Fergal
O'Gara

Born and bred on the West Coast of Ireland, I am the youngest of four boys. My mother was hoping for a girl but it wasn't to be.  My parents were self employed, together Mum and Dad owned and operated a small supermarket and butcher shop, they also owned their own farm which was used to supply the business. Needless to say there was no shortage of food in our house.

Honesty and hard work were values ingrained from an early age as my brothers and I spent weekends and holidays working in the business.  When we had time to play, I could be found on the local Gaelic football pitch.

I attended secondary school at Cistercian College Roscrea where I met life long mates and got involved with as much as I could.  Rugby turned out to be my sport of choice and I was lucky enough to play representative rugby for Connacht up to under 20.

In 1992 I attended the Galway Mayo Institute of Technology and graduated with a BA in Hotel and Catering Management.  I then moved to London and was accepted on a graduate management programme for the Holiday Inn hotel chain.  As part of the programme I studied to be an Accountant and qualified in 2002 while working as a financial controller. 

While living in London, I met my Hokitika born wife Wendy. We came out to NZ in 2002 to get married and I knew then that I would come back here to live.

A stint working with Gillette convinced me that I'd rather not work for large corporates and instead we looked for opportunities of our own. In 2004 we moved to the West Coast and I managed and later purchased a manufacturing business based in Hokitika, Arnold Products.

In 2008, following a strategic planning session with my Accountant and Business Advisor, I took the opportunity to join the team at Marshall & Heaphy and sold Arnold Products. I am fortunate to have been a client of Marshall & Heaphy as I witnessed first hand how hard the team worked for us and how our business flourished with them in our corner.

I believe in giving things a go and fully support business owners in trying to achieve their goals. We are privileged to be able to work with awesome business owners and be a part of their success.