Thoughts from Gary Porteous – Client Director – Asset and Network Performance at WSP at the conclusion of his Āpōpō Presidency
Gary Porteous at his final major Āpōpō event as President (RIMS Forum 2025)
I have now concluded my time as President of Āpōpō, after seven years on the Board and many more years working alongside this organisation, and I find myself reflecting not only on what we have achieved, but on the journey that has brought us here.
When I first began in this field, few of us could have imagined how far asset management would come. What began as a pragmatic response to economic and infrastructure challenges has evolved into a sophisticated, people-centred profession grounded in stewardship, collaboration, and intergenerational care.
The story of asset management in New Zealand is also the story of our organisation. Āpōpō has grown and adapted alongside the profession: through times of reform, innovation, and renewal, evolving to meet the needs of the industry’s professionals. The history of asset management in New Zealand is, in many ways, the history of Āpōpō and its predecessors, organisations that have always stood for professional integrity, public value, and the promise of tomorrow.
Origins in Crisis
Our roots stretch back more than a century to the early local government engineers who came together to share knowledge and solve common problems. But the modern foundations of asset management, and of Āpōpō, were forged in response to the economic turbulence of the late 1980s.
The recession between 1987 and 1993 exposed deep vulnerabilities in New Zealand’s infrastructure base. Years of underinvestment and fragmented accountability left councils unable to quantify what they owned, let alone what it would cost to maintain or replace it. In 1988, the Auditor-General warned of significant unquantified liabilities in local infrastructure, triggering a wave of reform.
Around this same time, the New Zealand Institute of County Engineers merged with the IPENZ group of Municipal Engineers to form the Association of Local Government Engineers (ALGENZ), strengthening the collective voice of professionals responsible for infrastructure stewardship.
By 1996, the Government had acted. Asset management planning and 10-year financial forecasts became mandatory for all municipal and road authorities. For the first time, councils were required to catalogue their infrastructure, understand its condition, and plan for its renewal. This was a pivotal shift from a reactive focus on maintenance to a proactive culture of longer-term planning.
Building Systems and Capability
The years that followed were marked by rapid learning and institution building. Councils began developing asset registers, digitising records, and using emerging Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to create comprehensive inventories of public infrastructure.
In 1995, NAMS (New Zealand Asset Management Support) was formed to provide practical guidance in the form of the NAMS Manual, and to develop and promote best infrastructure asset management practice. For the first time, practitioners across the country were using the same asset management language, frameworks, and methodologies. What began as compliance soon became collaboration, and what started as policy became professionalism.
During this period, our organisation, then INGENIUM (a trading brand adopted in 2000), played a crucial unifying role. It helped practitioners navigate new expectations, share lessons learned, and embed asset management into the fabric of local government decision-making.
In the early 2000s, New Zealand’s councils were considered among the most advanced in the world at embedding long-term planning into everyday governance. Asset Management had matured from a technical function into a strategic discipline, one that connected engineering, finance, risk, and community wellbeing.
From Compliance to Culture
By the 2010s, asset management was no longer just about managing assets; it was about managing and realising value. Practitioners began thinking in systems, not silos. Concepts like resilience, sustainability, and intergenerational equity were shaping decisions about how infrastructure was planned, funded, and maintained over full lifecycles.
At the same time, our organisation evolved into the Institute of Public Works Engineering Australasia – New Zealand (IPWEA NZ). We recognised that while frameworks and tools were improving, capability development had not kept pace. The public sector, in particular, lacked consistent professional standards and pathways for those responsible for managing infrastructure systems that underpin community wellbeing.
The Three Waters Reform processes of this current decade have further highlighted the need for integrated, data-driven asset management, and exposed a critical truth: the strength of our infrastructure networks depends on the strength of our people, our data, and our culture of stewardship.
These insights set the stage for a new era – one where professionalisation, not just process, would define the future of the discipline.
A New Era: The Night After Tomorrow
The 2020s have brought an entirely new landscape, one shaped by digital technology, data, and rising public expectations. Digital twins, predictive analytics, and real-time monitoring are reshaping how we understand, plan, and manage infrastructure performance. Yet amid this transformation, the fundamental principles of asset management remain constant: evidence, transparency, and stewardship.
In 2023, we became Āpōpō – fully embracing what decades of learning had taught us: that asset management is not about assets, but about people and purpose. The name, meaning in full “the night after tomorrow,” reflects both our values and our vision: to prepare for the future through care, connection, and capability.
