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Sarah is a suitably qualified and experienced practitioner (SQEP) with 20 years of experience managing and delivering a wide variety of environmental investigation works in New Zealand, Asia and the United Kingdom.  She is experienced in regulatory compliance, oversight of environmental investigations, monitoring and risk assessment, contractor management, preparation and review of technical reports, as well as consultation with stakeholders and regulatory bodies.

Sarah has been a Certified Environmental Practitioner Site Contamination Specialist since 2016, and has been a technical director at Beca since 2021.

Sarah Schiess is a Technical Director based in Wellington, New Zealand with over 30 years of professional experience focused in the areas of groundwater hydrology and contaminated land investigation and remediation.  Sarah has lived and worked in the United States, New Zealand, and Australia.

Sarah is a specialist in the management of environmental liability as it relates to large portfolios of sites.  She is also a specialist in quantitative hydrogeologic assessments with extensive experience in a wide range of environmental projects.

Sarah has worked as both a consultant and within industry as an Environmental Manager for a multinational oil company. As an environmental consultant, Sarah has developed Conceptual Site Models for a number of complex contaminant and hydrogeologic conditions through the use of innovative field techniques and data evaluation tools.  This has allowed the regulatory close out of a number of sites which were previously problematic and costly to the client.

Kim Wepasnick is a Principal Advisor - Contaminated Land at Toitū Te Whenua Land Information New Zealand. She has over 14 years of experience in the contaminated land industry and has worked in an environmental laboratory, has been a contaminated land consultant in both Australia and New Zealand, and will be celebrating 10 years as a public servant in October. Her expertise spans a wide range of areas, including sustainable remediation, environmental policy, Government land management and iwi engagement. At Toitū Te Whenua, Kim has been instrumental in developing and implementing strategies to assist the Crown in management of potentially contaminated sites.

A key part of Kim’s role is to assess and provide advice on potential land contamination and deliver projects which consider risk to human health and the environment alongside responsible taxpayer spending. A large focus of her role has been working with iwi on Treaty Settlement properties, ensuring that efforts to manage contamination respect and incorporate traditional knowledge and values. This collaborative approach has been key to achieving successful and culturally sensitive outcomes.

Carla has 14+ years of diverse experience in the environmental field starting out in contaminated land and moving to more all-encompassing environmental compliance and best practice in a range of environmental aspects. She has worked in/with consulting, oil industry, road/rail construction projects and national environmental advisory roles in rail and currently electricity infrastructure/asset management while at Transpower.

Also, with a keen interest in climate adaptation, conservation and community she has some small governance roles on the side. Carla is a CEnvP and a mum of two.