Raeana Connell

Raeana has a rare set of hard and soft skills that enable her to work adeptly at the intersection of finance and organisational strategy – for example, helping councils to understand their revenue and cost base, or government agencies to test whether their planned investments hold up.

Raeana is an experienced facilitator who helps teams turn broad aims into plans they can act on. She writes and communicates compellingly, using plain language to make sure busy audiences get the point first time. In coaching organisations to sharpen their strategy, she also helps them to tell their story well.

Before joining us in 2026, Raeana worked in investment teams, including at the NZ Super Fund. The experience of valuing companies and modelling deals taught Raeana how investors weigh risk and return and spot opportunities.

Examples of Raeana’s work

• Value-for-money review for Whangārei District Council – Raeana led the financial analysis to support this rapid review, including assembling the evidence base, identifying cost drivers and potential savings, and benchmarking against comparable councils.
• Testing commercial feasibility for NZTE – She analysed industry dynamics, market-entry opportunities, and investor propositions, to inform the government’s engagement with prospective investors across manufacturing, housing, and retail. 
• Developing a funding model – She modelled a client organisation’s revenue mix and tested the merits of different income streams with its leadership, so that it could decide where to grow and how to reduce its reliance on a single funder.
• Financial case for social housing – Raeana helped build the financial case for a community housing provider seeking government funding; the hard part was showing long-term viability, that the homes would not just get built but would still stack up financially decades from now.