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About us
GC6 is adept at creating, delivering and transforming digital, enterprise-scale, citizen services. We support clients with our integrated force of world-class expertise across human-centred design, architecture, and software development.
We’re built to meet tomorrow, today.
GC6 was formed in response to the growing need for comprehensive, human-centered technology solutions in both the public and private sectors, specifically to meet the needs of large, complex digital projects that cannot afford to fail.
In the world we live in, no organisation is an island. The larger the organisation, the more diverse are its people, the more complex its supply chain, operations and how it needs to understand and work with its customers and systems and the dynamic world in which they need to thrive in. Regardless of the challenges and disruptions each must overcome, all share a common understanding that the stakes have never been higher, and that how they respond is mission-critical.
To help make the right decisions, organisations need partners that can meet today's needs and also adapt and evolve to meet future demands, challenges, and opportunities.
GC6 is that ‘right partner’. Our people and integrated capabilities having been rigorously tested and proven across both Government and Private sectors across the Asia Pacific in sectors like Defence, Energy, Law Enforcement, Border Protection, Security, Finance, Telco and Emergency Services.
Why Organisations Choose GC6
Clients value our ability to respond to the shifts that matter, deliver mission-critical services that do not fail, and value our ability to integrate our capabilities with their teams and suppliers as needed, scaling capacity, and deploying the right expertise and solutions at the right time to help realise the outcomes they need.
Our clients value;
The only way to ensure the delivery of high-performing, technically robust citizen services—and the subsequent adoption of that service—requires integrated capability that fuses the right balance of technology and human-centred design from start to finish.
Reliability and precision are paramount; in the realm of software, "mission-critical" signifies more than just importance—it represents a non-negotiable trust contract. These systems are the digital heartbeat of essential services; they must perform reliably without fail. Our people embrace this ethos by integrating our distinct strengths, akin to the precision of a Swiss clock, ensuring every component works seamlessly together.
Solution resilience is highly valuable; given the critical roles our clients play, systems must be exceptionally reliable, scalable, secure, and adaptable. Our approach embraces vertical integration, minimising reliance on external suppliers, and ensuring accountability at every level. This mindset guarantees our solutions are not only effective but also resilient and secure, meeting the stringent demands of mission-critical operations.
Integration matters; our commitment to vertical integration and mission-critical reliability means we deliver cohesive, fully integrated solutions—not just components. Whether through customised design and engineering or leveraging proven systems and platforms, we mitigate risks and ensure consistent, dependable performance across all system layers. This approach ensures our solutions seamlessly integrate into client environments, delivering the right services and information at the precise moment required.
John Owen
IT Architecture
Julie Leuzinger
Strategy and Experience
Andrew Hawley
Strategy and Experience
Clemens Berndt
Technology Strategy
Amanda Nicholls
Business Strategy
Mark Glenn
Experience & Service Design
Kerrie Fowke
Delivery Lead
Yashdeep Patil
Engineering Strategy
John Owen
IT Architecture
John brings over a total of 30 years of experience in digital, spanning R&D (at Siemens Centre); software and product development; IT and Engineering for telecommunications operations; and international sales. His current focus is building and guiding technology companies. During his extensive tenure in the industry, John founded two technology companies—Cyma Limited, an IT Services company focused on applying architecture practices to help clients identify the right problems to solve at the right time and with the right technology; and SecYour, a web3 product company using new technology to provide a platform for safe sharing of personal data, putting control back in the hands of the data owner. Recently, John has become increasingly interested in governance and developing skills and experience as a director.
Julie Leuzinger
Strategy and Experience
Julie champions insight-led strategy with experience leading high-performing teams of digital and emerging technology specialists to deliver human-centred solutions for both the commercial and government sectors in New Zealand and around the world. Her most recent experience prior to Ghost includes a leadership role in global digital transformation for Fonterra, New Zealand’s largest business; reorganising how teams manage large scale corporate innovation; and building Agile and digital literacy across diverse teams. She’s led Spark New Zealand’s digital brand transformation with Andrew Hawley whilst at Touchcast; co-led the development of a Fonterra board strategy focussed on the future of nutrition and consumer behaviour; led global digital communications optimisation for Fonterra and undertaking foundational remediation to lift average digital maturity across the organisation; and more recently, consulted to one of NZ’s largest technology companies on business model innovation, as they expand into platform and marketplace commercialisation.
Andrew Hawley
Strategy and Experience
With a background as an entrepreneur and creative leader Andrew helps manage the Ghost Team and works closely alongside clients to develop creative, digital and communications strategy. He has worked with many of New Zealand's largest organisations across many diverse industries, both in the private and government sectors including Spark, Education New Zealand, Weta Group, and Immigration NZ, among others. Andrew founded his first company, Breathe Communications, in 1999; Breathe featured several times in the Deloitte Fast 50 as it evolved from a creative agency to the technical infrastructure provider, now called Modica Group. He then followed up with Touchcast in 2004 growing the digital agency to 72 people, gaining recognition as New Zealand's 6th fastest growing company in 2014 (as ranked in the Deloitte Fast 50) and ranked 46th in Deloitte's Technology Fast 500 Asia Pacific index. After Touchcast was acquired by Clemenger Group, Andrew spent time as Managing Partner of Clemenger BBDO, before co-founding Ghost Partners.
