Professional profile
- Exceptional change leader with a record of exceeding expectations and an absolute commitment to delivering results.
- Outstanding communicator with ability to influence direction and culture via strong strategic thinking, analysis and change management.
- Excellent political and professional judgement and commitment to the highest standards of public sector behaviour. Diverse international and New Zealand experience.
Career summary
| 2016-2021 | Expert Consultant, Sustainable Public Service Reform | Self-employed consultant to UNDP, World Bank and NZ public service |
| 2011-2016 | Deputy Commissioner, State Sector Results | NZ State Services Commission |
| 2010-2011 | Principal Advisor | NZ State Services Commission |
| 2009-2010 | General Manager, Medium Term Strategy Unit | NZ Ministry of Social Development |
| 2004-2008 | General Manager, Strategy | WorkCover South Australia |
| 2002-2003 | Project Manager | Victorian WorkCover Authority |
| 2001-2002 | Associate | McKinsey & Company |
Qualifications
| 2003-2004 | University of Oxford | MSC Comparative Social Policy |
| 1998-2000 | University of Oxford (Rhodes Scholar) | MPhil International Relations |
| 1997 | Victoria University of Wellington | BA (HONS) International Relations |
| 1994-1996 | Victoria University of Wellington | BA History and Political Science |
Career history
| Expert Consultant, Sustainable Public Service Reform |
| Self-employed, Wellington, Nay Pyi Taw (Myanmar) and Ulaanbaatar (Mongolia) |
| January 2016 – Current |
Responsibilities
- Providing expert advice on achieving sustainable public service reform in diverse jurisdictions (member of the UNDP Experts Roster for Crisis Governance)
- Lead international expert supporting the Mongolian Civil Service Council and Cabinet Secretariat and UNDP to deliver Civil Service Reform in Mongolia (5 missions from September 2018 to December 2019)
- Lead international expert supporting the Myanmar Union Civil Service Board and UNDP to deliver Civil Service Reform in Myanmar (9 missions from August 2016 to June 2018)
- Lead international expert working with the World Bank to support the development of a Civil Service Reform Stratgey for the Republic of the Marshall Islands and developing an approach for sharing lessons from COVID-19 public service managment challenges and responses between Pacific Island countries (from April 2021)
- Contracts with the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade to: 1) develop a policy framework to establish a common and modern approach to foreign, trade and development policy; 2) work with Pacific Island countries and international development partners to design and secure support for a Pacific public sector governance centre of excellence; 3) develop a new approach to New Zealand investing in climate change governance in the Pacific (April 2018 to December 2019)
- Contract with the Family Violence and Sexual Violence Joint Venture – a collaboration between nine government agencies – to support successful development of a National Stratgey (April-October 2021)
- Champion of the development of New Public Passion as a way of effectively harnessing intrinsic and extrinsic motivation to achieve sustainable reform
- Drawing off experience in previous Deputy Commissioner role of reform in New Zealand and exchanges on reform with Singapore, China, Malaysia, Indonesia, India, Pakistan, Iraq, Tonga, Samoa, Australia, UK, Scotland, Ireland and Canada and UNDP missions to Papua New Guinea and Vietnam
Achievements
- Led development of the Civil Service Reform Strategic Action Plan for Myanmar launched by State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi on 10 July 2017. Coached, inspired and facilitated four rounds of consultation with more than 1000 civil servants and non-governmental stakeholders including regional workshops with representation from States, Regions and the Self-Administered Zones and public consultation via Facebook
- Led development of a civil service reform strategy for Mongolia to leverage enactment of the new Civil Service Law from January 2019. Presented the reform and supporting training to 800 civil service leaders
- Achieved unanimous support from Pacific Islands and international development partners for the establishment of the Pacific Public Service Fale. The Fale is an expert team, based at the New Zealand State Services Commission and governed by Pacific Public Service Commissioners, seeking to improve public sector performance across the Pacific. Also led the securing of NZ$20 million in funding over 5 years to establish the Fale from January 2020
- Developed and achieved buy-in to a common policy approach and implementation plan at the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade for foreign, trade and development policy including policy quality standards and guidance on key policy analysis, commissioning and peer review tools
- Developed the policy and funding business case for MFAT New Zealand’s partnership with the UNDP Governance for Resilience programme
