Nina Meagher has recently joined our New Zealand branch as National Sales Executive. She’s originally from Canada, but her decorated career has taken her across Australia and New Zealand. Nina is dedicated to connecting people with solutions. It’s a passion that has fuelled her success in roles across marketing, HR, sales and more.
In her new position, Nina will be a guiding light for clients in the early days of their Stockwells journey. Whether they’re changing freight forwarders or engaging one for the first time, her personalised service ensures clarity from day one. Navigate complexities in areas like supply chain optimisation, New Zealand customs clearance and logistics management with Nina by your side.
We spoke with Nina to learn more about her career journey and how she’s driving innovative sales solutions in her new role.
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Q. Can you tell us about your new role as Sales Executive?
Nina: I work with new clients who are interested in exploring freight forwarding or new freight forwarders. This includes helping them understand their business challenges, as well as their challenges around logistics, imports and exports.
In some cases, I’m helping clients renegotiate their incoterms with their importer or exporter to maximise benefits. The other piece is working with clients to provide quotes for their orders. It’s all about being that main point of contact for our clients to make things as streamlined as possible.
Q. Where has your career journey taken you so far?
Nina: I started my career first in marketing and then shifted into recruitment branding. From there I went into HR. Before that, though, I completed an undergrad business degree in HR and marketing with honors, as well as an MBA in international business.
I was previously in a learning and development role in a manufacturing company. It was a global company with around 25,000 people. I worked closely with the head of sales and they asked me if I’d be interested in doing a rotation to the sales team to learn how they generate revenue. And as part of my MBA, I’d received a $25,000 fellowship for the Sandler Sales Training Program. I’d always been interested in sales so I moved into that role. I started in a supply chain and inside sales position. From there, I moved into a senior sales representative position.
During that time, I’d also always wanted to go abroad. I was in my early thirties and realised that if I want to move out of Canada, this is the time to do it. So, I left my role and sold everything, then I moved over to Australia.
In Australia, I was a recruiter and then moved into a sales position for an HR company, because I kind of have this unique passion for sales and for people. Whether it’s recruiting, sales, or HR, I love getting to know people and matching them to opportunities that make them happy. I help them achieve success. That’s what sales is all about for me. It’s all about matching people with a really great solution.
After working in Australia for a year I moved to New Zealand. I’ve been here for a year and a half and am so excited to be beginning my journey with Stockwells New Zealand.
Q. You recently made the trip to Australia to connect with the team over there. What did you take away from the experience?
Nina: Yes, I visited the Gold Coast head office. It’s huge, it’s really amazing there. I got to meet a number of the second and third generation Stockwell’s. It was amazing to speak to Angela Gambell about how Stockwells came to be and how the whole company has grown over the years. I learned how Stockwells has prioritised innovation and consistently served clients.
Everyone I talked to, I asked them what their role was and how long they’ve been with the company. So many of them said something like, 15 years, 18 years, 22 years. I learned about Nicole McLean’s incredible approach to HR. She’s really big on promoting people and creating all of these genuine learning and development pathways. I think that just creates this sense of loyalty and motivation. So it just made sense why they’ve sailed for so long. Yes, 20 years with one employer is a long time, but professionals are moving forward with the company.
There’s so much growth opportunity. I think that’s a huge reason why people really, really enjoy what they do here.
Q. How does Stockwells’ sales approach align with your own?
Nina: So many aspects of their approach, like the growth opportunities I just mentioned, translates to how I approach sales and provide solutions. It’s so important to me to work for a business where people love what they do, and they provide really excellent customer service.
I went along to a few client meetings. I was able to see how our key account managers were coming up with these amazing solutions to really tricky logistics questions. They bring their A game, really understand the client’s challenges and then just provide this exceptional service. That’s a massive value add to new clients, so that was amazing to see.
Q. How does the relationship between Stockwells New Zealand and Stockwells Australia support Cross Tasman services?
Nina: If companies based in New Zealand want to expand and start exporting, the first place a lot of them look to is Australia. New Zealand imports a lot from Australia too. We have a huge network in Australia. We have offices, warehouses and a huge team over there.
Because we’ve got such an established team, we’re really a trusted partner for our clients. If they want to start expanding their business into Australia, we coach, guide, educate them through the process. We can review all these pieces along their supply chain and connect them with the right people.
Both countries have pretty complex border control as well. So, our knowledge and connections are really helpful for our clients making that move.
Q. How do you help Stockwells clients navigate customs clearance?
Nina: Customs clearance in New Zealand can be really challenging. I work to understand their needs to understand what we can do as a third party. For example, we can manage things as soon as their goods are manufactured. We’ll guide the process of clearing it through customs and then getting it to their location in New Zealand.
They may want to export to Australia so we collaborate with our offices there. Or if they want to export globally, we work with agents around the world to pick up their importing and exporting for them.
Q. What’s your initial approach to a new client’s supply chain?
Nina: I start with asking clients a ton of questions about their business goals and the challenges that they run into. When I do this sort of review, I’m looking at the big picture of their supply chain. Then we see where we can get economies of scale and find ways to save costs. We can get cost savings by looking at their entire supply chain, such as how many orders they’re doing, the terms they’re using and whether they’re using multiple brokers.
After gaining this understanding, we can then work with them to improve how they manage everything. For example, we may help them integrate new software that saves them time and increases accuracy.
Q. What are the cost-saving benefits of Stockwells being the main point of contact for clients?
Nina: At the end of the day, it comes down to cost and quality. For example, many businesses aren’t sure how to select Incoterms that will give them the best overall savings cost and risk. As the main point of contact, we’re able to shift the cost and risk to different parties in a way that works for our client.
Part of this is helping clients get more transparent pricing. We may arrange for importers to pay for their own shipping rather than having shipping bundled in an order as an unknown number. That can end up being a big markup so it’s really important that our clients have clarity around that.
Being the main point of contact also means we’re looking at their whole supply chain. We consider their whole business strategy, and then work out how to best align factors like order timelines, warehousing and safety requirements.
Our clients also enjoy a customised dashboard with all the insights that high level decision makers need. And then we’ve got this portal called track and trace, so clients can see in real time where orders are around the world.
We’re helping our clients understand all of their costs. Meanwhile, we’re working to reduce these costs while keeping decisions aligned with their business strategy. In a lot of ways, we are an extension of their business. From importing into New Zealand to exporting to another country, we’re optimising their whole supply chain.
Q. What’s your favourite part of your role so far?
Nina: I love New Zealand and working with Kiwis. Also, there are so many ways we can provide value to our clients. Because I’m managing the entire territory, it means that I get to travel to my clients and see parts of different parts of New Zealand. It’s incredible to be able to explore this beautiful country while getting to know our clients.
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Nina is a highly experienced professional with a people-first approach to sales. She’s dedicated to delivering the utmost value and ease to our clients and we look forward to watching her thrive alongside our New Zealand team.
If you’re a New Zealand business seeking efficient and reliable freight forwarding and logistics solutions, please connect with us here.