RISING STAR AWARD FINALIST: Daniel Erard – Alliance Manager, Tararua Alliance – Tararua District Council and Downer
For Rising Star Award finalist Daniel Erard, the success of Tararua Alliance is measured in the people who grow within it, as well as the roads it maintains.
"What motivates me is seeing the success of our people," he says.
That outlook has accompanied a career built from the ground up.
Erard joined Downer as a driver operator in 2012, leaving school without formal qualifications.
He sought experience across construction, maintenance, surfacing, emergency works, and operations before becoming Tararua Alliance manager in 2023.
Now 33, he leads a 112-person team through the partnership between Tararua District Council and Downer.
The alliance delivers about $28-$30 million in annual work programmes and helps manage around $900 million of public infrastructure assets.
Benchmark
In 2026, the alliance became New Zealand's first road maintenance contract to achieve ISO 55001 certification, an internationally recognised asset management standard.
The initiative began with a discussion about how the alliance could demonstrate the quality and value of its work to the council and community.
Erard championed an independent benchmark, despite certification not being a contractual requirement.
He engaged specialist expertise and led an 18-month programme involving engineers, asset managers, operational personnel and delivery teams.
Together, they reviewed and documented the alliance's management systems, planning and decision-making processes.
A two-stage audit examined that documentation and included a February visit to assess how the systems worked on the ground.
"For a rural roading contract like ours to hit this mark is huge," Erard says.
Cyclone Gabrielle
The certification followed a period of extraordinary delivery pressure. Cyclone Gabrielle caused about $75 million of damage, effectively doubling the alliance's workload overnight.
As delivery manager and subsequently alliance manager, Erard helped oversee recovery while routine maintenance continued.
Collaboration proved particularly valuable at Marainanga Gorge, southeast of Pongaroa, where the cyclone destroyed lifeline access to coastal communities.
Erard championed an emergency works stakeholder group bringing together the alliance, council elected members, iwi, Horizons Regional Council and NZTA.
At the gorge, iwi knowledge of the land and waterway helped identify a practical repair.
Working with local landowners and contractors, the team restored Coast Road for $1.3 million, against initial estimates of $5-$6 million.
The solution used materials from the Aohanga River, preserving funding for other recovery projects.
Recognition, next steps
The alliance's wider work has also attracted recognition.
Its Route 52 project received the Āpōpō Supreme Award for Asset Management Excellence in 2025 and an International Federation of Municipal Engineers Silver Award in 2026.
Within the team, Erard has supported Blake Hedley's progression from supervisor to delivery manager and Karun Kalesh's move from asset engineer to asset manager.
He also mentored sealing foreman Henry Pearce, the 2025 CCNZ Manawatū-Whanganui Young Leader Award recipient.
The next phase is a return to routine operations, with cyclone recovery works scheduled to close out over summer.
Erard has guided the organisation's adjustment as emergency activity winds down, using succession planning and an understanding of employees' aspirations to limit disruption.
Continuous improvement remains central - the alliance has refined its performance framework three times in three years, voluntarily raising expectations for the service it delivers.
The Rising Star Award is for the standout person aged under 40 in the New Zealand roading sector, defined by their achievements during their career to-date. It is awarded annually. There are four finalists for 2026. See more here.
The New Zealand roading industry Rising Star Award, sponsored by Jacobs, will be presented at the Future Roads conference dinner following day one. Buy tickets for the conference and dinner here.