Howard Thomas has developed and maintained a high-performance culture in which technology is embraced and leveraged to boost productivity. He strongly believes in the importance of culture, applying Peter Drucker’s mantra “Culture eats Strategy for Breakfast” in his leadership of Mercury’s legal function. Thomas’ efforts have been recognised by Mercury – he is now a high performance coach helping other teams throughout the business achieve a better team culture. Howard embraces technology and innovation, incorporating elements of agile processes into the delivery of the legal function. In addition to this, he has hired for what could be New Zealand’s first Legal Operations Manager to advance a programme of mapping and streamlining processes. This has resolved pain points for the business in the way it utilises legal support, and its process for contract review and governance.
