Online event: Community Plan Forum

Raymond re-joined Taituarā in June 2014 as Sector Improvement Manager, before commencing his current role as Chief Advisor at Taituarā. He has spent most of the last 20 years in local government related roles, most recently with the Department of Internal Affairs.

He describes his job as two-thirds providing assistance to the local government sector and one-third providing advice to central government on local government matters. His ambition is to help develop a Local Government Act that doesn’t require changes every 18 months. He asks that you wish him well with this task.

Alex Walker has been Mayor of Central Hawke’s Bay since 2016, where elections delivered a strong mandate for change, including six new Councillors and a new Mayor.

Focussing on long-term success for her small district has meant taking a patient approach when it comes to re-building council business, from the community up. Her experience in leading major change as Board Chair of her local primary school, backed up by her corporate experience in strategic marketing and product development, has meant she has lead a back-to-basics process starting with strong governance, community engagement, clear strategic direction and high-quality executive leadership. Building a strength-based strategic framework around a vision of well-being in her community has allowed Alex’s council team to focus on the truly transformational issues that her district faces, and ensure that council energy and resource is being spent in the right place – both in terms of time and effort spent at the governance table, and resource spent by staff.

A Mayor, a Mother, a Musician, a Microbiologist and a Marketing professional, Alex is bringing community governance and leadership to the wellbeing of rural New Zealand. Transparency, true partnership with our communities, communication, and forward-thinking strategy will increase ownership, participation and credibility of local government. “I am taking responsibility for this kind of leadership. Localism-in-action.”

Monique Davidson was the youngest local government chief executives in New Zealand, appointed at the age of 29. She is currently the Chief Executive at Horowhenua District Council. Born and bred in Levin, Monique completed a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Arts at Victoria University of Wellington. Monique served at Horowhenua District Council for seven years in several Senior Management roles before starting as Chief Executive at Central Hawke’s Bay District Council in June 2016.

Monique is a transformational leader, who identifies a vision, clearly communicates that and takes people with her to deliver. Monique is involved in a variety of groups. In 2010 Monique received a New Zealand Leadership Development Centre Scholarship, and in 2019 Taituarā awarded her the Skills Organisation Melbourne Business School leadership scholarship, Leading for Strategic Success. Monique is currently a member of the National Three Waters Reform Steering Committee.

Monique is passionate about local government, and takes time to create meaningful relationships putting wellbeing outcomes at the centre of her work across the organisation she leads, and the wider local government family.

Angela Jane is the Manager of Strategic Planning at Masterton District Council. She has been working in local government for the last 24 years, starting out as a Committee Advisor before taking on management roles mainly in governance, policy and planning. Working with elected members is her passion - finding better ways for them to understand their role and help their decision-making is a key driver for continuous improvements.

Hillmarè Schulze is the Chief Economist at BERL. She draws on her experience, being a practising economist for more than 30 years across the globe. She has worked in multilateral and bilateral organisations, private and government sector. She is currently heading BERL, and values the credible and independent voice that the team brings to the economic and policy dialogue in New Zealand. BERL has been in business for more than 60 years, and prides itself on being a private economic consultancy, supporting central and regional government, private companies as well as various Māori and iwi entities by providing a credible evidence base and economic analysis to support good decision-making. She is a strong supporter of regional economic development, the Māori economy and making sure that the next generation has the tools to be productive global citizens.

Prior to joining BERL, Hillmarè worked for Te Puni Kōkri and the then Department of Labour. She moved to New Zealand in 2016, from the World Bank, where she worked as a senior economist focussed on 47 African countries.

She believes that economic development is a means to an end, and definitely not the end itself. Economic development should support families and communities to grow and thrive.

Rhiannon Suter is the Strategy and Policy Manager at Invercargill City Council. Originally from Wales, she has lived in Invercargill for fifteen years. Prior to joining the Local Government sector, she has worked in regional government, central government, for the southland regional development agency as well as in Media. She studied at the London School of Economics and managed research and strategy for a London-based NGO for a number of years before emigrating to New Zealand.

Simon has held a range of policy, planning and management roles in and consulting to local and central government in Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch over 30 years, and has worked offshore in relation to local government best practice.

He has 20 years executive team experience in medium-large Councils and an academic background in social science and urban planning.

Simon has extensive experience with councils and communities in diverse community engagement projects, and shares in national and international awards through this experience.

He is a Chartered member of the New Zealand Institute of Directors and an Associate member and former Board member of Taituarā.

