Thom Gower

Experience

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  YOOBEE

  Mar 2010 - Nov 2012

  Assistant Manager/Acting Manager

  Managed a team of sales staff in a busy computer retailer and service centre. Responsible for performing and overseeing a range of customer facing and administrative tasks, including:• Finding technical and product solutions to clients’ varied and often complex needs.• Supervising a team of salespeople and assisting them in meeting individual and store KPIs.• Management of customer and inventory data in multiple database management systems, including FileMaker Pro.

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  Victoria University of Wellington

  Nov 2014 - Nov 2014

  Enrollment Advisor/Client Services Advisor

  Employed as an enrolment advisor and client services advisor within the university’s Student Academic Services department. Responsibilities included:• Inputting, querying, and modifying data within a university-wide database management system.• Problem solving a wide range of enrolment application issues for new and returning students, and staff.

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  Toitū Te Whenua Land Information New Zealand

  Nov 2014 - Feb 2015

  Intern

  Completed a paid internship in the Location Information Group which manages and develops existing and new location information datasets. Duties included:• Capturing, maintaining, and processing cadastral survey data.• Undertaking geospatial data analysis and visualisation.• Utilising a variety of software, including Excel, ArcGIS, QGIS, and PostgreSQL.

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  The University of Auckland

  Nov 2017 - Feb 2018

  Graduate Research Assistant

  Employed on a contract basis to plan and undertake field campaigns and data collection at a range of coastal sites, including:• Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS) of eroding cliffs.• UAV surveys of beaches utilising Structure-from-Motion (SfM) to record beach morphological change.• Processing and analysis of TLS point clouds and SfM elevation models (e.g. CloudCompare, ArcGIS).

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  Pattle Delamore Partners

  Mar 2018 - Feb 2020

  Environmental Scientist

  Member of the environmental management and surface water departments of a leading New Zealand consultant. Responsibilities include project management, field investigations, and reporting across a range of environmental monitoring projects. Experience includes:• Conducting monitoring and sampling of surface water, stormwater and wastewater according to rigorous procedures. • Performing robust hydrological assessments, including gauging, in accordance with National Environmental Monitoring Standards. • Analysing, managing and presenting both large and small datasets using a range of software tools (see sidebar). • Writing technical reports and distilling often complex results for varied audiences.• Developing and refining new tools for data acquisition, including an innovative method for collecting water samples with a drone.• Successfully scoping, budgeting, and writing proposals for competitive tenders.• Writing and presenting technical papers (e.g. at Water NZ Stormwater Conference 2019 and the NZ Hydrological Society Technical Workshop 2019) Show less

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  Streamology Waterway Science and Management

  Feb 2020 - now

  Waterway Specialist

  As a Waterway Specialist, my role covers a broad spectrum of projects with a specific focus on fluvial geomorphology, waterway science, strategy, monitoring and assessments, environmental flows, and the management of physical form and functioning. My success in this ever changing job comes thanks to my flexibility knack for solving technical problem solving and improving systems. For example, I have led the refinement of our innovative methods for assessing erosion of river banks using photogrammetry, and have developed mobile survey tools for streamlining geomorphic field assessments. Other responsibilities include:• Analysis of spatial and non-spatial data using multiple software tools to tackle diverse research problems related to the management of waterways.• Improving systems for data management and quality assurance of large drone-derived spatial datasets.• Developing bespoke digital data collection tools (e.g. using Survey123)• Creating high-quality maps and figures for spatial and non-spatial data to glean insights into challenging environmental problems. • Writing concise reports to communicate complicated technical findings to diverse audiences of government and private sector clients. • Conducting drone surveys of waterways in physically and technically challenging situations, always maintaining a focus on data quality.• Crafting successful proposals for new and existing clients and managing projects to delivery on time and to budget. Show less