We pride ourselves on our people

Principal Consultant | Managing Director 

Steve is the Managing Director and Principal Consultant with EQ Consultants.

His background includes 15 years as NZ Country General Manager for an international HR and Recruitment company, responsible for 1,000 staff and significant annual revenues.  

Prior to working with EQ Consultants, Steve led operational and sales teams in the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand. Steve is active within the Recruitment and Consulting Services Association (NZ) having held the role of President and a committee member for a number of years. Steve is a member of the Institute of Directors and has recently undertaken formal Governance training.

Steve has a strong interest in working with businesses, sharing his knowledge to ensure that they acquire, develop, and manage their most important resource, their people. 

e: s.kennedy@eqconsultants.co.nz

p: 021 223 2850 

Principal Consultant | Director 

Craig is a Principal Consultant with EQ Consultants. Along with the outdoors, Craig’s passion is working with senior management to positively influence business outcomes.

With over 25 years of highly successful general management roles with market leaders in New Zealand, Australia and Europe, Craig has extensive strategic and operational experience.

Whether scaling mountains worldwide or providing assistance to his clients, Craig understands the need to implement and maintain solid 'best practice' procedures and policies in order to remain competitive, safe and market leaders.

e: c.atkinson@eqconsultants.co.nz

p: 021 223 2124

Director 

Viv Patterson is in a governance role at EQ Consultants.

Viv is an independent consultant specialising in Human Resources. She holds a master’s degree in Social Work, is past President of the Canterbury Branch of the Human Resources Institute of New Zealand and a Chartered HR Practitioner.

Viv’s consultancy business, EQ Consultants Limited, includes approximately twenty years’ experience, employed originally in the health sector – working within DHBs as Human Resources Manager and then as Industrial Relations Advisor to the Ministry of Health.

Since its establishment in 2006, Viv has involved EQ Consultants in a number of sectors – including, among others, health, government departments, education, manufacturing & professional services. As a Human Resource generalist, Viv has been contracted to a number of businesses to support them through different projects.

HR Consulting Manager | Director

Amy joined EQ Consultants in 2022, leveraging her expertise in business transformation and ability to find practical business solutions for her clients, irrespective of their size or industry. She firmly believes in the power of strategic planning to make timely and informed decisions, fostering a culture of innovation through her lateral thinking prowess. 
Beyond her professional endeavours, Amy cherishes her role as a mother to a food enthusiast son. She firmly believes in the importance of finding time for her passion for golf despite occasionally skipping her usual runs around Hagley Park. 

e: amy@eqconsultants.co.nz

p: 021 223 2317

Senior Consultant 

Jenny is the go-to person for the organisation. With planning, management and organisational experience in a range of industries from education and accounting to conference management and human resources, she is well placed to wear many hats within the company.

Jenny has experience in mentoring individuals to achieve international recognition in a variety of fields from the visual arts and small business management to the health industries and national online presence enhancement.

e: j.barr@eqconsultants.co.nz

p: 021 223 5118 

Senior Consultant | Queenstown

Malissa is a Senior Consultant for EQ Consultants representing the Queenstown, Lakes District & Southern Regions. A long-term resident of the district and active member of the community, Malissa has gained a sound understanding of the unique market challenges businesses face to ensure that they stay ahead of their competitors.

Malissa is a passionate advocate of 'the value of people' as an essential component to maintaining a competitive edge in the market. She has a talent for establishing an accurate and thorough understanding of 'best fit' for organisations, contributing to Malissa's successful track record in 'matching people to businesses'.

e: m.omalley@eqconsultants.co.nz 

p: 021 078 2963

Systems Consultant

Carlie is a Systems Consultant at EQ Consultants after coming from a project coordinator role in social housing. Home for Carlie is Vancouver, Canada, where she studied and completed her BBA with a major in human resource management.

Coming from a project coordination background, Carlie has Prince2 certification and has been actively involved in all areas of project lifecycles, from project start-up and planning to completion. Carlie is also experienced in process and policy creation, as well as app development and implementation.

In her spare time, Carlie can explore Canterbury with her chocolate lab or do a jigsaw puzzle on a rainy day.

e: carlie@eqconsultants.co.nz

p: 021 206 5287 

People Consultant

Melanie has joined EQ Consultants as People Consultant, a role that perfectly encompasses her passion for putting people first in organisations. 

Coming from a strong retail background, Melanie has spent a number of years in roles in both the corporate and social enterprise sectors. This combination has given her a multi-faceted approach to HR leadership and management, building strong relationships that enhance business operations and processes. 

Leading HR for a nationwide organisation, Melanie has liaised with multiple stakeholders, developing and implementing mentoring programs as well as training and development courses at a number of levels. She has a passion for developing people to better levels of engagement and performance within the workplace. 

