Our Team
About Amanda
Amanda is one of the Directors of Pillar Consulting which she started in 2017 after moving back to New Zealand from Australia. With a background in HR and Health and Safety, and experience in the coal mining sector in Central QLD, Amanda is passionate about providing education to leaders, enabling them to enhance the safety culture within their organisation. She often works with Boards and senior leadership teams to ensure that they understand their duties when it comes to New Zealand legislation across health and safety and employment.
Amanda is a HASANZ registered health and safety practitioner, a ‘Professional’ member of the New Zealand Institute of Safety Management (NZISM), a qualified ‘Lead Auditor’ and sits on the Bay of Plenty Kiwifruit and Avocado Safety Liaison Forum. With firm ideals and beliefs that New Zealand’s safety records can and will be improved, Amanda is proud to be part of the New Zealand safety landscape, creating a progressive/positive difference to workplaces in our country.
Amanda has also completed the completed the “ICAM Incident Investigation Lead Investigator Course”
About Mariska
With over two decades of experience in the recruitment and consulting industry, Mariska has dedicated her career to improving workplace safety, supporting employee wellbeing and strengthening HR practices.
Since beginning her journey with Pillar Consulting in 2019, Mariska has focused on building robust systems and processes that have enabled the business to grow across New Zealand and Australia.
Mariska is committed to embedding health and safety and wellbeing into workplace culture, recognising the significant risks that come from neglecting these essential areas. At Pillar, Mariska and the team take pride in delivering practical, uncomplicated solutions that make safety, HR and wellbeing management easy for clients.She is strongly committed to best practice and long-term client relationships. This drives her mission to transform workplace cultures so that safety, wellbeing and strong people practices are always prioritised.
Mariska is passionate about creating safe, supportive environments where people can thrive. Her goal is simple. to empower businesses with the tools, knowledge and guidance they need to protect their most valuable asset, their people.
Natasha Jurisich
Managing Consultant– Tauranga – Bay Of Plenty
E. natasha@pillarconsulting.co.nz
P. 021 627 204
About Natasha
Tash joined Pillar consulting as a Health and Safety and Human Resources Consultant. She brings with her valuable experience from various roles across the Manufacturing, Steel Construction and Agricultural sectors.
As a Health and Safety Professional, Tash has worked within organisations from the ground up in the development, implementation and management of best practice systems. She is passionate about worker engagement and creating a positive culture around Health and Safety within an Organisation. Always committed to finding the best solution, Tash prefers to take a practical approach to health and safety, looking to implement systems that actually work within an organisation while maintaining the ultimate goal that all workers go home healthy and safe.
Tash has New Zealand Diploma in Business endorsed in Human Resources. She is experienced across multiple HR functions, including the design and implementation of HR Policies and Procedures, job design and recruitment as well as people and performance management. Specializing in communication, Tash is well practiced in working with organisations to strengthen positive team culture which she believes is an integral part of building productivity and performance.
Natasha has also completed the “ICAM Incident Investigation Lead Investigator Course”
About Katharina
Kat joined the Pillar Consulting team in Tauranga in 2018, bringing with her a wealth of knowledge, experience and qualifications across a range of industries.
Having worked in the Kiwifruit industry in NZ, where she was a Health and Safety Manager for a local Bay of Plenty post-harvest operator company, as well as in the education sector as a Safety & Wellbeing Business Partner, Kat enjoys the variety of working with a range of Pillar Consulting clients.
Originally from Germany, Kat worked as an Environment, Health and Safety Manager for a multinational conglomerate company in the Renewable Energy sector, which had her regularly travelling across Europe as part of the management team of major offshore construction sites, planning and implementing safety initiatives throughout their various locations.
She has a Bachelor of Engineering in Hazard Control as well as the German version of the NEBOSH Diploma (called SIFA in Germany) and has recently completed the NEBOSH International General Certificate in Occupational Health and Safety in NZ. She is a Graduate member of the NZISM (New Zealand Institute of Safety Management) and a member of Engineering New Zealand and the New Zealand Society for Safety Engineering.
Kat is qualified to lead health and safety incident investigations. Her methodical, detail-oriented approach makes her particularly accomplished in this area and many of our clients highly value the conclusions that she articulates in her reports.
Kat is passionate about what she does and loves educating others on health and safety initiatives, systems and processes as well as behaviours. She is process driven as well as results oriented, loves partnering with her clients and having exposure to a range of industries.
Kat has recently relocated back to Germany and works for Pillar Consulting remotely
Heather Mackay
Health and Safety Consultant
– Wellington
E. heather@pillarconsulting.co.nz
P. 027 226 2706
About Heather
Heather joined the Pillar Consulting team in August of 2019.
Having recently returned to NZ after living in Seattle with her husband and three children, she is excited at the opportunity to help NZ organisations achieve safer working environments.
Heather’s work history includes 15 years of retail, account management and sales in the pharmaceutical industry.
Heather also worked in the Aviation Industry for 4 years where health and safety standards and procedures are paramount to every aspect of operations.
Based in Wellington, her role as Client Relationship Coordinator is to ensure our clients gain ultimate value and are entirely satisfied with the services we provide.
Heather is excited at how she can help clients achieve their best across the health and safety landscape by working with the highly talented and experienced team at Pillar Consulting.
About Elaine
Elaine is a career Office Manager and joined the Pillar team after returning from Sydney, Australia where she worked for a large leading Wholesale Distribution and Marketing Company.
With a great eye for detail, organisation skills that are second to none, a passion for communicating effectively with our clients and a strong desire to continuously develop her own skillset, Elaine is a key part of our team and we’re not sure how we ever managed without her!
Elaine will often be the first point of contact for new clients and with such a friendly, professional manner, everyone really enjoys engaging with her.
About Jacinda
Jacinda joined the Pillar Consulting team in 2021. With experience spanning large corporate hotels; large wine retailer; elite level sports administration, health, safety and welling; and as director of an Auckland catering company for 13 years, Jacinda recognises the importance of procedures and protocols, while nurturing management and team engagement.
Most recently Jacinda has supported one of New Zealand’s largest television networks in the implementation of best practice health and safety management systems. This has included leading health and safety engagement at all levels of the organisation, the establishment of systems for health and safety communication, and the coordination of risk assessments for various internal and external projects.
With a Diploma in Proofreading and Editing, Jacinda has a meticulous eye for detail in implementing systems and processes. Currently working towards her NZ Certificate in Workplace Health and Safety Practice, Jacinda shares her passion for team participation and welfare with our Auckland clients, creating and streamlining systems to ensure health and safety is at the forefront of daily business activities.
About Chantelle
Chantelle is the Director of Pillar Consulting Group Australia, the sister company of Pillar Consulting in New Zealand. Wanting to build a career that had more focus on developing and maintaining relationships helping people, Chantelle began her career in customer service, talent acquisition and human resources.
She started her own consultancy focusing on IT and financial recruitment and it grew strongly for five years. Family values became central to her life, so she sold her consultancy and moved to New Zealand to raise a family. Chantelle quickly built an active profile in New Zealand, working with a variety of companies as a principal consultant and implementing developmental changes in large businesses.
More recently Chantelle qualified to consult in Workplace Health and Safety in Brisbane Queensland, partnering with our clients to help them put strong, robust processes in place to allow them to protect their people and their business. Driven by a strong work ethic, challenge, and change, she continue her passion to make a genuine effort to improve people’s lives.
Chantelle consistently delivers quality within her work and are passionate about people, change and technology.
