Claire McCarthy to be Height’s Chief Operating Officer

When Kel McBeath and Warner Cowin established Height's current operating model in 2014, they could never have imagined the growth and the need for succession.

Succession is a natural part of business growth and, along with our new Employee Share Scheme, is part of Height's 100-year plan.

That's why Kel and Warner are excited to announce key changes to our leadership team to drive our business into the next decade across Aotearoa and Australia.

Claire McCarthy will be Height’s new Chief Operating Officer. She’ll manage all core operations of the business, from nurturing client relationships to supporting our Principals in leading our Bidding, Procurement, and Social and Sustainable Outcomes teams across New Zealand and Australia.

This move will allow our current Chief Operating Officer and Procurement Principal, Kel McBeath, to mentor and coach Claire while he focuses on growing our procurement capability in Australia and New Zealand, and on his leadership of the Height board. Kel's made an immense contribution by leading our business operations for over 10 years, and it’s a natural progression to hand over the reins to Claire.

Claire's ideally positioned to step into this pivotal role, having worked at Height for nine years, set up the Social and Sustainable Outcomes team, and, more recently, led our Bidding function.  She’s strategic, passionate and a brilliant connector.

Our CEO and Founder, Warner Cowin, says he’s delighted with Height’s natural succession.

“Claire is an exceptional leader and businesswoman; she has the trust of our team and clients and leads with natural empathy and values. Her track record speaks for itself. She has scaled and grown the Social and Sustainable Outcomes business from an idea into a multimillion-dollar, award-winning enterprise. Claire has also been set to succeed through Kel’s brilliant stewardship over the last decade, as he has set the base for her to do amazing things. A huge ngā mihi to Kel.”