Real operators. No layers in between.
The collective is a new name. The experience behind it is anything but. CRE8 brings four established people specialist practices under one roof: recruitment, business advisory, dispute resolution, and graduate coaching. When you call, you deal with the person whose name is on the work.
Why a collective
Most people problems don't arrive one at a time.
A hiring problem often turns out to be a leadership problem. A team conflict often started as a hiring problem. A graduate who struggles in their first role usually needed coaching nobody offered. Treating these as separate purchases from separate providers means nobody sees the whole picture.
The usual answer is a stack of providers: a recruitment company, an HR consultant, a business mentor, an executive coach, an employment relations specialist, a mediator. The result is fragmented advice, duplicated costs and nobody seeing the whole picture. Building that capability in-house would cost most businesses hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in salaries alone.
That is why the CRE8 brand was founded, bringing Kat Evans's recruitment practice, Kate Ross's advisory and career businesses, and Denise Evans's dispute resolution practice together under one roof. Each established in its own right, now working as one collective.
CRE8 works differently. Four divisions share one back office, one relationship, and one standard. Brief one division and the others are a hallway conversation away, not a new procurement process.
Nationwide, working right across Aotearoa, in person and online.
The people behind CRE8
Real bios, real credentials, on the public record.
Kat Evans
Founder | Director | Executive Search & Business Operations
Co-founder of the CRE8 brand. 15+ years in NZ recruitment.
Full bioEmily Kozlowski
Corporate Services & Generalist Recruitment Consultant
Corporate services and generalist recruitment across New Zealand.
Full bioNikkie White
Executive Search | Senior Recruitment Consultant
Executive search and career development expertise.
Full bioKate Ross
Founder | Director | Advisory, Growth & Emerging Talent
Built a nationwide recruitment business over 27 years, sold to an overseas global.
Full bioLisa Willis
Senior HR & Employment Relations Consultant
25+ years in senior HR and people & capability roles.
Full bioDenise Evans
Director | Principal Dispute Resolution
30+ years in business. Accredited mediator, facilitator and trainer.
Full bio
Dr. Marcia Johnson
Quality Improvement & Professional Practice Specialist
40+ years across business, leadership and tertiary education.
Every stage of the journey
Wherever your business sits today, the support evolves with you.
Every business faces different challenges throughout its journey. Many clients arrive with one specific problem and stay because the support keeps pace as their needs change.
Start-Up
Foundations, systems, recruitment strategy, leadership capability and growth plans.
Growth
Recruitment, leadership development, culture, retention and organisational capability.
Scale
Leadership teams, workforce planning, succession pathways and organisational design.
Transition
Business sale, acquisition, executive transition, restructuring and change.
Legacy
Leadership continuity, governance support, succession planning and sustainability.
Four divisions
What each division does.
CRE8 Talent
→Construction, infrastructure, corporate, executive search and fixed-term recruitment, right across Aotearoa. We don't fill jobs. We build capability.
Kat Evans · Co-founder of the CRE8 brand. Decades in NZ recruitment.
CRE8 Advisory
→Business mentoring, leadership coaching, executive transition, succession and restructure support. We don't just give advice. We create progress.
Kate Ross · Director, CRE8 Advisory
CRE8 Resolve
→Workplace, commercial and family mediation, independent investigations, employment relationship support, governance and independent facilitation, plus conflict resolution training. We humanise the dispute resolution process.
Denise Evans · Principal, Dispute Resolution. AMINZ-accredited.
CRE8 Emerging Talent
→CVs, interview prep and first-90-day coaching. Complete and Essentials packages for grads, profiling reports for employers.
Kate Ross · Programme lead
Our commitment
Every engagement is built on five things.
Partnership
Trusted, long-term relationships.
Integrity
Honest advice and transparent communication.
Excellence
Exceptional service and outcomes.
Accountability
Taking ownership of results.
Outcomes
Measurable value, not activity reports.
The right people. The right leadership. The right advice. When those three come together, businesses thrive. That is the power of CRE8 Collective.
Not sure which division you need?
Tell us what's going on. We'll route you to the right person, usually same day.