Clemens Berndt
Technology Strategy
For the past 25 years Clemens has been turning his passion for technology into his mission; helping organisations achieve operational excellence—delivering more while eliminating waste through innovative application of technology. He’s had experience working across start-up, product, software vendor, and enterprise IT organisations in a broad range of roles including software engineering, architectur, project management, and technology leadership. This experience has given Clemens the ability to engage with and problem solve from complicated low-level software issues to complex business strategy challenges. Though Clemens is a technologist at heart, he has developed strong business acumen through his decade-long track record of engaging with large enterprises, government, and vendors organisations in Australia, New Zealand, and the Asia-Pacific region to craft and manage lasting commercial relationships that deliver mutually beneficial business outcomes. Through his empathetic, yet systematic approach to problem-solving and stakeholder management, Clemens has helped many of his clients overcome complex challenges, resolve conflicts, and create lasting business value.
Amanda Nicholls
Business Strategy
Amanda is a visionary leader with extensive experience in sales, business and go-to-market strategies. Her journey in the technology consultancy industry started with building Be Intelligent, a tech consulting company that specialises in Salesforce and digital transformation and experience design, from the ground up. Through her dedication, innovation, and unwavering commitment, she helped grow Be Intelligent into a thriving business, and in late 2022 Be Intelligent was acquired by PwC where Amanda has spent the last year as a Senior Director within the Salesforce practice. More recently, she joined Cyma as the Head of Strategic Growth & Commercial, where she is leading the team on expanding their service offering and continuing to build on the trusted relationships formed with existing clients. She’s now Cyma’s Acting CEO, bridging together her passion for supporting clients to leverage their current technology environment, and her skills in planning and managing for change.
Mark Glenn
Experience & Service Design
A passionate advocate for human-centred design and co-creation, Mark drives the service design and customer experience (CX) practice at Ghost. Over the last two decades he’s led the service design practice in a ‘big four’ consultancy, built award-winning digital design teams in creative agencies, and been embedded in iconic kiwi brands like Z Energy to transform their business around CX. He’s previously led the CX delivery of Spark's brand transformation; in 2019, he led the experience design of the NZ Criminal Justice Reform Summit, bringing together 600+ people to collaborate on building a better criminal justice system. More recently, he’s developed a core value proposition for Immigration New Zealand - facilitating the creation of valuable artefacts to help their team understand key customer moments of truth. Mark loves helping organisations focus on what matters most; bridging brand, technology and customer teams to rapidly deliver more valuable products, services, and experiences.
Kerrie Fowke
Delivery Lead
Kerrie has over a decade specialising in marketing and product, in New Zealand and abroad. Her experience spans developing acquisition and channel strategies for start-ups and corporations alike, co-designing products with business owners, and marketing the story of one of New Zealand's most loved bike brands and its products across Australisian platforms. Her previous experience includes project and stakeholder management at Genesis Energy, including executive-level engagements around future state vision, UX and app design, a framework for engaging storytelling, and managing the relationship between Ghost and Genesis Energy’s design and online team. Through leading teams through various projects Kerrie understands that talent can only truly be unleashed in a safe and well-supported environment and aims to create this in every project she's involved with.
Yashdeep Patil
Engineering Strategy
Yashdeep is a seasoned IT professional combining valuable technical skill with excellent people skills and business pragmatism. Over the last 15 years, Yashdeep has been building and leading high-performing teams to successfully deliver on ambitious objectives for major programs in government, energy, and the financial services sectors across New Zealand and Australia. His highly collaborative, no-nonsense approach to delivery and savvy navigation of complex organisations enables him to quickly build productive working relationships across team and organisational boundaries that drive towards the right technical and business outcomes. Yashdeep has helped a number of clients achieve visionary outcomes, resulting in industry awards and public case studies for digital transformation for clients. Most notably, his work in government has driven multiple programs returning excess funding to Treasury and contributing billions of dollars to the New Zealand economy.
Ghost Partners
Ghost Partners excels in applying human-centered principles and practices when solving complex challenges, encompassing strategy, service design, digital experience, and communications. Their innovative approaches effectively balance the needs of people, technology, and processes, empowering public and private sector clients to deliver high performing solutions for users, customers, and citizens.
Cyma
Cyma is renowned for architectural and design capabilities that create a foundation for technology success. Their work spans various sectors, including government, energy, and telecommunications, where they have consistently delivered high-quality, impactful results.
SECTION6
Known for their expertise in delivering mission-critical software solutions, SECTION6 has a reputation for building reliable, scalable, and secure systems. Their deep understanding of DevSecOps and SRE has helped numerous organisations from telecommunications to defence, ensuring their software is equally secure, reliable and intuitive.