Exovance provides senior advisory leadership for organisations where transformation has become too complex, too slow, or too disconnected from outcomes. We bring executive-level experience in portfolio governance, delivery operating models, and change leadership — applied directly to your situation.
Most organisations don't lack ambition or investment. They lack the delivery disciplines, governance clarity, and executive decision-making cadence to turn strategy into outcomes at pace.
Multiple change programmes running without integrated sequencing, dependency visibility, or clear trade-off decisions. Everything is a priority, so nothing gets delivered well.
Steering committees that track activity, not outcomes. Status reports that obscure risk. Decision forums that don't actually decide. The process feels busy, but delivery confidence is low.
Transformation competes with operational demands for the same people, budget, and executive attention. Without deliberate capacity management, both suffer.
New platforms go live but nobody's ways of working actually change. The technology is modern; the operating model is still last decade. Benefits remain theoretical.
We work alongside your executive team — not as another consulting layer, but as a direct operating partner who brings pattern recognition from 20+ years leading delivery in high-stakes, regulated environments.
Single-point accountability for your integrated change portfolio. We establish sequencing, make trade-offs explicit, and create the governance cadence that gives your executive team genuine delivery confidence.
Assess and redesign how your organisation actually delivers change. From PMO uplift and Agile adoption through to capacity management and vendor strategy — we build the delivery engine, not just the plan.
When a critical programme is off-track, we provide rapid diagnostic and intervention — resetting governance, clarifying accountabilities, surfacing hidden risks, and restoring delivery momentum.
Transformation only delivers value when people, processes, and behaviours actually change. We design and lead the change strategy that makes adoption stick — from executive alignment through to frontline embedding.
When you need senior leadership now — whether to cover a gap, lead a critical phase, or provide the executive horsepower for a transformation you can't resource internally. CIO, Head of Delivery, or Transformation Lead.
Practical application of AI to accelerate delivery productivity — from intelligent portfolio reporting and automated dependency tracking to AI-assisted sprint planning and governance automation. Not theory; tools in use.
20+ years of executive accountability for transformation outcomes — not as a consultant observing from the side, but as the person accountable for delivery.
Led transformation strategy and delivery governance for a major CRM programme affecting 800+ brokers nationally. Established Agile delivery model, OKR framework, and vendor evaluation process. Identified 20%+ operational efficiency opportunity through legacy modernisation.
Led 250-person technology function through multi-year transformation — introducing SAFe at scale, redesigning portfolio governance, building AI capability, and managing complex M&A technology separation. Board-level accountability for delivery, cybersecurity, and operational risk.
Re-established enterprise PMO and governance from the ground up. Delivered multi-year CRM, cloud migration, and legacy decommission programme — including a complex live-platform data migration. Significant cost savings through service insourcing and vendor renegotiation.
Full interim CIO accountability during organisational transition — stabilising operations, resetting vendor management, and maintaining programme delivery momentum.
No discovery phases that run for months. No frameworks for the sake of frameworks. We diagnose fast, intervene where it matters, and build the capability that outlasts the engagement.
A focused assessment of where your transformation is — the real state, not the status report. We identify the structural issues holding delivery back and the highest-leverage interventions available.
A clear, sequenced plan that addresses root causes — not symptoms. We define accountabilities, establish governance cadence, and set the delivery rhythm that creates momentum.
We work alongside your teams to implement — running governance, removing blockers, coaching delivery leads, and maintaining pace. This isn't advisory from a distance; it's direct operating partnership.
The goal is always to build the disciplines and capability that sustain after we step back. We leave operating models, governance frameworks, and capable people — not dependency.
Exovance is the advisory practice of Chris Robb, a senior technology and transformation executive with a career built across New Zealand's most demanding organisations.
As CIO at a major NZ financial services provider, EGM Technology at a tier 1 NZ insurer, Head of Technology at a major NZ bank, and Chief Customer Transformation Officer at a global technology company, Chris has held direct executive accountability for transformation delivery — not from an advisory seat, but as the person reporting to CEOs and presenting to Boards.
That's what makes Exovance different. The advice comes from someone who has carried the accountability, managed the trade-offs, and delivered the outcomes in complex, regulated, operationally critical environments. Every recommendation is grounded in what actually works when you're the one on the hook.
Chris brings a pragmatic, outcomes-focused leadership style: assess the landscape, prioritise ruthlessly, fix governance, build capability, and move at pace. He's known for operating credibly at Board level while maintaining direct engagement with delivery teams — and for building the disciplines that last after the engagement ends.
A 30-minute diagnostic conversation — no pitch, no proposal. Just an honest assessment of where you are and what might shift the trajectory.