believes a smile goes a long way. She cares about the ‘details’ being correct and loves the versatility of her role with Infometrics.
She likes going to the gym, walking, reading, travelling, and of course, along with her husband David, watching 3 of their 4 children play winter sport early on a Saturday morning!
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Dirk van Seventer
Phone: +64 04 473 0630
Associate Economist
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Dirk is an associate at Infometrics with 24 years’ experience as a professional economist. He has developed Infometrics’ regional estimates of employment by occupation, qualification and field of study. Dirk has considerable experience in the field of labour market economics, having worked at the Department of Labour for six year where he established the Leading Indicator of Employment, a set of on-line labour market analysis templates and a system of historical series of employment estimates for detailed industries, occupations and regions.
Dirk has a Masters degree in economics from the University of Groningen in Netherlands.
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Mieke Welvaert
Phone: +64 4 473 0630
Data Analyst
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Mieke works part-time at Infometrics. She joined the team this year and is excited about growing in her role as a data analyst.
Majoring in economics, finance and geography, she is currently completing a BA/BCom at Victoria University of Wellington.
To keep her life busy she dances with the university dance club, paints, makes clothes and semi-spontaneously goes scuba diving.
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