I’ve founded things, fixed things, and helped organisations do both.
I’m Li Ling, a New Zealand-based finance and operations executive who has worked inside organisations and built them from scratch. That combination — of financial rigour and founder instinct — is what I bring to senior leadership roles in established organisations.
Organisations at inflection points — starting, growing fast, restructuring, or finding their footing — need someone who can hold the financial and operational picture at the same time. I work at that intersection: translating strategy into executable decisions, and making sure the numbers and the operations are telling the same story.
For large commercial organisations and their Boards
I work in senior finance and operations roles where there is genuine accountability for organisational performance — not just advice from the sidelines.
In these contexts, I contribute to: enterprise-level decision-making, funding and resourcing trade-offs, governance and performance discipline, and strengthening how the organisation works as a system.
For founders, CEOs and leadership teams
I also work alongside founders and leaders navigating growth, complexity or constraint — as a trusted senior partner who can translate vision into operating and financial reality, design viable and scalable operating models, and bring clarity to difficult prioritisation decisions. This may be in an advisory, fractional, or time-bound capacity depending on the organisation’s stage and needs.
Get in touch
I believe organisations perform best when financial stewardship and genuine care for people aren’t treated as opposites. That’s the standard I hold myself to, and what I look for in the organisations I join.
If you’re building a leadership team, exploring a senior finance or operations appointment, or want a confidential conversation about fit and timing — I’d welcome hearing from you.
If you’re a founder or leader navigating a critical moment and want a senior thinking partner, feel free to reach out.
MY APPROACH
I bring commercial breadth — across finance, operations, and strategy — alongside the instinct to connect the dots between numbers, people, and decisions. I think in systems, work with rigour, bring curiosity and creative problem solving, and care about the humans behind the balance sheet.
I’ve built things from scratch, built for scale, fixed things that were broken, and helped organisations find clarity when things felt complicated. I move between the big picture and the operational detail without losing either.
I’m drawn to organisations with clear purpose, whether commercial or social — not as a soft preference, but because mission-driven work demands more precise thinking, not less. The constraints are real, and so are the stakes.
More on how I work
EDUCATION
Bachelor of Commerce & Administration in Accounting, Information Systems, Commercial Law. Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.
Associate Chartered Accountant member of Institute of Chartered Accountants New Zealand & Australia.
I’VE WORKED WITH
CORPORATE & GOVERNMENT
Finance & Performance Business Partner, Crown Law
Customer-facing role based in the Finance team at Crown Law, the legal advisors to the New Zealand Government. Working with people from across the organisation on business as usual work and projects.
Business/Financial Analyst, Bank of New Zealand (BNZ)
Performance & Planning team of BNZ Investments & Insurances. Management, performance and Board reporting, improving the insurance database system.
Systems Accountant, Fonterra
Global performance reporting, including the development of a global strategic planning system at New Zealand Milk, the consumer-side of Fonterra’s business.
BUSINESSES & SOCIAL IMPACT START UPS
Operations / General Manager, Kaibosh
Kaibosh is New Zealand’s first food rescue organisation, operating in Wellington, the Hutt Valley, Kāpiti and Horowhenua. I was the first employee, who built New Zealand’s first food rescue organisation from ground up.
Chief Financial Officer (fixed term), Abel Odor
Abel is a forward thinking fragrance house that was born in Amsterdam and now calls Wellington home. It inspires positive change by creating the world’s best 100% natural perfume, without compromising on ethics or aesthetics, pushing at the boundaries of art, ethics and natural science. You can find Abel in a thoughtful edit of the world’s top stores, across 33 countries.
Chief Financial Officer (fixed term), Nisa
New Zealand made underwear and clothing social enterprise, providing employment to former refugees and migrants.
Founder & Programme Director
A foreign language school that offered programmes and a curriculum that covered 8-years of childhood, with multiple proficiency levels. It became a community for babies, children of all ages and their families. I created a school from scratch as it simply had not been done in this way before, in New Zealand or Australia. I greatly value education, providing opportunities to children, and learning through play & doing, and whilst not a teacher, had a strong vision of what enjoyable, accessible & socially interactive language learning would look like.
Founder / Director
Social enterprise producing limited design t-shirt ranges that partnered with national & regional non-profit organisations to provide a fundraising channel through a consumer market: Mental Health Foundation, World Vision, Plunket, Wellington City Mission.
NON-GOVERNMENT ORGANISATIONS
Board member, English Language Partners
National non-profit organisation and education provider in New Zealand that teaches English to people from former refugee and migrant backgrounds, providing excellent English language education in context for everyday life and work.
Performance, Planning & Systems Analyst, Workbridge
Workbridge is the largest New Zealand-owned employment service for people with a disability or health condition. Performance reporting, planning, contract management, business process set up and improvement, customer relationship management (CRM) systems.
Finance & Business Development Manager, Wesley Community Action
A Wellington region agency pioneering innovative approaches to social justice and helping to create just and caring communities. Services range from community housing, eldercare, youth work to fruit & vegetable cooperatives, community empowerment, anti-P initiatives and more!
Lì Líng Ho 