About us
Small and independent, like New Zealand, Malvern Severn was set up by Philip Stevens to support people and organisations achieve.
Philip is an economist by training and inclination, as well as a trained facilitator and coach
Whether you are looking to develop or implement a strategy, are grappling with a thorny question, or want to take yourself or your organisation to the next level, we want to help
Services
Strategy development and implementation
Facilitation and coaching
Economic analysis
Contact us
If you think we can help, or want to talk about how we might, contact us here.
Pepeha
KO MALVERNS NGĀ MAUNGA. KO SEVERN TE AWA.
To begin at the beginning. I was born on the banks of the great River Severn, in the shadow of the Malvern hills in Worcestershire, England.
Now I live and work in Wellington, Te Whanganui a Tara, in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Like the river, I have taken a long and winding road to get where I am and to be who I am today. From high school dropout to warehouse worker, via night school to an old polytechnic (now called Leeds Beckett University) to study Economics, up the hill to the University of Leeds and a Masters in the same, and finally to the University of Oxford to take my doctorate.
I studied economics because I wanted to know how the world worked. At Oxford I met a lifelong friend, the author Tim Harford, whose first book was described as being “like spending an ordinary day wearing X-ray goggles”. That insight is something to aspire to.
I learned a great deal about economics and productivity at the National Institute of Economics and Social Research, the home of productivity research in the UK.
Since then, I have worked for and in a number of government departments in the land of the long white cloud. Advising on economics and strategy, leading teams and divisions.
Through it all I have seen the value of teams. We know more than I. Big issues require good evidence and analysis, but they also need the power of engaged teams, with a clear vision and way of working that brings out the best in all, and the whole that is greater than the parts.
Philip Stevens
Philip has a doctorate in Economics from the University of Oxford, where he also represented the university three times in karate. He started his academic career as a Research Officer at the National Institute of Economics and Social Research in Westminster, London, where he later became a Fellow. Here he worked on public sector productivity (education, health, local government services), firm, sector and international comparisons of productivity, the supply of academics, skill shortages, low pay employment and university performance.
He and his family moved to New Zealand, where he was Chief Advisor, Economic Strategy in the Medium Term Strategy Group in the Ministry of Economic Development.
After a stint as Head of Economic Research, Philip managed the Economic Strategy team as MED transitioned into the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment, where he became GM of Research, Evalaution and Analysis.
He took up a similar role in the Minsitry of Education, before moving to the New Zealand Productivity Commission as Director of Economics and Research.
Philip was a founding member of the Government Economics Network in 2011 and is still a Board member, co-charing the Professionalisation sub-committee.
Throughout this time, Philip’s interests have been in personal and organisation performance, both in the private and public sectors. He trained to become a coach and facilitator to help him (and thus others) with this.
Read all about it