Simon Markham Consulting Ltd was (re)established in 2021. A key focus of SMC’s consulting services is on assisting councils and central government agencies shaping and engaging with the local government sector, at a time of major structural change and reform.

Amanda joined the Office of the Auditor-General in April 2020. Her main responsibilities are local authorities and related entities in Manawatu-Whanganui and Hawke’s Bay regions. Amanda also manages the Office's relationships with entities in the Energy sector, and with the New Zealand Local Government Funding Agency.

Amanda is a Chartered Accountant. Before joining the Office Amanda was a Senior Audit Manager at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia. Prior to that Amanda worked at Ernst and Young and The Financial Conduct Authority in the United Kingdom.

Vibhuti has spent eighteen years working in local government and various private sector roles prior. For the last eight years she had handled different executive leadership portfolios from strategy to finance to economic development and has a comprehensive understanding of local government opportunities, constraints and processes. She is currently the Director of Strategy, Partnerships and Growth at Upper Hutt City Council. Vibhuti is passionate about developing strategies and actions aimed at achieving key outcomes for the communities; and particularly about engaging with the community and stakeholders on the identification of the outcomes to be achieved.

Elizabeth’s career spans 35 years in the local government sector including Hamilton City, Tauranga City and Waikato Regional councils. She also spent six years as communication and strategy leader for Local Government New Zealand. Her qualifications include a degree in resource management and a post- graduate diploma in communication.

She is passionate about local democracy and engagement with local communities.

For the past 10 years Elizabeth has run her own business working with elected members and council managers as a facilitator and consultant advisor around strategic change, communication and engagement and crisis management. She is also a columnist for the LG News magazine - providing fresh insights and/or practical advice on local government issues.

Andrea heads the Office's Local Government group, which manages the Office's relationships with the local government, environment, and energy sectors, and Parliament's Local Government and Environment Committee. This group advises the Auditor-General on key matters affecting these sectors. The group also maintains direct relationships with public entities in these sectors, and a range of stakeholders.

The group carries out similar work for sectors associated with local government, such as council-controlled organisations, ports, airports, and licensing trusts.

Andrea was previously a Sector Manager in the Local Government group. Before joining the Office, she was an Audit Manager for Audit New Zealand.

Dr Kimberley Tuapawa is a distinguished academic with over 13 years in higher education and six years’ leadership and corporate experience in local government. Her research has focused on understanding human experiences using technology in tertiary environments. In 2018 she returned to her hometown to take up the role of Group Manager Information and Customer Experience at Wairoa District Council.

Kimberley leads the delivery of customer experiences across the areas of information services, cybersecurity, GIS and mapping, customer services, after hours, long-term and annual planning and engagement, the public library, digital hub, archives, records, and administration. She is a member of the ALGIM board and is keen to contribute to building intelligence around best practice for IT and customer experiences. She is also a member of the Corporate Planning Working Group with Taituara and looks forward to developing insights around best practice for community engagement in a way that supports local authorities.

Central Otago District Council Communications Coordinator Maria De Cort: I’ve been working in local government communications for 11 years. Career highlight have been getting Council’s CEO in an orange skin suit and our Mayor in a super Turd costume to front campaign videos, and, without a doubt, being part of the crew to organise last year’s first Talk it Up unconference!

Paula Penno is Community and Engagement Manager at the Central Otago District Council. Paula has been working with communities in Central Otago district since 2015 when she joined the council as the Community Development Manager. In that time Paula had the privilege of working with terrific groups and individuals on a range of grassroots ideas and activities. Three years ago Council’s communications and consultation, community development and regional identity work programmes came together to form the Community and Engagement team. This mix of skills, connections and perspectives has opened exciting opportunities for the way we do our work and connect with our people.

Anne Tolley has had a wide experience in local and national politics over the last 30 years.
Elected to the Napier City Council in 1986, she was Deputy Mayor for six years. Anne was also elected to the inaugural Hawkes Bay Regional Council for one term.

In 1999, Anne was elected to Parliament as a National Party List MP, then held the East Coast Electorate from 2005 until her retirement in 2020.

Anne served for nine years as a Government minister, holding the portfolios of Education, Police, Corrections, MSD, Children and Local Government. From 2017 to 2020, she served as Deputy Speaker.

Anne was appointed as Commission Chair for Tauranga City Council by the Minister of Local Government on 9 February 2021.

She is married to Allan and has three adult children and four grandchildren.