9 July 2024:

It’s quite something to be in the running for the National Personal Improvement Award at the upcoming CCNZ National Conference. It’s something else, again, to achieve this at an age when many people are more interested in improving their golf.

But Infrastructure Skills Centre Programme Manager, John Catt, is no ordinary person. A sponge for new ideas, he’s gone crane-operator to health and safety manager to, today, helping young New Zealanders make their way in infrastructure.

The face of Fulton Hogan’s Infrastructure Skills Centre for the almost 200 cadets who have been through the programme, John never forgets he once teetered between the paths of opportunity and self-destruction.

“I never forget that I was once a little so-and-so. I was just lucky someone saw past my rough edges to potential I didn’t know I had,” he says.

Here’s what Australian CEO Graeme Johnson says about John:

“John shows life is a life-long learning opportunity – a series of opportunities to reimagine how you can contribute,” Graeme says.

“I am proud to have been involved with John for more than a decade in New Zealand in his multiple roles, from complex crane lift planning and operation in heavy civil construction, to supervision and frontline leadership, health & safety leadership and training and personal development.”

NZ Lead – HSQES Skills Development, Alena Taylor, says John brings the students the benefit of a lifetime’s hard-won experience, and is deeply committed to setting them on the right track.

“It’s rare to find such energy, enthusiasm, honesty and humanity rolled up in one person.  John is driven by a desire to give young people a chance in life. He began in their shoes, and he will never forget that,” Alena says.

“He’s a gold nugget in our industry. He treats everyone – from the prime minister to the newest recruit – with the same respect, affording them the same dignity and time.”

The 2024 National CCNZ Awards, including the Hirepool Construction Excellence Awards, the Z People and Connexis Civil Training & Development Award winners will be announced at the CCNZ National Conference in Invercargill on 16 August.