With this change, we set out to professionalise asset management as a discipline in its own right. We introduced individual accreditations, the Asset Management Associate (AMA) and Asset Management Certified Practitioner (AMCP), aligned with international standards through our partnership with the World Partners in Asset Management (WPiAM). We developed structured learning pathways for practitioners at all stages and are preparing to launch Organisational Accreditation, a world-first initiative recognising excellence in how organisations manage and care for their assets.
These milestones were not administrative reforms, they were cultural shifts. They represented a new social contract between asset managers and the communities they serve, reaffirming our collective commitment to care for the assets of today for the wellbeing of tomorrow.
Recent insights from Te Waihanga’s Nation Building research and Treasury’s 2025 asset management reports reinforce this need. While New Zealand’s infrastructure is extensive and valuable, awareness of performance, condition, and risk remains uneven. These reports echo what Āpōpō has long championed: that good asset management underpins good investment, and that stewardship is both a technical and moral responsibility.
Every generation of New Zealanders has faced its own version of the same challenge—how to invest wisely, manage responsibly, and balance growth with resilience. Today, as we confront climate change, population growth, and fiscal pressure, the answer lies not in building more, but in managing better. That conviction sits at the heart of the purpose of Āpōpō.
The Challenges of Today
Despite major progress, challenges remain. The sector continues to face a shortage of skilled professionals and strategic leaders capable of bridging technical, financial, and social dimensions of asset management. Transparency, particularly around infrastructure performance and funding priorities, needs to improve. And we must shift our national mindset from recovery to resilience, ensuring every dollar invested today strengthens our systems for the long term.
Āpōpō works purposely to respond to these challenges. We are partnering with the Minister for Infrastructure and central agencies to strengthen public sector capability through the Central Government Asset Management Community of Practice. We are embedding te ao Māori principles into national guidance and education, recognising that values such as kaitiakitanga (guardianship) and whakapapa (connection across generations) speak directly to the heart of asset management.
Caring for the assets of today, for the wellbeing of tomorrow, is more than a slogan, it is a shared value system rooted in Aotearoa.
A Profession Reborn
When we became Āpōpō, it was both a continuation and a transformation. The name captured what had always been our purpose: to prepare for tomorrow.
Over the past two years, that vision has come to life through tangible achievements: the launch of internationally recognised professional accreditations; creation of the Āpōpō Guide as the authoritative guide to infrastructure asset management for practitioners in Aotearoa New Zealand as underpinned by the GFMAM Asset Management Landscape, the globally recognised framework which aligns practices and knowledge across the glode, and aligned with ISO 55000; the release of an updated Infrastructure Asset Valuation and Depreciation Guidelines (2025); global partnerships with GFMAM and WPiAM ensuring global and local intergration; and the annual Āpōpō Excellence Awards celebrating innovation across the sector.
Each of these milestones builds on decades of progress. The same drive that saw councils establish their first asset registers in the 1990s now propels us toward digital twins and AI-enabled planning. The same ethos of stewardship that underpinned the early NAMS Manuals now guides our integration of te ao Māori frameworks and system-wide thinking, as espoused in the Āpōpō Guide.
The birth of Āpōpō was not an endpoint, but the natural next chapter in a story that has always been about evolution, about professionals who care deeply for the communities they serve, and who understand that resilience is built not only with materials, but with values.
As Āpōpō, we have been instrumental in elevating asset management to a formally recognised engineering discipline. In partnership with Engineering New Zealand, we established Asset Management Engineering as a Chartered Professional Engineer (CPEng) practice field.
Looking Ahead
Gary Porteous handed over Āpōpō Presidency to Nicola Chisnall at the 2025 AGM
My time as President is now complete and I handover to the next President, Nicola Chisnall, with immense pride in what we have built together. Āpōpō stands today as a vibrant, future-focused organisation, one that honours its legacy while leading the world in capability development, guidance, and cultural integration.
The future of asset management will be defined not by how much we construct, but by how well we care for our infrastructure, our environment, and our people.
Our profession has always been about connection: between assets and outcomes, between decisions and consequences, between today and tomorrow, between people and communities. These connections will sustain us as we navigate the challenges ahead.
For me, this reflection is not an ending, but a handover, and a reminder that every generation of professionals inherits both the achievements and the responsibilities of those before them. I have no doubt that the next generation of leaders will carry this work forward with the same dedication, integrity, and imagination that built it.
I am really looking forward to the May 2026 Āpōpō Congress “Global Connections” in Hamilton. Next year we will welcome the asset management world to New Zealand by hosting GFMAM members from the global network of asset management organisations. This opportunity to foster collaboration, knowledge sharing, and continuous improvement across the sector and throughout the world is not to be missed by all of our asset management professionals. I hope to see you there.
Āpōpō means “tomorrow”, and tomorrow begins today.
