Meet the Team
Skilled Engineering Professionals
TRS® is a trusted and reliable partner for industries across New Zealand needing rotating machinery maintenance, repair, and replacement services. Our comprehensive solutions and experienced team make us a go-to choice for businesses looking to keep their equipment running smoothly and efficiently
With over 30 trade staff, TRS® is well-equipped to handle large engineering projects with short project timeframes. Clients can rely on us to complete extensive work quickly and efficiently. TR’s team of skilled professionals also allows us to tackle complex projects and provide specialised services tailored to our client’s unique needs.
Meet some of our management team
Brett Rodger - Managing Director
Along with his father, Ian, and brother, Greg, Brett is a director of TRS.
Christchurch born and bred, Brett and his family have been based in Tauranga for the past 16 years, where TRS and TR Industries share a head office.
Brett has been in business for himself since his early 30s, first with a mate running a general engineering workshop and then with his wife, running a home-based events management business while their three children were growing up.
With the directors having procured seven independent workshops since 2010, TRS was formed in 2014. Brett is now helping guide the business towards a centralised model, with a newly-appointed senior management team.
As they navigate organisational change and major growth, Brett said the directors’ big focus was just trying to be better. That’s better for the people in our business, better communication, more training and opportunities.
The senior leadership team, based between Auckland and Dunedin, were a key part in allowing these changes to happen and the TRS ‘working family’ culture to strengthen.
When he’s not at TRS HQ, Brett spends a lot of time at the beach with his three dogs.
He is also a former kids and senior rugby league coach and is still a big spectator and supporter of the sport. He and his wife also enjoy getting away for weekends when they can, enjoying a bit more spare time now their children have grown up.
Theo Zentgraf - Business Manager
Based at head office in Tauranga, Theo takes care of the general management of TRS and its 40 plus team of employees.
He moved to Tauranga in late 2022 after spending six years managing and growing the TRS workshop in Nelson.
He is now enjoying guiding the TRS from a branch-style business model to a centrally-managed one, and leading the newly-formed senior management team.
Originally from South Africa, Theo studied electrical engineering before moving into the commercial side of the steel industry, setting up major business divisions in street light pole manufacturing and laser cutting.
Chasing a better climate, Theo immigrated to Auckland, where he worked for a multinational for two years before joining TRS.
In his new role, he enjoys the challenge of harnessing the technical and critical way skilled staff look at things and channeling it into a business, service or product that provides a benefit to TRS and its loyal customers.
He is also enjoying managing a business transformation in an industry that provides skills that play an important role in keeping the country’s industry going.
When he’s not leading the team, Theo enjoys spending time with family, including his three young children, aged 1, 3 and 5. He is also a keen hunter and gardener.
Aleisha Saunders - Commercial Manager
Aleisha moved to the TRS senior management team in 2023, having spent almost 2 years as the South Island sales representative for brother company TR Industries.
She was driven to make the move by the huge expansion and change happening at TRS and is excited to continue working with large industrial clients across the country to enhance the service they receive.
Having spent 10 years in the Oil & Gas Industry in business development and key account management across the Asia Pacific Region, Aleisha enjoys providing service/ application-based solutions to customers.
As the business implements a maintain, repair, and replace motto she is leading a shift towards more field service, condition monitoring and predictive maintenance across NZ’s industrial sites whilst also creating tailor made service plans.
She says the TRS team are great people to work with and enjoys the family orientated and ‘mateship’ culture of the business.
Originally from Australia, Aleisha craves the warmer weather and loves an adventure so in her spare time and when the NZ sun is shining Aleisha and her 5-year-old daughter love the beach, garden, barbeques, and road trips/ camping, whilst also tackling the slopes at Mt Hutt in the winter.
Danie Steyn - North Island Service Manager
As North Island manager, Danie is responsible for overseeing the smooth running of TRS workshops in Auckland, Bay of Plenty and Napier.
Originally from South Africa, he has a strong background in condition monitoring and has spent the last 20 years specialising in vibration analysis, a skill that is highly valued by the TRS team.
Danie enjoys working with the people at TRS, describing them as a great bunch who are willing to do their part and go the extra mile.
He likes the work ethic of the workshop teams, who are committed to seeing each job through until it’s done, resulting in excellent service for their customers.
When he’s not overseeing busy workshops, Danie is often entertaining his two sons, aged 4 and 11, taking them to the beach, going on outings or heading to a favourite camping spot.
Kyle Gower - South Island Service Manager
Kyle recently joined the TRS team and is enjoying meeting the workshop staff and clients across the four South Island sites.
His role involves making sure everything is going well, the work is coming in, the staff are keeping busy and most importantly the customers are happy.
He also focuses on health and safety procedures and monitoring across the sites and will assist with future expansion of TRS’ footprint in the South Island.
Originally from South Africa, Kyle has worked in the quarry industry for the past 16 years. He is a qualified millwright, a term given to people who are both fitters and electricians.
He moved to New Zealand in 2018 and was South Island crushing and screening manager for Mimico in Christchurch for five years before taking up the role at TRS.
Kyle enjoys working in a family-owned business and, having moved to a new industry, he values the support from friendly team members with a range of different backgrounds and expertise.
He and his wife have two young children and are just getting into camping around the South Island, building great family memories in their new country.
Barbara Cross Sales Team Manager - Dunedin
Based in Dunedin, Barb is a well-known team member across TRS, having formerly managed the Otago workshop.
She was working at EMD Limited when TRS founder Ian Rodgers bought the business and formed the first TRS branch in 2011.
Twelve years on, she now heads up the five-strong national TRS sales team, based across the country providing the background admin and sales support to the seven workshops nationwide.
