Profile

Tim Ewing-Jarvie advises senior leaders in the public and private sectors on strategy, risk and organisational change. His work focusses on future-proofing businesses through growth and resilience strategies, operating model design and delivery, and sustained performance improvement programmes.

Tim brings experience spanning both commercial and national security strategy, including executive advisory roles within the Pentagon, US Defense Intelligence Agency, US National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, New Zealand Defence Intelligence and the Five Eyes Special Operations community.

Across New Zealand and internationally, Tim has led large-scale business operations for high-risk, multi-million-dollar programmes, managing teams of up to 140 personnel. His operational portfolio includes large-scale service delivery environments with throughput of up to 1,000 people per year. He is known for building high-performing groups, strengthening systems and controls, and driving consistent performance in complex, high-consequence settings.

Tim also brings senior governance and coordination experience, including as New Zealand's lead for the establishment of a Five Eyes Defence Intelligence Board, and as convenor of a series of strategic coordination meetings between Defence Chief Executives from 14 NATO and Five Eyes countries following Russiaʼs 2022 invasion of Ukraine. He has also served as Chief Advisor and Acting Chair for a major public agencyʼs executive leadership team, and currently serves as a Director of the New Zealand Remembrance Army.

Tim holds a Master of Strategic Studies (Distinction) from Victoria University of Wellington, an MBA (First Class Honours) from the University of Otago, a BA in Politics (Massey Scholar) from Massey University and is a graduate of the New Zealand Command and Staff College (Dux).

Expertise

Talking Points

From the Pentagon to the Boardroom: AI, intelligence and better decisions in complex environments

AI is changing the way organisations find, interpret and act on information about the enviornments they operate in. Drawing on military, national security and start-up experience, Tim explains how AI can be used to detect weak signals, monitor leading indicators and support better decisions in complex conditions. He also covers the practical risks, including over-reliance, poor governance, ethical blind spots and the risk of weakening the human expertise these systems still depend on. The session is designed for leaders who want a grounded view of what AI can do now, how it is developing and how to use it responsibly.

Key Takeaways:
The audience will leave with a clearer understanding of how AI can support better executive and governance decisions, particularly where organisations face uncertainty, speed and information overload. They will understand how AI can help identify emerging risks and opportunities earlier, while still requiring disciplined human judgement and clear accountability. The session will give clients practical questions to ask inside their own organisations about AI use, governance, ethics, risk ownership and decision quality. It should leave leadership teams better placed to distinguish useful AI capability from hype and apply AI where it can strengthen judgement, decision quality and strategic advantage.

Geopolitics, New Zealand and the New Rules of the Road: What a more contested world means for risk, resilience and opportunity

The global operating environment is becoming more contested, fragmented and less predictable. For New Zealand organisations, geopolitical risk now reaches well beyond foreign policy and security, shaping trade access, supply chains, energy costs, sanctions exposure, capital decisions, social licence and customer expectations. Drawing on experience across the Pentagon, the wider national security community and private-sector advisory work, Tim explains what is changing globally, why it matters for Aotearoa and how the implications differ across sectors. The session gives leaders a clear, practical view of the external risks and opportunities most relevant to their organisation, industry and strategic choices, including where disruption may create openings for better-positioned firms.

Key Takeaways:
The audience will leave with a clearer understanding of the major geopolitical shifts affecting New Zealand and the sectors most exposed to them. They will be better placed to connect global events to practical business consequences, including market access, supply resilience, cost pressure, regulatory exposure and reputation risk. The session will give leadership teams practical questions to ask about their own assumptions, dependencies and readiness. It should leave participants better prepared to anticipate disruption, test strategic choices and identify where uncertainty may also create opportunity.