Bringing together diverse skills to change the world for good

From a young age, Annabell felt inspired to do her part to drive positive change in the world. Years later, she’s living that dream through her career at PwC New Zealand and beyond.

Annabell believes that solving a problem as complex as climate change requires a wide range of skill sets. That’s why she brings together people with different experiences in her team. Her own varied career has also given her a broader perspective.

Starting her career in financial services provided Annabell with a good grounding in risk, regulations and governance – all of which are highly relevant to sustainability.

Next, Annabell moved into management consulting, which furthered her understanding of different business and operating models. In a sustainability context, this helps her challenge companies to think differently and reinvent their business models to remain relevant in the future.

Management consulting also sharpened Annabell’s communication skills, which are essential when trying to persuade organisations to tackle tricky issues like sustainability. She understands that companies won’t take climate action to achieve a distant-sounding goal like “saving the planet”. She excels in translating complex climate objectives into tangible risks and opportunities, and she crafts compelling narratives that prompt organisations to take action. She’s particularly excited about the commercial opportunities arising from the energy transition – especially for companies making green technologies, both those using the technologies and those investing in them.

It was the move to management consulting that ended up giving Annabell the chance to work in sustainability – and an entirely new market. Following a decade working in financial services in Australia, she completed a Master’s degree in International Development. She found Asia a fascinating place through her personal travels, and China provided her with great opportunities to fulfil her aspirations to work in development leading to her next move. After graduating, she moved to China where she spent the first few years at PwC China working with financial services clients, and then an opportunity arose to support an initiative looking at clean tech in China.

Annabell spent 18 months working alongside a team focused on renewable energy, the electricity grid, green buildings, water and waste management. It was a steep learning curve to understand the issues that these technologies could solve for China, along with the policy landscape, how the market was developing, and the broader opportunities for both Chinese clients and foreign clients looking to work with entities in China.

This experience shaped Annabell’s expertise in translating organisations’ climate objectives into clean tech solutions. It also helped her better understand the technologies, policies, incentives and regulatory environment. Additionally, it gave her exposure to diverse industries – from energy, utilities and tourism to agriculture, aviation and public-sector organisations. This cross-industry experience has proved extremely valuable as Annabell reshaped her career to focus on sustainability, because every sector will need to transition in the move to a green economy.

Now, Annabell runs PwC New Zealand’s sustainability practice. When she first set it up, it was just her and a senior manager. Now, the team has grown to around 15 people. Under Annabell’s leadership, the team helps public and private-sector organisations across industries to incorporate sustainability into their business strategies and respond to the implications of climate change. This role gives Annabell the chance to apply her expertise in strategy development, operating model design and organisational transformation, as well as her deep understanding of sustainable technologies.

Annabell is proud that New Zealand was the first country in the world to mandate climate risk disclosures. She’s also excited about the increased focus on nature. Organisations in New Zealand are eager to protect nature – partly because the country’s economy depends heavily on natural resources, but also because nature is closely tied to the country’s national identity. She looks forward to helping more businesses understand the nature agenda and adopt solutions to better protect the natural world.

As part of her leadership role, Annabell provides coaching and mentorship for people on her team. In particular, she helps those starting their careers and looking for guidance as they embark on careers in sustainability.

Alongside her role at PwC, Annabell has served on the board of the Hunger Project. She selected this charity because she admired its ethos of upskilling communities – particularly women – across Africa, South Asia and Latin America, rather than simply giving aid.

Previously, Annabell has also supported Room to Read, a non-profit focused on tackling illiteracy and supporting girls’ education. Here too, it was the vision of empowering communities that attracted Annabell to raise money for the organisation. Charity work is important to Annabell, because she believes that people and planet are inextricably linked. People won’t be able to think about the planet if their basic needs aren’t being met.

Outside her role at PwC and charity work, Annabell loves spending time in the great outdoors. She has run ultra-marathons in deserts across the world, including Antarctica. But nowadays, you’re more likely to find her soaking up New Zealand’s beautiful scenery while hiking, cycling or doing watersports. It’s her way of enjoying the planet she works so hard to protect.

From your experience, how do you sum up Inclusion & Diversity at PwC?

Diversity and inclusion are firmly embedded in our culture and ways of working.

What should others know about PwC’s commitment to Inclusion & Diversity?

Inclusion is what empowers diversity, because it means that our thinking draws on a broad range of perspectives. This helps us come up with better ideas and solutions both internally and for our clients.