Barb very much enjoys what she does and says TRS is a family-orientated business where ideas are listened to and staff kept well informed on the direction of the company.
Outside of work, Barb enjoys spending time with her four daughters and three grandchildren. You’ll also find her walking her two dogs or doing a bit of DIY and landscaping around her new home.
Mike Lumb - Workshop Manager - Napier
With nearly 30 years experience in motor rewinding, Mike leads the team of four technicians at the TRS workshop in Onekawa, Napier.
Mike started in the workshop 28 years ago, when the business was named Hawkes Bay Electric Motor Rewinders, and happily stayed on when TRS took over.
Prior to motor rewinding, Mike has experience in boat building and started his working life at a picture molding factory.
Since February 2023, when Cyclone Gabrielle hit Hawkes Bay, business at the Napier workshop has been ‘unreal’ with Mike also managing the dispatch of large motors for repair across the TRS network of workshops.
To relax outside of work, he likes to go both trout and ocean fishing.
Since purchasing a new 1100cc Africa twin adventure motorbike 18 months ago, Mike’s also enjoyed attending the Cold Kiwi Rally with friends and is planning a trip to ride at Molesworth Station in Marlborough.
Donovan Woodridge Workshop Manager - South Canterbury
A year into his role as TRS workshop manager in Timaru, Donovan is thoroughly enjoying the challenge.
Prior to joining the company, he spent a decade working for Toyota production systems in South Africa, specialising in robotics and automation.
He has degrees in both mechanical and electrical engineering and likes the fact the role at TRS gives him the chance to use skills from both.
He enjoys dealing with the South Canterbury customers face to face, saying the Timaru branch attracts the most ‘walk-ins’ of the seven TRS workshops nationwide.
When he’s not at work he loves enjoying the outdoors, deer hunting to keep the freezer full, hiking and spending time with his family.
He moved to Timaru to work for TRS from Hawkes Bay where he took a year’s break from engineering to work as a dairy farmer.
Tersius Kok Workshop Manager - Auckland
Tersius joined TRS in September 2023 and manages a team of four technicians at the Auckland workshop in Drury.
Prior to joining TRS he worked as a maintenance technician for Carters manufacturing and before that as a technical coordinator for Schaeffler Group in South Africa.
He prides himself and the workshop team on doing the best they can to provide great service to their customers.
Tersius said the depth of experience in the close-knit TRS team meant support for employees was just a phone call away.
When he’s not in the workshop, Tersius enjoys relaxing and spending time with his family, who moved to Auckland in February 2020, months before the first of many Covid lockdowns. Having ‘made it work’ through some tough times, they are now enjoying a more relaxed pace of life living across the southern Auckland border in Pokeno.
Guy Wesselo - Workshop Manager - Bay of Plenty
Guy comes from a mechanical aviation background, having worked in the assembly of experimental aircraft in South Africa.
He now heads up the team at the Bay of Plenty TRS workshop, based in Mount Maunganui.
Guy has been with TRS for a year and is enjoying the fresh challenges posed by the role.
He brings advanced mechanical skills to the team and is enjoying working with electrical motors, and learning the way TRS do business.
When he’s not in the workshop, Guy is making the most of living in the Bay, spear diving and fishing around Tauranga and the Coromandel. He is also making a return to a former passion for flying radio control airplanes and helicopters.
Calvin Thackwray - Technical Manager - Nelson
Coming from the power generation industry in South Africa, Calvin joined TRS six years ago and heads up a team of 10 at the Nelson workshop.
He completed his electrical apprenticeship in motor and generator rewinding in South Africa, before moving to the power generation industry for five years, a role that meant working at major power stations and regularly traveling to the Middle East.
At TRS he enjoys the strong family culture, which he says flows from the owners who get to know their team personally. Building a new life in New Zealand he has enjoyed sharing an occasional braai (barbeque) with the TRS team and values being part of a company striving to develop and grow the business together.
When he’s not in the workshop, Calvin enjoys camping and mountain biking with his wife and two children.
He feels extremely lucky to have called Nelson home since arriving in New Zealand, saying it’s a beautiful place that provides great work/life balance. The weather’s good, everything’s good – it’s an awesome place to live, he said.
He now claims to be 60 percent South African, 40 percent Kiwi, proudly wearing an All Black’s shirt anytime they are not playing the Springboks.
Matt Munro - Workshop Manager - Dunedin
Matt joined TRS in May 2023 and is currently a one man band in Dunedin, with plans to expand his workshop team in the new year.
Balclutha born and bred, he moved to Mosgiel 10 years ago where he lives with his wife, their five children, and a mini dachshund.
As a qualified electrician, he previously managed 65 electrical apprentices at Etco – Electrical Training Company, where he remains a night class tutor.
Matt is president of the Master Electrician’s Otago Branch and a big advocate for the industry he’s been in for more than 20 years.
Having worked in domestic, commercial and industrial electrical roles, he is enjoying the challenge of refreshing motor rewinding skills he used early in his career, and enjoys the variety of work at TRS.
Matt’s focus is on getting out to meet customers, reminding them that after a short absence in the Otago region, TRS is back and here to help.
He prides himself on his work being 100 percent and completed in a timely fashion, so his customers are happy.
When he’s not in the workshop, Matt enjoys spending time with family & friends, walks and bike rides with his family, pottering around in the garden and loves to holiday in Naseby.
Complete Lifetime Solutions
Our ability to provide complete lifetime solutions for our clients make us unique in the marketplace. We do this by conducting comprehensive electrical and mechanical condition monitoring, rigging, removal, workshop or onsite repairs and maintenance, and re-installation and alignment of equipment. By offering these services, TRS® can handle the entire lifecycle of our clients’ rotating machinery, from installation to eventual replacement.