Julia Barnes, Fractional General Manager working with founder-led businesses in Auckland

welcome!

HI,I’M JULIA

I’m a GM, operator, founder and project leader with more than 20 years’ international experience working across creative, media, financial services and entrepreneurial businesses.

I do my best work when things are changing, messy or unclear.

Throughout my career, I’ve built businesses, led teams, managed complex programmes and navigated organisations through significant periods of restructuring and change.

That experience has taught me something important.

Businesses rarely struggle because nobody has good ideas.

They struggle because priorities become unclear, accountability gets blurred, difficult decisions are delayed and the founder or leadership team simply doesn’t have enough capacity to deal with everything at once.

That’s the problem I help solve.

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I do my best work when things are changing, messy or unclear. I bring clarity to what matters, structure to what’s next, and the momentum to make it happen.

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JULIA BARNES
TOP 5 GALLUP STRENGTHS
DEVELOPER
ACTIVATOR
HARMONY
ADAPTABLE
POSITIVITY

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MY BACKGROUND

From Tokyo to Auckland

I spent 14 years living and working in Tokyo, where I founded and scaled creative ventures and co-founded Japan’s first international contemporary art fair.

Since returning to New Zealand, my career has continued across creative, media and commercially focused organisations, combining leadership, business development, operations and complex project delivery.

I’ve worked in highly dynamic environments where there isn’t always a playbook, where priorities can change quickly and where bringing people with you matters just as much as having a good plan.

Today, I bring that experience to founder-led and growing businesses that need experienced leadership during periods of change.

I’m PMP® and PRINCE2® Agile certified, combining structured project and programme discipline with practical commercial leadership.

But I’m not interested in adding process for the sake of process.

The objective is always a stronger, clearer and more manageable business.

For all general enquiries get in touch!

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