Our speakers

Adele is the General Manager Corporate Services at Western Bay of Plenty District Council. She is passionate about local government having been in the sector for 15 years. She has previously worked for both Wellington and Napier City Councils before moving further north. Adele is the current Chair of the Financial Management Reference Group at Taituāra supporting the sector activities and contributing to the key financial work programmes.

Ali Scholes is a Chief Adviser in the Infrastructure Regulation branch at the Commerce Commission. She works within the water regulation team, helping to develop economic regulation for water services across Aotearoa. Ali is a Chartered Accountant with a background in audit and in‑house finance, and brings experience in information disclosure regulation from across several sectors regulated by the Commission. Her work focuses on shaping regulatory frameworks that are practical and grounded in the long‑term interests of consumers.

Andrew has been with Rotorua Lakes Council since March 2024, after a short time at Taupō District Council where he was the General Manager of Operations & Delivery.  Andrew’s career has been largely in the private sector, leading the delivery of major capital projects, building te4ams and leading digital transformation.  Prior to returning to New Zealand in 2022, Andrew lived and worked in Sydney, Thailand, Singapore, and Myanmar.  Andrew’s qualifications include a Bachelor of Engineering (Hons) from the University of Canterbury, and an Executive MBA (Dist) from the INSEAD International Business School (Singapore, France, Abu Dhabi). 

Angela Millward is the Product Design Lead for Datascape at Datacom, where she leads the design of systems that help councils work smarter — from service delivery through to internal operations.

With a background spanning software development, UX, and AI strategy, Angela brings a rare combination of technical depth and human-centred design thinking to local government technology. Her recent work focuses on embedding AI into council platforms in ways that are practical, ethical, and governed — shifting staff from repetitive tasks to higher-value decision-making roles. In 2025, she was recognised with an ARN Emerging Technology Award for her leadership in AI transformation.

Angela is the founder of People Before Paper and a change architect, strategist, leadership coach, and facilitator specialising in change leadership and organisational performance.

With a decade in senior leadership within local government, and an earlier career in corporate insurance … Angela brings deep experience in complex, highly regulated environments. She understands the realities leaders face … balancing governance, accountability, and sustained performance while navigating constant change.

Ann oversees Taituarā membership and sponsorship activities, as well as our major events; the Annual Conference and Gala Dinner.Ann is a stakeholder engagement, event management, and communications professional with broad experience across sectors including tertiary education and the public sector.

With over 15 years of tax experience, over the past decade Annabel has dedicated her expertise to advising local government entities on Employment Taxes, Goods and Services Tax (GST), and Income Tax issues, ensuring compliance obligations are met and tax strategies have been optimised. Annabel also leads the PwC Tax Governance practice, and has helped many clients across all sectors develop robust tax control frameworks.

Of Annabel’s many notable achievements, she spearheaded the development of fast-track approval processes for mayoral fund donations during emergency response scenarios. This initiative has streamlined the allocation of crucial resources during times of need, reinforcing her commitment to effective and responsive governance, the value of which was never more than evident than after Cyclone Gabrielle.

Throughout her career, Annabel has collaborated with numerous local government clients nationwide, providing invaluable support to finance and payroll teams. Her comprehensive understanding of the unique challenges faced by local governments has made her a trusted advisor in the field. She is renowned for her practical insights and strategic approaches to tax management.

Anusha has held a number of New Zealand public sector leadership roles, including  Deputy Chief Executive Community and Partnerships at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, Executive Director, Office of Ethnic Communities at the Department of Internal Affairs and Chief of Staff at Wellington City Council. Anusha’s roles have focussed on working with communities and leading democracy at grassroots level. 

Ben is an electoral officer with practical experience delivering elections across local government, iwi, energy trusts, and other organisations. Since joining Election Services in 2022, he has developed a strong interest in electoral systems. His work includes processing results for local government elections, managing electoral databases, supporting representation reviews, and preparing GIS maps, boundary plans, and population models. Ben brings a solid understanding of First Past the Post (FPP) and Single Transferable Voting (STV), with a particular interest in their use in Aotearoa New Zealand elections.

Bill Wasley is the director of Bill Wasley Consulting Ltd and has a wealth of experience and knowledge particularly in respect of local government, growth management, spatial planning and hearing commissioner roles, including management, and governance roles.

He has more than 40 years’ experience in resource management and senior management positions in local government and the private sector and has a professional planning background. Bill held senior planning and management roles in district and city councils for approximately 15 years prior to establishing his own planning consultancy in 1996.     

Independent chairing primarily in collaborative/partnership frameworks involving multiple Councils and agencies, project management and resource management work, has been a key element of Bill’s consultancy work.  This includes substantial work on integrated growth management strategies and spatial plans (partnership structures and arrangements, strategy development, funding, and implementation) throughout New Zealand. Active collaboration, trusted relationships and working in partnership with a range of Councils, mana whenua, government and non-government agencies, have been integral to work undertaken by Bill.

