People

Steve Sanderson joined Wellington Airport in February 2012. Steve has predominately a career background in infrastructure businesses including Airport, Electricity and Ports. Prior to his appointment at Wellington Airport Steve’s previous key roles include CEO for Queenstown Airport, CEO Dynamic Controls a US owned company, which is listed on the NY stock exchange, General Manager NZ/Australia at Powerco, and General Manager at Lyttelton Port Company.

Ayolt Wiertsema is responsible for airport operations and joined the Wellington Airport team in 2011. He has significant aviation experience with 12 years at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. Ayolt also has a background in service management consultancy and marketing.

Leanne is responsible for the maintenance of all the airport’s buildings, key services, technology, chattels, amenities and grounds within the airport precinct (110ha), as well as running the transport hub. Leanne joined the airport in February 2014 having previously worked for the Ministry of Education as their Chief Information Officer. Prior to that, she worked at the border (for MAF) as the Director of Passenger Clearance and as their Chief Information Officer, making Leanne well acquainted with the complexities and challenges associated with busy airports and ports.

Martin joined the Wellington Airport team in 2008, prior to this, he held a number of senior finance roles within various industry sectors, including transport, tourism and financial services. He is responsible for financial and management reporting, taxation, treasury, risk management, insurance and regulatory services for the business.

Matt Clarke joined the Wellington Airport team in 2010 and is responsible for WIAL’s aeronautical and commercial revenue. He has 12 years’ airport senior management experience spanning operational and commercial roles across six airports in New Zealand and abroad. Matt is a Director of Wellington Regional Economic Development Agency and Nelson Airport.

Jenna joined the Wellington Airport team in 2019 and is primarily responsible for regulatory and legal compliance, government and community relations, communications and sustainability. Her background is in politics with a foundation in law and economics. She also has extensive government relations experience across a range of sectors including transport, technology, e-commerce and infrastructure.

John has a long history with Wellington Airport, he was the Chief Operating Officer, (also acting as CEO) from 2002 till 2013 and returned in March 2017 as the GM Infrastructure. John trained as a civil engineer and has worked in the construction industry for over 30 years. With more than 20 years of his career involved in the planning, development and maintenance of airports John is unashamedly an aviation enthusiast.

Jackie has over 15 years of HR experience, having worked in various HR roles for a diverse range of organisations, including PwC, AXA, Intergen and ACC. Jackie has a Masters in Psychology and her most recent role at ACC was as the Deputy Head of Assurance Services.