BUILT TO BELONG
Two newly appointed leaders are bringing a distinctly Bay of Plenty perspective to one of the globe’s biggest firms, and making sure it earns its place in our community.
Two newly appointed leaders are bringing a distinctly Bay of Plenty perspective to one of the globe’s biggest firms, and making sure it earns its place in our community.
PHOTO SALINA GALVAN
There’s a version of this story where a global firm sees Tauranga’s rapid growth, follows the cranes, and sets up shop to capture the opportunity. But Deloitte’s story in the Bay of Plenty is more considered than that.
As the region continues to grow and diversify, so too does the complexity facing local businesses. From expansion and succession to technology transformation, regulatory change and shifting market conditions, organisations are being asked to make important decisions at pace.
For Deloitte’s Tauranga team, that creates both responsibility and opportunity. The appointment of Alexis Tapsell to partner and Cam Burrow as director reflects a broader story about Deloitte’s investment in leadership across New Zealand.
Nationally, the firm has continued to grow its leadership bench, appointing new partners and directors to support clients through disruption and ongoing change. In Tauranga, that investment is also about building a strong regional team for the future, one that makes sure local businesses have access to the same depth of advice and specialist support as organisations in the country’s largest centres.
Alexis joins existing partners, Paul Shallard and Andrea Scatchard, while Cam joins director Brad Garner, making for a strong leadership team in the Tauranga office. Together, they bring local relationships, national capability and the scale of a global firm to support businesses through growth and complexity. And it wouldn’t be happening if both hadn’t chosen to come here.
For Alexis, it was a return home. The former Black Fern, who represented New Zealand at the 2013 Rugby World Cup Sevens in Russia, lived in the Bay before heading to Auckland and making the move back in 2024.
“I’ve got three young kids and I wanted them to grow up in the Bay of Plenty, around family and everything like that,” she says. “This role was part of it, but mainly it was for my family.”
A specialist in tax and business advisory services, Alexis brings a skillset that’s genuinely in demand locally. Her client portfolio is deliberately broad and includes corporates, private and high-growth businesses, alongside the iwi and Māori sector. But her approach is the same across all of it.
“It's about being authentic, building trust, and working alongside clients in a way that feels genuine.”
Cam arrived from a different direction. A “born and bred southerner”, he relocated from Dunedin to Tauranga earlier this year after Deloitte approached him about helping grow the firm’s presence in the market.
“In a place like Tauranga, there’s a feeling of home,” he says. “You can still do your hobbies. You can be surfing before work in the morning, go to the office, and then be playing golf after work.”
He moved up in late April and has quickly become part of the community, refereeing rugby and getting involved in surf lifesaving. His role at Deloitte is deeper than his business card might suggest. He works across accounting, financial reporting, disruption and climate events, and internal audit.
“A lot of what I do is connecting the issues on the ground to the broader Deloitte network,” he explains. “We’re not selling services, we’re going to solve problems people are having for them, or with them. By doing that, we create clients for life.
“We want clients to feel like they have a local team that understands them, but also the backing of a much larger organisation. If a client is dealing with a complex challenge, we can bring in the right people and the right thinking. That might be someone here in Tauranga, elsewhere in New Zealand, or from across the Deloitte network.”
For Alexis, it's about striking the right balance between scale and connection.
“We don’t just want to be this big firm coming into the community. We really want to focus on what the Bay of Plenty is all about and we really want to be locally connected advisors helping Bay of Plenty businesses navigate change.”
“Important conversations aren’t just happening in the boardroom, they’re also happening on the side of a rugby field, on the beach, when you bump into someone in the street,” Cam says. “And that’s where we want to be.”
Both see this strong sense of connection as one of the region's greatest strengths. “There’s a real willingness here for people to support each other and for the region as a whole to succeed,” Alexis says. “There’s an optimism and collaboration that’s pretty unique.”
“We want to be embedded into that growth story,” Cam says. “Deloitte’s ambition is to be part of the momentum, supporting businesses as they grow, adapt and thrive. We’re not here for the short term, we’re here for the long term.”
“We want to essentially play our role in helping build a stronger regional economy,” Alexis adds, “and supporting local organisations to thrive.”