ABOUT US
Meet the people behind Elevate
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.
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 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.
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.
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.