- Worked with the UNDP Global Centre for Public Service Excellence (GCPSE) in Singapore to develop the concept of New Public Passion as the centrepiece of their work on the intrinsic motivation of public servants (2013-2018)
| Deputy Commissioner, State Sector Results |
| State Services Commission, Wellington |
| May 2011 – January 2016 |
Responsibilities
- Direct report to the Head of State Services with responsibility for providing advice on overall New Zealand State sector performance and design to joint Central Agency leadership and senior Ministers
- Member of the Commission’s Senior Leadership Team
- Lead Performance Hub joint Central Agency team with up to 35 Treasury and SSC staff and budget of $5m
- Top Secret security clearance
Achievements
- Led policy work on the most significant redesign of the New Zealand public management system in 25 years including securing Cabinet agreement to the Better Public Services Results approach, mandates for Functional Leadership of ICT, property and procurement, the creation of the role of Head of State Services with associated powers and responsibilities, and enabling cross-agency collective impact through changes to the State Sector, Public Finance and Crown Entities Acts
- Supported implementation of reforms with a particular focus on cross-agency results and sector leadership, public reporting of results, strengthening the assurance role of the Government Chief Information Officer, execution of Functional Leadership mandates across the State services and designing funding solutions for cross-agency initiatives
- Secured Cabinet agreement to and funding for establishing an Analytics & Insights team within the Performance Hub to analyse anonymised ‘big data’ from across State services to identify new opportunities to achieve better outcomes for New Zealanders and improve value for money from initiatives
- Delivered improved whole of system performance information including the Kiwis Count and Human Resource Capability surveys and reporting on capping the size of core government administration
- Proposed, designed, negotiated agreement to and established the Performance Hub as a joint-Central Agency team with the support of the three Central Agencies and significant resource commitments from SSC and the Treasury – built a great team of influential and engaged professionals
- Inspirational NZ and international speaker on how we are making NZ’s world leading system even better and what everyone can learn from us
- Growing international thought-leadership role on public sector reform including work with the UNDP, CAPAM and diverse international jurisdictions
| Principal Advisor (Secondment) |
| State Services Commission, Wellington |
| November 2010 – April 2011 |
- Member of the joint central agency Future State team. Delivered advice on ‘redefining public services for the 21st Century’ which led to support from senior Ministers for significant public sector reform
- Supported the development of the new business strategy which redefined the Commission’s role in ‘leading a State Sector New Zealand is proud of’
| General Manager, Medium Term Strategy Unit |
| Ministry of Social Development, Wellington |
| February 2009 – October 2010 |
Responsibilities
- Work with the Social Sector Forum to set and give effect to medium term strategies for the social sector
- Produce cross-sector strategies that are of direct value to policy and delivery managers and transform services and results
- Manage Strategy Unit with up to 23 staff and budget of $3.5m
Achievements
- Worked with social sector CEs to identify key priorities for the sector and developed an engaging communication strategy to underpin discussions with joint Ministers
- Led cross-agency identification of social sector service transformation opportunities and developed the case for change endorsed by the Prime Minister
- Developed models for trialling innovative approaches to social services delivery at a community level enabling the Ministerial decision to implement trials in 2011
- As secretary to the Whānau Ora Taskforce, supported the development of their groundbreaking report on whānau-centred service delivery
- Led delivery of The Social Report 2009 – covering 43 indicators that identified trends in social outcomes and provided international comparisons to inform public and policy debate
- Successfully integrated elements of four previous policy and research teams to build a new team capable of developing and delivering on medium term strategies – secured a Gallup Q12 mean score of 4.04 (MSD overall result of 3.65)
- Four month secondment (May-August 2010) to the State Services Commission working with a cross-departmental team on the case for State sector reform. Led work on network governance and accountability, open government and personal information sharing.
| General Manager, Strategy (Direct Report to CEO) |
| WorkCover South Australia |
| September 2004 – January 2008 |
WorkCover (now ReturnToWorkSA) managed the scheme that provides workers compensation and rehabilitation for injured workers across 65,000 employers. Urgent change environment due to low return to work rates leading to a funding ratio below 60% and an unfunded liability that exceeded $1billion.
