The Tadpole Story
Sustainable transformation
Tadpole – How it all started
As it is with many great ideas, the Tadpole concept originated from two Kiwi blokes chatting over a beer.
The conversation began with their work lives. It didn’t take long for the experienced businessman and leading technical expert to realise that they also had shared values, as well as a desire to transform businesses, provide exceptional service and develop long-lasting relationships.
They were also aligned on the topic of sustainability. They agreed that acting sustainably not only provides businesses with a competitive advantage and makes the world a better place to live, in but is quickly becoming an essential business practice, demanded by customers, suppliers, board members and employees.
Despite already running two successful businesses, Siempre and Catalyst® Ltd, the prospect of combining their skills to help Kiwi businesses thrive through sustainable transformation, was too enticing… and so Tadpole was hatched.
Our People
Our highly experienced team are approachable, speak in plain language and offer a unique blend of commercial acumen and technical expertise. We’re a passionate bunch, who have been through the process of demystifying sustainability ourselves.
We understand people and what motivates them. Plus, our customers tell us we are easy to work with and make the process simple to understand.
Alan Adams GAICD
General Manager
Dedicated cyclist (2025 UCI Road Cycling Fondo World Champion!), aspiring golfer, pragmatic sustainability strategy builder, speaker and educator.
Alan brings over three decades of experience in sustainability, circularity, and design across the APAC region, with a career spanning a wide range of markets and industries influenced by packaging. Known for simplifying complexity into clear insights and actionable impact, he translates ESG trends, emerging regulatory pressures, and shifting market dynamics into pragmatic strategies that drive both sustainability and commercial value. With a specialist focus on circularity, Alan ensures that the commercial lens remains in focus while identifying environmental risks and opportunities that deliver lasting impact. He currently serves as a Director and ARC Committee member at the Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO).
Allan Birch BSc (Computer Science & Chemistry), Post Grad Diploma Marketing
Founder & Chief Customer Officer
Wannabe musician, golfer, sustainability innovator, business builder and strategy guy.
Allan has more than 20 years’ experience as a senior executive across a range of industries. He is passionate about helping people and businesses succeed and has a strong and consistent record of results.
Allan combines his skills in leadership, strategy, communication and business acumen with his endless energy to help others make their businesses more sustainable. That means growing and protecting economic prosperity, engaging, rewarding and developing people, and reducing waste to lower environmental impact. Allan specialises in helping clients build and execute sustainability strategies to deliver long term value for stakeholders.
Examples of Allan’s wide skill set include strategy business plan development and execution, stakeholder and employee engagement, framework development, storytelling and collaborative approaches to delivering sustained value.
Aylette Marsh BA (English & Writing Studies)
Sustainability Specialist
Houseplant hoarder, true crime junkie, wordsmith and sustainability professional.
Aylette is responsible for delivering high-quality assessments, reporting and tailored recommendations that enable clients to respond to evolving climate and sustainability expectations with confidence.
She plays a central role in advancing climate-related disclosure development and reporting across a range of industries. She also provides detailed due diligence assessments of companies — particularly within the private equity space - evaluating alignment with emerging reporting frameworks, regulatory requirements, and broader sustainability trends. Her work informs critical client decision-making, particularly for those navigating early or complex stages of climate and sustainability integration.
With a professional foundation in business improvement and marketing, Aylette brings a cross-functional perspective that enhances the practicality and impact of sustainability strategies across all levels of an organisation.
Claire Sanders BBUS – Marketing & Management
Head of Communications & Stakeholder Engagement
Theatre fan, yoga lover, business storyteller and experienced marcomms whiz.
Claire is Tadpole’s communications lead, helping the business with its internal requirements, as well as supporting clients with stakeholder engagement and storytelling throughout their sustainability journey.
Claire is an experienced marketing and communications specialist with a broad skill set - the result of several decades working in New Zealand and the United Kingdom in companies ranging from small businesses to multi-national organisations. She has experience in both the private and public sector, in marketing, public relations, internal communications, digital marketing and customer communications.
Possessing excellent communication skills, Claire is fun to engage with and easy to relate to. She is passionate about providing creative solutions and sharing inspirational business stories.
Este Burnett B.Sc, PGDipBus (1st class honours)
Sustainability Analyst
Garden enthusiast, lifestyle block owner, biologist, project manager and analytics pro.
Este comes from a background in molecular biology before getting involved in the fields of business and sustainability. She supports Tadpole’s clients with their carbon footprint measurements. Behind the scenes Este supports the Tadpole team’s Materiality work and manages the flow of all their projects. Her meticulous attention to detail and analytical skills contribute to the team's success.
Este obtained her BSC degree from the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa and she has a Postgraduate Diploma in Business from Massey University (1st class honours). Her postgraduate study included life cycle assessments (LCA), sustainability frameworks and implementation.
Rachel Wells BCom (Accounting, Finance & Information Systems)
Sustainability Analyst
Novice wing foiler, enthusiastic bird watcher, conservationist, practical problem solver and system thinker.
Rachel brings deep experience in helping organisations understand, measure, and reduce their environmental impact across diverse sectors, including infrastructure. Skilled at simplifying technical complexity into clear, decision-ready insights, she combines expertise in carbon baselining, decarbonisation modelling, and emissions reporting system design. Rachel’s analytical approach bridges technical rigour with practical delivery, supporting clients through their decarbonisation journey with strategies that translate data into tangible action and measurable outcomes.
Wymond Symes MSc
Founder & Chief Operating Officer
Search and Rescue volunteer, chief science geek and carbon footprinting authority.
One of New Zealand’s leading technical experts, Wymond has been sharing his expertise as an innovation and sustainability consultant for almost two decades. He has helped a wide range of businesses and organisations build value through research, development, and the implementation of sustainable business practices.
Wymond specialises in sustainability reporting and environmental foot printing. He is passionate about helping organisations understand and measure their carbon footprint and build in-house capability for the management and mitigation of GHG emissions.
Wymond enjoys working with companies that are aware of the impact their activities and products have on the environment and are looking to minimise the impact where possible.
Wymond’s areas of expertise include sustainability reporting, carbon footprinting, life cycle assessment and life cycle thinking, project management and product development.
Affiliations
To further enhance our service offerings Tadpole has chosen to be associated with the following organisations.
