The most important work of the decade.
We're helping NZ/AU organisations navigate the biggest shift in how work gets done. Handled carelessly, AI displaces people and wastes investment - this work is too important to get wrong.
Our mission: building AI-first systems that transform how organisations work, and give people back time.
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Years Digital Innovation
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Projects Delivered
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Project Delivery Rate
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Annual User Sessions
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Unique AI Workflows
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Largest AI RAG
Our Story
15 years building technology that works.
Now focused on what matters most.
We started over 15 years ago as a small studio where Isaac and Rainui discovered what they were best at: building technology that works for people. From design studio to enterprise delivery, every step driven by the same belief: people should be at the centre of every project.
In 2018, as our projects outgrew the studio model, we became RIVER. The name captures how we work: vision and momentum, but always reading the terrain (the best of waterfall and agile). Clear direction, constant adaptation.
When ChatGPT launched in late 2022, we made the call within a month: whether we like it or not, this is the future. Two years of R&D followed. We broke things, rebuilt our stack, and solved the hard problems: hallucinations, security, cost, integration. We came out the other side with a platform and methodology built for enterprise AI delivery.
Today we're RIVER Group. An enterprise AI execution partner with a 100% delivery record across 500+ projects. We repositioned deliberately, bringing 15 years of enterprise delivery experience to the problem that matters now.
We build AI-first systems that transform how organisations work, and give people back time.
Nau mai haere mai, ko tā mātou he ringa whāngai.
Our vision is a world where technology empowers people. With AI impacting how that looks on a regular basis, this is too important to get wrong.
Our vision is a world where technology empowers people. With AI impacting how that looks on a regular basis, this is too important to get wrong.
Isaac Rolfe
Founder
Technology can do great things, but we've seen many projects fail because they didn't look after the user.
We treat people as the hero of our projects.This is where we stand apart.
We treat people as the hero of our projects.This is where we stand apart.
Rainui Teihotua
Co-founder
Senior Team
Senior team. Built for enterprise delivery.
Strategy, technology, design and research. All senior, no layers. Every person on your project has the experience and authority to make decisions.
Isaac Rolfe
Managing Director
20+ years shipping high-impact projects across NZ and Australia. Built RIVER's enterprise AI platform and designed the agentic architecture behind it. Leads strategy, client partnerships, and the vision behind every engagement.
AI Strategy & Agentic Architecture
Tim Hatherley-Greene
Chief Operating Officer
20+ years turning complex challenges into working systems. From Canterbury's earthquake recovery to enterprise AI adoption, Tim brings operational rigour to every engagement. Makes sure the right things get built, and that people actually use them.
AI Adoption & Enterprise Transformation
Rainui Teihotua
Chief Creative Officer
20+ years designing products people actually use. Leads RIVER's creative direction, turning complex workflows into clean interfaces that teams pick up without a training manual. Every screen, every interaction, designed around the people using it.
Design & User Experience
Mak Khan
Chief AI Officer
Leads RIVER's AI platform with a builder's mindset. Co-built Hakamana AI, one of NZ's largest enterprise knowledge platforms, and ships enterprise AI that scales with integrity. Brings hands-on AI engineering to every client engagement.
Agentic AI & Knowledge Architecture
John Li
Chief Technology Officer
20+ years in software engineering and platform architecture. Leads the infrastructure that makes RIVER's AI secure, scalable, and production-ready. His philosophy: build it properly, make sure it never goes down, keep it sovereign.
Platform & AI Infrastructure
Dr Tania Wolfgramm
Chief Research Officer
30 years bridging Indigenous knowledge systems and technology. Presented at Google and Stanford, authored Waitangi Tribunal research, and co-founded Hakamana AI. Brings cultural authority and academic rigour no purely technical company could match.
Applied Research & Evaluation
Hassan Nawaz
Senior Developer
15+ years across full-stack development, API integrations, and platform architecture. The development core behind RIVER's project delivery. Builds whatever the tech stack demands, and makes sure it works in production.
Full-Stack & API Engineering
Louise Epa
AI Analyst & Research Consultant
15+ years spanning Pacific health systems, data analysis, and AI research. Co-built Samoa's national M&E framework and mapped NZ public sector AI adoption. Bridges nation-level health data experience with hands-on AI prototyping.
Pacific Health Data & AI Research
Action Research Team
PhD-led. Research-grounded delivery.
Led by Dr Tania Wolfgramm, our Action Research Team joins select projects where the problem needs more than engineering. They validate AI models, design evaluation frameworks, and make sure what we ship actually works in the real world.