Responsibilities
- Support Board and CEO with strategic decision-making and leadership of scheme-critical projects as member of Executive Management Team
- Manage Strategy Group with 20 staff, budget of $7m and corporate responsibilities including strategic and business planning, performance reporting, policy, government relations, partnership management, research and risk management
Achievements
- Worked with CEO and Board to develop a new strategic plan that established the strategies, measures and targets to turn the scheme around over a 10 year period – implementation of this strategy led to an annual profit for the first time in a decade in 2009-10 ($77.2m) and a reduction in the unfunded liability and average levy rate
- Successfully managed complex major change projects reforming the service delivery model and legislative framework to underpin scheme turnaround
- Redesigned business model for the contracting of outsourced claims management services to establish an innovative single provider partnership and led $150m contract negotiation that aligned provider incentives to achievement of financial and social objectives of the scheme, strengthened governance/control and secured additional resources at no cost
- Led an 18-month effort to improve the effectiveness of the scheme legislation, resulting in the passage of major legislative reform for the first time in 20 years
- Worked with challenging employer and union stakeholder Board, the Minister’s office and key stakeholders to build consensus on the need to take a radically different approach to the delivery of core services and build the case for legislative change
- Strengthened networks with interstate and international jurisdictions to enhance exchange of knowledge and experience including a new research network and the development of an industry environmental scan for authorities across Australasia
- Implemented high quality public performance reporting to enhance transparency with external stakeholders and effectively communicate important issues
- Developed a plan that delivered sustainable 10% reduction in staffing numbers and associated budget through role alignment driven efficiency and productivity gains
- Forged a strong team commitment to excellence within the Strategy Group reflected in 20% higher than average team engagement score in business-wide survey
| Project Manager |
| Victorian WorkCover Authority, Melbourne |
| August 2002 – August 2003 |
Responsibilities
- Manage project to develop and implement a new service model for achieving return to work for injured workers who are unable to return to pre-injury employment
Achievements:
- Implemented project to schedule and budget, following five previous failed attempts, to align provider financial incentives with the delivery of outcomes
- Resulted in the return to work rate for difficult claims improving from 10% to 20% and an 11% reduction in rehabilitation costs, 2003 – 2005
| Associate |
| McKinsey & Company, Auckland and Melbourne |
| January 2001 – July 2002 |
Responsibilities
- Assignments in New Zealand and Australia with clients in the biotechnology, food technology, agricultural, venture capital and financial sectors, on issues including innovation, intellectual property commercialisation, benchmarking and performance measurement, governance and operational efficiency.
Achievements:
- Developed organisational design for $90m research & development budget for a major Australasian agricultural player including researching global examples of excellence, synthesising insights and defining structures
- Worked with a leading global venture capital fund to assess the value of a $300m proposed Asia-Pacific hi-tech sector investment including a review of the industry size, structures and trends, an analysis of the competitive landscape and the modelling of sensitivities to changes in demand or loss of market share
- Worked with an international financial institution to achieve efficiency in back office operations, successfully identifying cost savings valued at $20m per annum
- Prepared business plans for the commercialisation of three innovative agricultural technologies, each with projected market values of more than $100m
- Researched and prepared a presentation for first New Zealand Knowledge Wave Conference on the rate of change in the local economy and the benchmarking of investment productivity, innovation and research against comparison countries
Other details
| Public speaking | 3rd ranked individual speaker and 2nd ranked team, World University Debating Championships, Sydney, 2000 |
| Oxford Union Debater of the Year, 1999 | |
| 1st ranked impromptu and prepared speaker in New Zealand, 1997 (NZ Universities Blue) |