John Gell
Co-Founder & General Manager
Phone:
+64 21 616 823
Email:
Address:
Auckland, New Zealand
About me
John has been involved in systems engineering, project management, contract mobilisation and business development for the past two decades. He has an extensive military background with the RNZN as a Marine Engineering officer, deploying to numerous locations such as NZ, Pacific Islands, Asia, Europe, UK, and the Antarctica Region. Working for the past decade with Andrew Edwards, John has led the growth and development of companies through strategic Business Development, special projects delivery, product development and new operations establishment. John has strong management skills that delivers and upholds clear standards to his teams. This includes a strong emphasis on compliance with safety requirements, work quality, and coordination with stakeholder units across a wide spectrum of technical fields. John has an excellent appreciation and track record in customer service, project management, cost management and delivering contracts, to time and budget constraints.
Work Experience
May 2025 - Present
Oct 2021 - April 2025
April 2018 - May 2021
April 2016 - April 2018
Co-Founder and General Manager - EDGE Defence Ltd
Group Manager Business Development- Shape Group Ltd
We’ve delivered innovative and groundbreaking projects, including several firsts for New Zealand. By enhancing and strengthening acquired intellectual property, such as Datablok, we achieved significant export sales and even secured projects supported by the World Bank.
The business grew organically to provide nationwide coverage and delivered exciting projects for prestigious blue-chip clients. Including winning and delivering Centreports microgrid power system.
National Business Development Manager - McKay Ltd
McKay Limited is one of New Zealand's oldest family owned and operated Electrical contracting and electrotechnology companies. Established in 1936 the company has grown from a small Whangarei business to have a number of operations throughout NZ. In parternship with Andrew, we developed and executed a d growth strategy, seeing business grew to over 500 employees at its peak and was delivering 2 of New Zealand's largest Electrical projects for 2021/2022 (Waikeria prison and NZICC) and had just secured Dunedin Hospital. John successfully secured multiple long term maitnenance support contracts with local councils and blue chip clients across NZ and the USA.
Contracts Manager Maintennace - McKay Ltd
During his time as Maintenance Manager John oversaw a team of 25 electricians, linesman, and apprentices delivering routine planned maintenance, reactive callouts and capital upgrades to multiple sectors. Growing the division over 200% year on year, Johns role included assistance to surrounding regions in development and implementation of systems and processes across disciplinces.