Get to know us
Meet our founders.
Shaun Clarke ONZM
Co-founder and Director
Shaun is an experienced leader, strategist, innovator and communicator who supports challenged and aspiring leadership teams as ThinkBird. He has a broad professional background in public, private and not-for-profit sectors, in both governance and executive leadership capacities. His 30 or so formal roles have variously included CEO of local government; NZ diplomat (Canberra and Dehli); ‘Pulse’ netball board member and Director of SME start-ups.
He currently holds private/commercial directorships in property, forestry, education and tourism sectors. In a recent role as CEO of the Far North District Council for five years, Shaun and his team transformed their organisation to win 14 national and international gold awards in the culminating year and a half of the programme. Shaun has comprehensive experience in strategy-setting and crisis management. As a former Air Commodore, air force pilot and on-the-ground commander he has deployed and led in numerous security operations (including Iran, Kosovo and the Solomon Islands), working to manage NZ’s interests and uncertainties.
He is an Additional Officer to the New Zealand Order of Merit (ONZM) for leadership abroad. His degrees include a Master of Arts (MA) in Strategic Studies, and he has published 10 books and articles on strategy and on culture. Strategy-setting roles have ranged from leading the NZ Defence Force’s ‘futuring’ function – defining ‘the defence force after next’; to the setting of an inaugural 80-year district strategy for Local Government. His many ‘complex planning’ and ‘surprise management’ roles have covered Christchurch earthquakes, the sinking of the RENA, and joint agency civil defence responses to flooding, drought, covid and tsunami.
Shaun is a Member of the NZ Institute of Directors (IOD) and a graduate of the IOD Company Directors Course; a graduate of two Institute of Strategic Leadership Programmes, and a Fellow of the Centre for Defence and Strategic Studies, Australia. In addition to his MA, he has Master of Business Administration and Bachelor of Science degrees. Shaun has two kids as well as four whāngai children under Māori tradition. He has lost his wife, Louise, to cancer.
Paula ter Brake
Co-founder
Paula ter Brake is a corporate leader with 30 years’ experience. Referring to herself as “experientially qualified generalist”, Paula has held a wide range of Executive roles such as Chief Risk Officer and Managing Director for the Pacific for Tower Insurance, Global Mortgage Distribution Leader for GE Money’s 40+ territories and a number of CEO roles in the advisory sector, including running her own advisory business for 10 years.
Paula is an experienced Director, with over 20 years’ experience on and advising Boards, including chairing Audit and Risk committees for ASX listed top 200 companies and Not for Profit organisations. Paula is currently a Director of First Rescue NZ Limited, RepairHub NZ Limited and Weston and Wellington Ltd. Paula is the Executive General Manager of Consumer Brands IAG; the largest general insurance company in Australasia; where she leads a multi-disciplinary onshore and offshore team of circa 2,000 people and serves nearly two million customers.
