Enrich Group chief executive Karen Scott, left, with Management Services general manager Johnathan Tan.
You could call Johnathan Tan a general dogsbody and he would not care; he is always up for a challenge.
Creating strategy, managing risk and helping businesses grow is what is more important for him.
“It’s never about a title,” says Johnathan, the oldest of three children born in Auckland to Cambodian refugees.
He wants to make the same difference in people’s lives that New Zealand offered him.
For the record, Johnathan, 35, is Enrich Group Management Services’ general manager.
It is a new and critical appointment for Enrich Group, the Te Awamutu-based charitable trust which is the guardian for a family of organisations with common and complementary services that support people with disabilities and those living with autism and neurodiversities in the Waikato, King Country and Bay of Plenty.
Johnathan Tan at Enrich Group in Te Awamutu.
Good with numbers
Johnathan joined the organisation in July from Tainui Group Holdings where he was the Commercial Finance partner, overseeing the Ruakura project, private equity and Direct Investments and Share portfolio, including looking after group consolidation and system and process improvement.
He grew up in Hamilton attending Nawton Primary, Maeroa Intermediate and Hamilton Boys High schools.
He was always good with numbers and so enrolled in Waikato University’s Management Studies course majoring in accounting.
When he graduated, Johnathan joined Deloittes as a graduate in the tax team where he qualified as a chartered accountant and became a senior tax consultant.
In 2012 he met his future wife Andrea and the couple have gone on to become parents to three children. She is of Chinese Cantonese descent which makes for some interesting language choices in the Tan household.
Johnathan’s dialect is Teochew, one of the most conservative Chinese languages and Khmer (Cambodian). He has a keen interest in languages having studied Japanese at high school and is learning Cantonese, something of a necessity because his wife, in-laws and now children are fluent in it.
In 2014 he moved to Go Bus Transport as a financial accountant where he obtained his bus licence, so he got to know what challenges bus drivers face.
Understanding the business
Enrich Group Management Services provide the corporate and back-office functions to Enrich Group and other like-minded organisations.
It is one of the largest disability providers in the Waikato and was founded in 1990 as Graceland Charitable Trust.
Johnathan oversees the critical portfolios of quality, health and safety, property, procurement, projects, financial management, HR and marketing and communications.
He reports to Enrich Group chief executive Karen Scott and supports her vision of providing individuals and their whānau with whole of life supports and resources, so they have the opportunity to live their best life
“We’ve got heaps of challenges and exciting times ahead,” says Johnathan, a reference to Whaikaha, the new Ministry of Disabled People which launched on July 1.
“For me now it’s about understanding the business,” he says.