He was appointed as the first independent chair of the SmartGrowth growth management partnership in 2000, with similar appointments as independent chair of the Greater Christchurch partnership in 2007, and the Future Proof partnership in 2009 which he still currently chairs. He was also independent chair of the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Strategy Advisory Group, and the Waikato Regional Council Healthy Rivers Wai Ora Collaborative Stakeholder Group. He has been a member of various governance boards including a ministerial appointee to the Bay of Plenty District Health Board.

He completed 3 ½ years as a government appointed Tauranga City Council governance commissioner, a role that ended with the election of a new Council in July 2024.

Bill has undertaken a range of hearing commissioner assignments over the last 27 years for various Councils either in a sole commissioner capacity, or as chair of hearing panels.

He received the New Zealand Planning Institute Distinguished Service Award in 2018, and in 2025, received the NZ Property Council- Central Region, Long Service Award.

Brian has over 25 years in the ICT industry working in a number of roles from technical to management. He has been a Project Manager with Datam since 2014.

Brian was the Datam Project Manager for the Local Government Elections in 2022 and 2025. His role involved working with multiple stakeholders, suppliers, and customers to ensure the successful production and lodgment of voting packs within the required timelines for all electors in New Zealand.

In his spare time he enjoys running, spending time with his family and is a local celebrity for his part in the Christmas Lights display in Cambridge.

Bruce is an established governance and risk expert within the public sector with active membership of audit and risk committees and directorships. His practice also includes consulting work and investigations. His advisory work covers strategy, effective decision making, value for money and performance, organisational and functional “health checks”, and how clients can make collaborative frameworks “real”. Bruce’s work has a strong focus on bringing together the financial and asset management disciplines within organisations to drive planning and performance plus deliver value for money. Bruce is a fellow of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand.

Carol has an extensive public sector career with a passion to identify ways to ensure diverse voices are heard during decision-making processes through authentic and user-centred community and stakeholder engagement. This includes a focus on relationship and capacity building to support democratic processes and civic engagement. She currently leads a team who provide a range of activities including quality political advice, plans and programmes delivery and relationship building internally and externally to support Auckland’s unique shared governance model.

Carolyn has more than 25 years of experience working in Parliament and local government. She is the Strategic Planning Manager at Horowhenua District Council, working where these worlds combine, currently focused on the Long Term Plan and reforms.

With extensive knowledge of the machinery of both central and local government, Carolyn works across Council, communities and with other councils and organisations to help deliver complex projects and strategic outcomes.

She has a collaborative leadership style and is a strong advocate for a one-team approach. She has a continuous improvement mindset, bringing innovation, curiosity and a drive to improve how we work together.

I have been married for 42 years and have 4 kids and 5 granddaughters who I love to pieces.

Grew up mostly in Palmerston North in Highbury attending Takaro, Monrad and Palmerston North BHS. Then joined the National Bank in Palmy straight out of high school in December 1977.

I had spent 40 years with the Bank being shifted all around NZ and held senior executive roles with the Bank which was taken over by the ANZ (the bank was my second whanau, and I loved every day of my job). My last role was GM ANZ Business Bank/ Retail and was a part of the biggest financial merger creating the biggest Bank in New Zealand.

I should have retired but wanted to help my people progress so undertook a role as Director for Māori and Pacific with MSD which I had the opportunity with working with some fantastic people.

After three years the role of CEO, Civic Financial Services Ltd was put in front of me and it just felt the right fit.

Sports crazy I represented my country in both Football and Softball in age group and had the honour of coaching the best domestic football team in NZ called Napier City Rovers. ( Liverpool supporter)

Chris Smith is the Systems Manager at Tauranga Airport, leading risk management, business continuity, emergency management, and supporting the Safety Management System (SMS) that integrates safety, operational performance, and regulatory compliance. She brings strong experience working across local government and emergency services, including Tauranga City Council, Health New Zealand, and St John, supporting effective multi‑agency coordination and readiness. Chris is Chair of the St John Area Committee, a member of the Connected Communities Governance Board, and serves on the Central Regional Trust Board. Her work focuses on governance, organisational resilience, and pragmatic, risk‑based approaches that support both safety outcomes and sustainable operations.

Charles Marohn, known as “Chuck ” to friends and colleagues, is the founder and president of Strong Towns. He is a land use planner and civil engineer with decades of experience. He holds a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering and a Master of Urban and Regional Planning, both from the University of Minnesota.

Chuck is the author of Strong Towns: A Bottom-Up Revolution to Rebuild American Prosperity (Wiley, 2019), Confessions of a Recovering Engineer: Transportation for a Strong Town (Wiley, 2021) and Escaping the Housing Trap: The Strong Towns Response to the Housing Crisis (Wiley, 2024). He hosts the Strong Towns Podcast and is a primary writer for Strong Towns’ web content. He has presented Strong Towns concepts in hundreds of cities and towns across North America. Planetizen named him one of the 10 Most Influential Urbanists of all time.

Chuck Marohn will be brought to Aotearoa New Zealand to attend NZPIC26 thanks to Aurecon.