Unleashed Operations
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About

Fixing systems, unleashing potential.

We’re passionate about people being able to confidently express themselves through their work — to have the autonomy to make judgement calls within their own capability, in service of the organisation they’re part of.

Experience across

Fonterra · Manta5 · Toha · WasteCo · Waipā & Waikato District Councils

Who you’ll work with

Two careers spent inside the systems we now fix.

Unleashed Operations pairs two complementary backgrounds — Conan in operations, strategy and performance, and Luke in commercial leadership and transformation — both grounded in the same belief: capable teams are usually held back by their systems, not their people.

Conan Magill

Founder

Throughout my career, I’ve watched capable people hold back — not for lack of skill or will, but because the system around them made caution feel safer than action. That’s never sat right with me. My goal is simple: to create the frictionless conditions where a team feels confident making fast, customer-focused decisions every single day.

I hold an MBA from the University of Waikato and a Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) from Canterbury, and I’ve spent over two decades at the intersection of strategy and execution. My MBA research surveyed close to 200 project managers, mostly at Fonterra, and its strongest finding has stayed with me ever since: fast decisions are consistently rated as more effective ones. As a Programme Manager at Fonterra I led two national improvement programmes across more than a dozen manufacturing plants; as Chief Operating Officer at Manta5 I ran strategy and execution across finance, manufacturing and supply chain through the height of Covid-era disruption, while the business grew from a standing start to $7m in revenue in a single year.

I also bring direct local-government experience. As Strategy Team Lead at Waipā District Council I led development of the Council’s 10-Year Plan — a $1.27 billion budget — along with the district’s spatial planning and growth strategy work. More recently, as Business Performance Advisor to Waikato District Council, I worked directly with the executive team to mature business planning, performance measurement and operational risk practices council-wide.

References

“People could work with greater confidence because they could see how the system needed to come together.”Read the full reference

I worked with Conan at Toha while our cross-disciplinary product group was building the first version of the platform. As the system took shape, features were getting lost between teams, dependencies were surfacing late, and we found ourselves redesigning too much.

Conan guided our teams towards clear ownership and well-defined interfaces, across the product. He kept the approach lightweight, using only the process necessary to keep the work moving. This shortened feedback loops and helped reduce rework. People could work with greater confidence because they could see how the system needed to come together.

Conan was particularly good at helping people work across boundaries without blurring ownership. I especially valued his calm assurance and the way he made complex work easier to deal with.

Bronwyn MacdonaldEnterprise Architect, Contact Energy (Systems Architect at Toha at the time)
“This helped frontline teams make faster and more confident decisions.”Read the full reference

I worked with Conan on the leadership team's performance work at Waikato District Council, and he had a real knack for bringing focus to areas that needed it. He challenged us to move away from a long list of broad improvement goals and instead agree on a smaller, more meaningful set of priorities.

He also identified a genuine gap between our strategic and operational risk processes and developed a practical framework to connect the two. This helped frontline teams make faster and more confident decisions.

Conan's thinking was always sharp, practical and well considered. The risk framework was well received by both me and our COO, and I'd be very happy to vouch for his capability.

Kurt AbbotNorth Island Manager, Civtec (formerly Executive Manager – Projects & Innovation, Waikato District Council)
“Conan is one of the sharpest and most principled people I know.”Read the full reference

Conan is one of the sharpest and most principled people I know. We studied engineering together and have known each other for more than 25 years, so I can speak to how he thinks and how he operates: he cuts to the core of a problem quickly, he's methodical about how he gets there, and he does it all with real integrity. I have no hesitation vouching for his ability to get to the heart of a problem.

Brett HorwellGeneral Manager – Consulting, ElectroNet Group
“His leadership and structure were instrumental in helping us meet an exceptionally demanding deadline and successfully launch Manta5's first product.”Read the full reference

When a key senior manager left the business at a critical stage, Conan stepped straight in and took ownership of product delivery. He built a tight project plan with clear deliverables and ran focused daily stand-ups to maintain momentum, while still giving each team member the autonomy to execute their responsibilities effectively. His leadership and structure were instrumental in helping us meet an exceptionally demanding deadline and successfully launch Manta5's first product.

Greg JohnstonFormer CEO, Manta5

Luke Brown

Principal Consultant

I’ve spent two decades in commercial and customer leadership — turning strategy into results in the messy middle where good intentions meet daily execution. Time and again I’ve seen capable teams held back not by ability, but by operating models quietly working against them: unclear priorities, over-engineered controls, incentives pulling the wrong way. That’s the problem I’ve joined Conan to fix.

I spent over a decade at Fonterra in commercial, customer and capability roles across New Zealand, Singapore and the Netherlands. This included managing major customer portfolios, developing new commercial channels, and leading commercial and sales capability, CRM and digital-enablement initiatives across international markets.

More recently, I held senior operational and commercial leadership roles, including General Manager and Chief Sales Officer, leading national service operations. At WasteCo, I rebuilt the commercial operating model, improved sales performance and secured the company’s first major long-term local-government partnership with Ashburton District Council — a nine-year contract valued at approximately $45 million at the time of award.

I’ve also co-founded a technology venture. Like Conan, I’d rather bring focused rigour to the specific problem in front of you than sell a broad, one-size-fits-all engagement.

How we work

We think of the work a bit like a physiotherapist thinks of the body. Rarely does an organisation need to be rebuilt from scratch — more often, it already has everything it needs to perform well, but a few things have quietly gone out of alignment. A physio doesn’t replace the joint; they find precisely where the restriction sits, apply a small, deliberate adjustment, and let the body do what it’s already capable of. Our approach is the same.

Small, targeted tweaks — not a major overhaul — for an outsized return that will unleash your organisation.

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