New admission to Tier 2

Humphrey joined the team at GS about seven years ago. In his words, he had not heard of GS, it sounded interesting, but he didn’t think he would be here for long.  

He joined the Business Advisory Services team and was quickly noted to be the contrarian. Consequently, has had a few things thrown at him, as well as a few choice words…

We learn to appreciate contrarianism and out-of-the-box thinking at GS (remember our founding partner is Bruce Sheppard, and none of the following partners are pedestrian Accountants in any sense). We quickly saw that his way of thinking was a strength, we just needed to leverage that in the right area of the business. So, Humphrey eventually transitioned into a member of the Value-Added Services team.

Here began some heated discussions with Joshna on pretty much everything, but in the end, they made each other better at everything VAS does. He hounded Bruce from almost day one in VAS on why we don’t run a managed fund. Bruce continuously told him to f*** off. We now have a fund that Humphrey set up and currently runs.

Humphrey is entrepreneurial and has started (and stopped) businesses of his own. He has a passion for start-ups, especially ones that will carry New Zealand forward in tech and science. This depends not only on helping these entrepreneurs, but also expanding investment capability and attitudes. He has a purpose that is bigger than himself, which is aligned with what GS stands for.

Humphrey has taken on some good social projects outside of work, where he feels he can have the greatest impact on the world. In his words, he “doesn’t have any good reason not to, and there’s no real sacrifice. Except maybe money. And time. And personal relationships. It’s fine.”

This slowed down a little bit when last year, in the middle of Covid, Humphrey became a father. Not to do things by halves, he had two – Theresa and Thelo – and two weeks later moved house. His wife may forgive him one day.

While GS supported Humphrey with flexibility during this, he worked hard on some of the most challenging engagements of his career and never dropped the ball. We admire what Humphrey has achieved personally with his family. It shows his values in action. We love this.

Another quality of Humphreys is that he always stays calm, whether he is flustered, or when he is ruffling others’ feathers. He takes things in his stride and shows amazing resilience. He adds a natural balance to the team with his quiet, energetic patience and thoughtfulness.

All clients enjoy working with Humphrey, as they enjoy their thinking being challenged and vice versa. 

We all know that talent is scarce, and the talent we need to keep the fabric of GS alive is even rarer. We wish for Humphrey to be a part of the future of GS. He wishes to be part of ours. We are grateful for his commitment to us.  

Thus, Humphrey has been admitted to “Tier 2”, joining Amy Street. Tier 2 at GS is the step before full equity partnership, and is only offered to those whom the partners agree could grow into equity partners. An equivalent term in the industry is “salaried partner”.

We acknowledge Humphrey’s success to date and look forward to all growing together – in a shared future.