Queenstown

Lisa Lines

Lisa looks after our many and varied Queenstown clients which include tradies, travel agencies, rental agencies, doctors, not-for-profits, and many others.

Lisa has a strong background in accounting with qualifications from Otago University and extensive experience with various Chartered Accounting firms, plus a long stint at Spark in Wellington. But Lisa’s not just about numbers, her main strength is supporting clients as a business advisor with forward planning and budgeting.

Lisa’s farming background has stood her in good stead, and our clients appreciate her genuine, friendly, helpful and down to earth attitude.

James Swaney

James is a fully qualified Chartered Accountant and studied at Lincoln University to gain a BCom, majoring in Accounting, Finance and Information Technology.

James spent over four years working in the motor vehicle industry in Timaru, before becoming a Chartered Accountant.
Looking at the big picture, setting goals and helping clients plan to achieve those goals are what James enjoys most about his job.

When James is not in the office he is usually spending time with his family, and sometimes out on the squash court or race track. James is also a big rugby, cricket and motor sport fan.

Demetri Pappas

Demetri assists with managing the many and varied Queenstown clients, achieving best outcomes in a friendly and professional nature.

Demetri has developed his accounting with a Bachelor of Business – Majoring in Banking & Finance from James Cook University, and a number of years experience with a number of accounting firms.

Although Demetri’s not all work and no play, his main interests include mountain biking, rock climbing and camping.

Sarah Veasey

Sarah is the Client Relationship Manager in the Wanaka office!

She grew up right here in Wanaka from age 10 – and has been here 18 years! She now lives here with her two kids, Jacob and Alandria.

Sarah loves to play sport, mainly play netball and futsal. She’s also a bit of a gym and CrossFit bunny – and she’s off to the Gold Coast in October to compete in the Spartan race.

Previously, Sarah worked for Kiwibank in Wanaka, for 4 ½ years and even before that she worked as a barista with Keighley from Sidekick Wanaka office!

We’re stoked to have Sarah as part of the team!

Ric Thorpe

Ric Thorpe is one of the owners of Sidekick Chartered Accountancy group. Ric is one of the leads in the 20 strong Christchurch team as well as assisting the Sidekick group across the South Island, which now has offices in 8 locations and over 60 team members (with an additional 17+ overseas). Ric has been instrumental in fostering the incredible family-like team culture at Sidekick and helping grow the businesses by spreading the word of Fixed-Fee, Modern Accountancy across the country. Ric has also held  roles in governance and strategy for not-for-profit organisations, membership organisations such as the Christchurch Business Club, as well as within the Sidekick Group.

Traditionally Ric has been at the front end of Sidekick as the sales expert, building referral networks and solution partners across many industries. Since 2020 Ric has been predominantly Christchurch based (which can largely be attributed to the Covid-19 situation). Now Ric’s role is a mix between sales and consulting to small and medium businesses. Working with clients mostly to help them grow! His expertise lie in sales, establishing a strategy, pitching and most importantly, closing!

More time in Christchurch has provided a great opportunity to focus on internal projects, including team development and the SidekickTV channel, where Ric interviews local business people about a variety of hot topics in economic discourse.

A key thing for Ric is culture. If you have the right people and they all have a common purpose along with respect and love for one another, your business should thrive!

Julie Copland

Whilst also being a Chartered Accountant, Julie has a passion for projects and improving business processes. Julie works across the Sidekick Group to find better and smarter ways to work.

After attending Lincoln University, Julie was in the New Zealand Airforce where she was a Logistics Officer, organising the deployment of both staff and equipment within New Zealand and around the world. She then moved home to Canterbury to pursue Accounting and has since had roles in a Chartered Accounting firm in Ashburton, as a Management Accountant for Ravensdown, and then more lately Midlands Apiaries.

Outside of work Julie loves playing squash and netball, travelling, and spending time with her husband Dan and son Thomas.

Kirsten Maclean

Kirsten specialises in dispute resolution, relationship property, HR, and employment law.

A litigator with over 20 years experience in all forms of dispute resolution both here and in England, Kirsten is also a qualified and admitted solicitor on the UK Solicitors’ roll. Kirsten has appeared at all levels of courts in the civil and employment jurisdiction, including the Court of Appeal in New Zealand and junioring in the House of Lords in the UK.

Her significant expertise enables her to provide a range of advice and guidance relating to everything from all aspects of health and safety, to assisting in the prevention and resolution of employment-related issues for both employers and employees, relationship property matters and complex commercial, civil and trust litigation and disputes.

With an outstanding track record for resolving complex litigation while previously working as a partner of a medium sized Canterbury firm and the head of an employment and dispute resolution team, she ensures her client’s business is future-proofed.

Josh Wilson

Josh is a software specialist and Chartered Accountant with 14 years industry experience, and is spearheading the move to cloud-based accounting through Sidekick Cloud, launched in 2019.

As traditional, time-consuming methods of book-keeping are being challenged in the market place – especially in the highly mobile post COVID-19 economy – Josh’s passion is in the potential of real-time cloud technology and its ability to enhance business efficiency and profitability. He designs holistic business systems for his clients and has a special focus on the add-on software market.

Josh has a talent for assessing clients’ needs and ensuring he provides each business with the capability to manage their own finances through thorough training and ongoing support. He believes that this is the key to the sustainability of any new system and enjoys witnessing clients start to manage their own accounts with confidence. He is constantly learning and expanding his own knowledge in the world of add-on products for Xero users – such as WorkflowMax, Hubdoc and Unleashed – so that he can continue to offer the very best solutions for Kiwi businesses.

Joseph Houghton

Joe is based in Christchurch but will be operating in the Marketing Coordinator role for the whole Sidekick group. 

Joe grew up in Auckland and Sydney but went to school in Auckland before he studied Marketing & Media at Victoria in Wellington.

Outside of work, Joe is an avid mountain biker and competes in races around the country. He also surfs and snowboards, and is excited about being able to do all of these now he’s based in Canterbury!