Who is Tim McNamara and why is he running for council?

Tim in one front of his favourite murals in the city. Do you know where it is?

Tim is a local Dad, business owner and technology professional.

Internationally recognised in the tech industry, Tim is the author of "Rust in Action" - a textbook read by hundreds of thousands of software developers worldwide - and has been featured as a keynote speaker at major conferences across Europe, Asia and Australasia.

During his Master's degree in Public Policy from Victoria University of Wellington, he was awarded the Laurie Cameron Scholarship for research on the science sector and the interactions of the public and private sectors. Tim understands how local government works and how sound policy can benefit our city, its current residents and people looking to become one in the future.

Tim is deeply committed to knowledge sharing and community building. He hosts an educational YouTube channel and podcast, and in 2025 his company will bring the inaugural Rust Forge conference to Wellington, bringing hundreds of international delegates here and showcasing New Zealand on the world stage.

His tech career includes periods working for international players Amazon Web Services and Canonical, local businesses Dragonfly Data Science and DOT Loves Data. He's also been part of the research sector while at the New Zealand eScience Infrastructure hosted by the University of Auckland. Before pivoting to tech, he worked at the (then) Ministry of Civil Defence & Emergency Management and the Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand.

Tim with his dog Custard along the Hutt River.

Why run for council?

Let's make the incumbents work for it.

At present, few elected members have children under 10, there isn't a lot of technology expertise around the council table, and they haven't built businesses from scratch. So there's a space there that I will be able to fill.

Let's craft Lower Hutt into a vibrant place to live and work with walkable neighbourhoods and wonderful community facilities. Density is coming to this town and we should make the most of it. For example, the city's cycling and active transport infrastructure will need to significantly improve for us to be able to welcome the 30k extra residents that are expected to live in in 2 decades' time. Without change, traffic in the city's just going to get worse.

The city doesn't need to be thought of as a place where people move to because it's cheaper than where they actually wanted to be.

Tim, Custard and the cargo bike. If you see them in the city, give them a wave!

Chat to Tim

Always happy to chat! The easiest way to connect on LinkedIn. You're also very welcome to flick an email through to me: hi@timmo.nz.