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Meet Dan Neely

Job: 

Manager of Community Resilience and the Group Recovery Manager at the Wellington Region Emergency Management Office – aka WREMO.

Job description: 

I work with a team who helps communities become better connected and prepared to deal with emergency events like earthquakes and big storms.

Work background: 

I have worked at WREMO for nearly 10 years and before that worked in a variety of international development jobs around the world.

Favourite part of job: 

Knowing that my efforts can play a meaningful role in the lives of people during stressful times.

Least favourite part of job: 

Being stuck behind a desk sometimes when I would rather be working directly with people.

What I am working on now: 

Planning some of the aspects of Wellington’s future recovery.

A quick story about a job well done: 

We turned the idea of a traditional tsunami sign into a giant blue line that crosses the road to highlight where communities should evacuate to after a large earthquake. We worked with the local residents to come up with the idea.

A (humorous) story about a job that went badly and what you learned: 

Always listen to the community and what matters to them before embarking on any project. This has been the foundation of many lessons learned for me in my earlier years.

Qualifications: 

Teaching degree and an MBA.

Interests outside work: 

Hanging out with my two little girls, restoring our old house and hiking.


Dan is Manager of Community Resilience and the Group Recovery Manager at the Wellington Region Emergency Management Office. Image: Supplied.