ABOUT US

Meet the people behind Elevate

A woman with long dark hair, wearing a teal lace dress, smiling and sitting in an indoor setting.

Ellie Williams · Founder of Elevate Advisory

Fractional CFO | Chartered Accountant
Auckland

Ellie started Elevate to close a gap she kept running into throughout her career: founder-led businesses rarely get access to the kind of senior finance leadership that large organisations take for granted.

Most finance looks backwards: bookkeeping, reporting, a record of what already happened. Ellie built Elevate to look ahead, telling a founder whether they can afford the hire, when the cash is going to get tight, and what a bank needs to see before it backs them.

Her own path ran through BHP Billiton, Christie's Auction House, and Global Fashion Group in London, and accounting practices here in New Zealand. Leaving to build Elevate from the ground up meant seeing things from a founder's side, an experience that's shaped every piece of advice she's given since.

For Ellie, the financial decision and the human one are rarely separate. A hard call is never just a number on a page. It's payroll, a growth plan, a decision a founder has spent years building towards. It's why Elevate stays deliberately boutique: each business is known on a deeper level, its context, its pressures. Because building a business is personal, and founders deserve someone they can trust.

Finance is too often treated as admin: tidier numbers, a cost to keep down. We believe it's the thing that lets a business grow on purpose. Handled well, it changes the decisions you make tomorrow, so you move with confidence, instead of guessing.

The wider team

Every engagement is backed by the wider Elevate team. We're based across three cities, connected by our expertise in supporting New Zealand business owners.

Close-up of a smiling person with short, light brown or blonde hair, blue eyes, and a small earring, wearing a dark ribbed long-sleeve shirt. The background is softly lit with warm yellow tones.

Stephen Metzener

Finance Business Partner
Melbourne

Stephen trained as a Chartered Accountant through the Big Four, then moved to working with small and mid-sized businesses. He later ran his own hospitality business in Central America for six years, carrying it through the pandemic and tripling revenue on the other side.

At Elevate, he leads reporting and forecasting, turning the numbers into decisions a founder can confidently act on.

Best at: Relatability, and the trust that comes with it. He's sat in the founder's chair, so he knows what it feels like to carry the risk.

A woman with long dark wavy hair wearing a black top, smiling with arms crossed, standing against a beige background.

Mariel Llamelo

Assistant Accountant
Manila

Mariel spent five years in banking as a Trust Analyst, followed by a year in accounts collections, work that demanded precision, with no room for numbers that didn't add up. She moved into bookkeeping to work across the full accounting cycle.

At Elevate, she manages end-to-end bookkeeping in Xero: coding, payables, receivables, reconciliations, and month-end reporting.

Best at: Staying on top of things before they become an issue. Keeping the books accurate, meeting deadlines, and team collaboration.

Portrait of a young woman with brown hair, wearing a light-colored blouse, smiling slightly, against a blurred dark background.

Cristyl Edep

Assistant Accountant
Manila

Cristyl has spent almost seven years in accounting, moving between traditional firms and outsourced teams. In her last role, she managed financial statements and internal audits, work that left little room for anything to slip through unnoticed.

At Elevate, she works closely with clients to track down whatever's missing, keeping the books moving in Xero through coding, payables, receivables, and reconciliations.

Best at: Spotting a problem before it grows. She'll flag something early rather than let it sit, and she's always looking for a better way to run the process for the whole team.

Two people sitting at a conference table, participating in a video call displayed on a large screen, in a modern meeting room.

The team behind every engagement

How we work

The principles behind every engagement.

Honest numbers

We share what the numbers actually say, including the hire to hold back on or the month that's going to be tight, while there's still time to act on it.

Practical tools

We build what founders actually use, not what looks impressive. A simple model you understand beats a beautiful one that sits untouched.

Full support

Fractional doesn't have to mean detached. Founders will get CFO-level support throughout the entire engagement, not just a report at the end.

Financial storytelling

Numbers alone don't win a funding round or a board decision. We spend real time on the story behind them, because that's what earns the yes.