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For Caroline Harvie-Teare, leading Venues Ōtautahi is more than running events. It is about helping Christchurch rebuild, grow and believe in itself again. Raphael Franks reports
From the window of her corner office on Hereford St, Caroline Harvie-Teare has a commanding view of the new One New Zealand Stadium.
Whenever she looks outside, she is reminded of the responsibility she carries as chief executive of Venues Ōtautahi, the city council’s event management company.
Seeing the finished stadium reassures her that the decisions made along the way have been in the “best interests of the city”.
Her role spans hospitality, corporate leadership and, at times, political wrangling.
She still feels guilt over disestablishing jobs throughout her career, but says the buck stops with her and every decision she and her team make is driven by the “right intent”.
“I feel like there is weight on my shoulders,” she said.
“It’s sometimes lonely and very full on. I really lean on my family if I’m honest.”
She becomes emotional reflecting on some of the toughest periods of her career, particularly the disruption caused by the 2011 earthquakes.
Harvie-Teare was general manager at Venues Ōtautahi’s predecessor, Vbase, from 2007 to 2011.
“We had four years of really wonderful times for our venues, Lancaster Park, the Town Hall, Convention Centre and Wolfbrook Arena.
“The earthquakes took out three of those four, Lancaster Park being one of them.”
About half the company’s staff lost their jobs.
“I try not to think about it too much because it does make me sad.”
She returned as chief executive in 2020, just a week before the Covid-19 pandemic brought another period of upheaval. About 60% of staff lost their jobs.
“I wouldn’t want to go through that period of time between April 2020 and the end of 2021 again.
“That was a difficult time, not only for those that left, but those who stayed.
“To have had to downsize by such a significant amount, you’ve got a lot of guilt.”
She credits her resilience to her upbringing.
Harvie-Teare grew up on a 2500-acre property in Dunsandel with her two older brothers, Nick and Rick Harvie.
Nick owns second-hand clothing consignment business Recycled Boutique, while Rick owns film production company Belmont Productions and recently made the documentary Maurice and I about architects Sir Miles Warren and Maurice Mahoney.
Her parents are entrepreneur and real estate agent David Harvie, who owned multiple cinemas and retirement villages, and former district nurse Jen Harvie.
Her father was a perfectionist, and so is she.
“I was always like that anyway. But I think what they instilled in me was that hard work and lots of effort rewarded you. That was really valuable learning for me.
“And I think that will always be core to who I am.”
Her family moved to Christchurch aged 7, where she attended Cashmere Primary School before going to Rangi Ruru Girls’ School. Her brothers attended St Andrew’s College.
She discovered a talent for accounting during high school, and after finishing her studies moved to Dunedin to pursue the subject at the University of Otago.
However, university did not go as planned.
“It just wasn’t really connecting. I was like, ‘I’m better off just taking a year out, figuring out actually what I want to do’. So that’s what I did. And then I started working in hospitality, actually.”
She had already started a summer job working at Lone Star in Queenstown, where she continued working over her gap year.
“But then I needed to use my brain and start thinking about what my career looked like.”
Harvie-Teare returned to Christchurch to do several papers at Canterbury University, and continued to work at Lone Star restaurants around the city.
She was later shoulder-tapped by Otago publican Mark Scully to help establish Speight’s Ale House in Dunedin as general manager in 1999. It was there she developed an interest in human resources.
“That was very early on. I was young. I was 20. But it was a really good experience to start building up that combination of understanding operational environments as well as a bit of management.”
Her first corporate job was at Mico Plumbing, “of all places”.
From there, she moved to agriculture supply business Pyne Gould Guinness, coming on board just as the company was merging with Wrightson.
It was a “sink or swim” moment for Harvie-Teare.
“That merger was so beyond my experience at the time.”
But Harvie-Teare said she “thrives” in high-pressure situations.
“I think I’ve always been a bit like this. I learn things quickly. I’m lucky I’m smart. I’ve got a good head on my shoulders and I love and embrace change. I embrace a challenge, and I’m a perfectionist.
“In environments like that where you need to be quite dynamic and fast-moving, I’ve got good output and a good work ethic.
“I’ll never let myself sink.”
That experience prepared her for one of the most emotionally challenging chapters of her career – the aftermath of the 2011 earthquakes.
When she joined Vbase she had been helping prepare for the 2011 Rugby World Cup.
“Because of the earthquakes, we had to disestablish our board and our full executive team.”
After disestablishing her own role, she felt compelled to do “something to contribute to Christchurch, a city I love”, and became a general manager at the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (CERA).
During her time at CERA, Harvie-Teare and her husband, Adam Teare, welcomed their son, Monty.
She later disestablished her own role again before moving to Christchurch International Airport, her final position before returning to Venues Ōtautahi.
To her, Vbase, CERA, the airport and Venues Ōtautahi are “all quite similar”. She enjoys organisations that combine commercial objectives with a strong social and cultural purpose.
“I’ve always felt it would have been very easy to leave Christchurch and not deal with all the trauma and the pain associated with that time.
“But when you choose to stay, you actually choose to take on a role in making a difference and helping our city be proud again and feel good about itself.”
Sometimes, she admits, there is a wall between the public and Venues Ōtautahi.
The organisation has not always communicated well, she said, particularly around its economic analysis.
She points to criticism over the stadium’s projected $50 million annual economic impact, her public challenge to Government funding decisions, and the outsourcing of up to 50 cleaning roles.
“How I explained those figures could have been improved, but we can certainly look at those now and say wholeheartedly that we weren’t flying any kites.”
She also clarified her criticism of the Government’s $40m Events Attraction Package, saying it was good to receive support to attract events to the city, but it needed to form part of a long-term strategy rather than just an “unhelpful shot in the arm”.
On outsourcing cleaning roles, Harvie-Teare said Venues Ōtautahi achieved the best possible outcome.
The organisation was criticised for exploiting a loophole to avoid paying the living wage, but she said that was never the objective.
Instead, she said Venues Ōtautahi lacked the in-house expertise needed to manage a venue as large as the new stadium. While the contract with Paramount Cleaning Services is still being finalised, living wage terms and conditions have been secured.
“I’ve always thought when I look at bad press, did we do things with the right intent?
“Everyone’s going to have a view. If we did something with the right intent, then that’s okay.”
Looking ahead, Harvie-Teare sees opportunities to develop the blocks surrounding the stadium into an entertainment precinct and explore Venues Ōtautahi operating as a temporary labour hire company to give hospitality staff more consistent employment opportunities.
While she knows members of her team aspire to senior leadership roles, she sees herself staying put.
“I love my job, I love the team, I love everything that we do. I’m really happy here, and I’m certainly not going anywhere for now.”