Ana Passadore Denis

Ana joined the Grit team in early 2020. Before joining, she spent several years working in fast-paced heavy industrial environments in the automotive and oil refining industries.

Ana began her engineering career working in Argentina with Fiat Group as a Quality Assurance/Quality Control Improvement Engineer. Here she turned best practices and worldwide forums into local procedures, workshops and improvement initiatives. She worked on Lean Manufacturing Methodologies implementation to empower employees and to build quality assurance into the gearbox manufacturing plant processes.

After moving to New Zealand, Ana started working for Refining New Zealand (firstly as a Site Engineer and then as a Project Engineer). Here Ana was responsible for the delivery of maintenance and capital projects and was part of an impressive team with first-class project execution processes and portfolio governance practices.

At Refining New Zealand, Ana gained exposure to a varied portfolio of projects. She successfully set up and managed the delivery of a high-profile shutdown project, executed over two shutdowns in three Sulphur Recovery Units. She also delivered fast-tracked projects in jet fuel storage tanks as part of the tank storage maintenance program – executing all projects with a focus on health and safety.

Ana prides herself on pursuing excellence. She has a tenacious project delivery style and loves getting the job done. While she thrives on systems, she enjoys thinking outside the box to identify improvement opportunities. Aiming to be one step ahead of any potential issues, Ana advises all parties on any issues to resolve matters as soon as possible, before they impact the project. She is confident this transparency and her hard work have been crucial for building strong relationships and trust from clients.

Ana enjoys travel and exploring new places. She loves to get out of her comfort zone, exposing herself to new experiences. A desire for adventure brought her and her husband to New Zealand and they have since started a family here. She is a passionate dancer, enjoys soccer, reading, economics, and has a fascination for learning about neuroscience, psychology and human behaviour. She loves learning how our brains work and how that impacts how we act.

Ana brings strong industrial and infrastructure knowledge and experience. She has exceptional organisational skills and a drive for project delivery. Ana works hard to provide value in whatever she is doing.