Outside of work, Mel loves travel and has been fortunate to visit India and Sri Lanka Thailand and Canada as part of past roles. With a son who is a chef, she also has a real passion for food and trying new restaurants locally. 

e: mel@eqconsultants.co.nz

p: 021 289 1966

Leadership Consultant

Joy is a leadership consultant with EQ Consultants. As a leader with a rich history, she has managed small companies in Silicon Valley, including during the Global Financial Crisis (GFC), and has also worked extensively in education in New Zealand.

Joy’s work includes ten years at NASA Ames Research Center where she was Vice President of HR at ELORET. She was responsible for a diverse team of research scientists, managers, IT professionals and administrative staff performing development, modeling and testing of tiles and coatings for the Space Shuttle and other outer-planetary vehicles. Part of her role included working on Division strategy with Charlie Pellerin, who was responsible for the Hubble Telescope.

Upon her return to NZ in 2009, Joy retrained as a tertiary teacher, leading the development and teaching of a number of Management and HR courses at Ara. She also developed a significant number of courses online at SIT. She was also thrilled to work at a thriving logistics company in Christchurch as an HR Manager, where she continues to do some leadership development work.

Joy’s absolute passion is to enable individuals and businesses to be successful, through sound, contemporary, very practical and applied work grounded in Herrmann Whole Brain® Thinking (HBDI®) and Genos Emotional Intelligence tools. She has a Masters’ degree in Organisational Development and a Bachelors’ degree in Applied Economics, both from the University of San Francisco, and a Diploma in Teaching from Ara.

In her spare time, Joy enjoys walking in all seasons, growing her own fruit and vegetables and is lucky to have her family nearby. She also loves to travel, both in NZ and overseas.

Outplacement Consultant

After spending over 20 years working in recruitment and HR, Lyndal established herself as a Career Consultant in 2016, specialising in guiding professionals at all levels of an organisation. 

As a former Agency and In-house Recruiter, Lyndal witnessed firsthand the impact of poorly presented applications and weak interview performances on candidates' job prospects.  This experience sparked her mission to help individuals to present themselves effectively throughout the job application process.  Each client engagement begins afresh, ensuring a tailored approach that consistently yields positive outcomes.   

Coming from a rural background and having worked and travelled extensively overseas, Lyndal has developed a broad, open-minded perspective.  Her career spans diverse industries including Ports, Aviation, Logistics, and Heavy Equipment, highlighting her ability to communicate effectively across varied groups.  Combined with her recruiter's insight, this perspective uniquely equips her to understand the expectations of hiring professionals, making Lyndal an invaluable partner to both organisations and individuals alike.  Her practical experience is complemented by a Diploma in HR Consulting from Monash University.

Outside of work, Lyndal maintains an active lifestyle with swimming and gym workouts as integral parts of her daily routine. She also finds joy in cold immersion (ice-baths), paddle boarding, reading, and she cherishes spending time with her family and friends.

Health and Safety Consultant

Lucy has over 10 years’ experience in workplace health and safety. From strategic planning and consultation across top management to worksite auditing Lucy has worked across a number of industries including. 

• Civil Construction 
• Commercial Construction 
• Demolition and Earthworks
• Water and Wastewater Treatment 
• Transport and Logistics 
• Manufacturing  
• Retail 

Her qualifications include a NEBOSH International General Certificate in Occupational Safety and Health and, training in incident investigation, risk management, ISO45001 auditing and is a member of NZISM 

Lucy enjoys working at all levels of an organisation to develop customised and efficient health and safety solutions that foster positive values and attitudes.

Digital Marketer

Jacob is a Digital Marketer at EQ Consultants and joined the team after studying at the University of Canterbury (UC) and working for a digital marketing agency. 

His passion for digital marketing and visual design grew from his university studies. Through his experiences in digital marketing and freelance website design & branding, Jacob brings proven experience in developing strategy and marketing initiatives that engage with key customers and provide a creative outlook to problem-solving that goes beyond expectations. 

Jacob excels at tackling new challenges and is the go-to person for all digital things. In his spare time, you’ll find him enjoying Christchurch's nightlife and playing sports. 

e: j.blair@eqconsultants.co.nz

Finance Manager 

Tineke is our Finance Manager for EQ Consultants. 

With over 20 years’ experience in bookkeeping and payroll, Tineke has worked in a variety of companies from retail, to corporate international companies and accounting firms. This has given her a sound knowledge of the legislative and process requirements to run a business. Tineke is used to working to very tight deadlines and managing payrolls; anything from one employee to more than 5,000. She has a solid working knowledge of the Human Resources and Accountancy legislation, IRD procedures and requirements. 

Tineke's background includes several years as Payroll and Billing Manager for an NZ/AU Recruitment company, before moving onto running her own small business in bookkeeping, helping small Christchurch business with their accounts, payroll, budgeting, forecasts and standard procedures. 

Tineke is process-driven, with a keen eye for detail and paperwork and a love of coffee.

e: tineke@eqconsultants.co.nz