Dr Gerson Tuazon
AI Strategy & Health Innovation
20+ years spanning AI strategy, health innovation, and leadership development. His PhD in perspective-taking gives him a unique lens on AI adoption: why teams embrace new tools and why they resist. Brings behavioural insight to engagements where people and process matter most.
Dr Josiah Koh
Education & AI Innovation
20+ years across education, enterprise systems, and AI. Took online course completion from 40% to 100% and built WSU's online learning platform from scratch to 95% pass rate. Brings research, product development, and pedagogy to AI solutions across education and technology.
Dr Vincent Russell
Machine Learning (AI) Engineer
PhD mathematician and ML engineer. Understands AI at the mathematical foundations level, not just how to use it, but why it works and when it won't. Brings deep technical validation to RIVER's most complex AI deployments.
Industry Partners
Domain leaders. Shared vision, deep impact.
Our partners are leaders in the industries we serve. They bring domain expertise, trust, and credibility that shapes the work we do together. When we partner on a project, we bring the technology. They bring the context that makes it matter.
Jay Harrison
Health Technology Advisory
Career at the intersection of health and technology. Built the precision health platform for Edison Clinic, and now serves as Chief Wellness Officer at UniMed. Brings a rare combination of startup execution and health industry depth to RIVER's healthcare engagements.
Precision Health & Wellness
Mike Ridgway
Technology Growth Advisory
30+ years building technology companies from startup to international scale. Leads Yes Group, a transformation consultancy that partners with RIVER on enterprise AI programmes. Brings commercial strategy, governance, and scaling expertise to joint engagements.
Scaling & Governance
Rikimata Massey
Health CIO Advisory
20+ years of IT leadership across healthcare, research, and tertiary sectors. As Director of Kaha Digital, specialises in data strategy and digital health transformation. Brings deep expertise in clinical workflows, health technology, and Māori health system design.
Data & Digital Health
Hannah Terangi Wynne
Strategic Communications Advisory
Strategic communications specialist across government, iwi development, and Pacific health. Senior Advisor for Māori Communications at the Ministry of Education. Brings community-centred thinking to stakeholder engagement and technology adoption.
Iwi Development & Public Health
Our Values
What drives us. How we operate.
Grounded in te ao Māori, these values aren't aspirational statements, they're how we make decisions every day.
Ngākau Tangata
People First
We invest in the people we work with. Our clients, their teams, their customers. If it doesn't work for the people using it, it doesn't work.
We design for adoption, not just delivery.
Ngākau-roa
Perseverance
Our dedication to overcoming challenges defines us. We push, we reflect, and we pivot, but we never give up on a problem worth solving.
We stay until it works in the real world.
Ngākau Tapatahi
Integrity
Deep integrity guides our decisions. We do the right thing, even when it means recommending less work, not more.
We tell you what you need to hear, not what you want to hear.
Ngākau-nui
Insight
We're curious, challenge assumptions, and take nothing for granted. Our work is practical, effective, and grounded in evidence.
We solve the right problem before solving it right.
Client Voices
Trusted by teams that scale.
We partner with our clients for meaningful impact.
RIVER learnt our business inside out and found growth opportunities we hadn't seen. Their expertise has made a real difference on our ability to scale.
Jay Harrison
Founder, Edison Health 2022
We crunch through complex data to generate insights. RIVER made it simple to work through, while keeping everyone aligned on our app's core value proposition.
Alex Osborn
CTO, trev 2024
RIVER has been central to our technology and growth. Their ability to deliver solutions that perform continues to drive results across our business.
Mark Bramwell
Director, Commercial Realty 2024
RIVER listens, understands our needs, and delivers solutions that give us back time. That's what a good partnership looks like.
Tony Naidu
Development Manager, ABA 2025
RIVER helped us validate our market, launch our platform, and continue to provide ongoing support. They've been with us every step.
Mike Collins
Founder, iMatch Sport 2025
RIVER has been a trusted partner throughout this project. They've exceeded our expectations, and we're already seeing the difference their work is making.
Ellen Lekka
Programme Specialist, UNESCO 2025
The team at RIVER has been an incredible partner from day one. Their ongoing support has helped make our success possible.
Scott Townshend
Founder, trev 2022
RIVER approached every detail with care. We're impressed by how thoughtful they are, ensuring each decision is made with consideration and purpose.
Daemon Coyle
GM, MHF 2021
Our new brand is bold and effective, and customers love it. The website has driven a real increase in leads.
Marcus Sin
GM, Cleanly 2020