Online: Infocouncil - LG Hub Governance Professionals Forum

In his 40 years of local government service, Phil has held several senior management roles, including General Manager of HR and Communications for Manukau City Council and then Chief Advisor to that organisation which included leading both the Chief Executive and Mayoral offices. With the formation of Auckland Council in 2010, Phil took the role of Mayoral Chief of Staff then became Director Governance (now Director Governance & CCO Partnerships).

Alongside this, Phil has also served ten years on the Taituarā Executive, with four years as President. Phil is a Life Member of Taituarā.

Phil has a personal passion for good elected and corporate governance and brings this to his work with Auckland Councils mayor, councillors, local boards and CCOs, co governance entities - driving outcomes with and for iwi.

MNZM, is currently a board member of Kainga Ora. She also holds a number of other current appointments such as board member of the Auckland Museum, board member of Aktive (a regional sport body) and trustee of the Community Waitakere Trust. Ms Hulse has extensive local government experience. Previously, Ms Hulse was the Deputy Mayor of Auckland Council (2010 to 2016). She retired as a Councillor in 2019, after a 27-year period in roles for Waitakere City Council and Auckland Council.

Nicolas Pirsoul is currently working as an Engagement and Research Advisor for Manningham Council in Victoria. Prior to moving to Australia, Nicolas worked as a policy analyst for the Review into the Future for Local Government.

Nicolas also has a background in academia and published a book and several articles on deliberative democracy, multiculturalism, indigenous politics, and water governance.

Iain Walker is Executive Director of the newDemocracy Foundation (nDF) in Australia, a role he has held since 2011.

The work of the Foundation is simply to find ways to do democracy better. While many complain about problems with the system, nDF aims to research, trial and implement processes which will result in trusted public decisions.

Iain has led projects at local and state government level including projects for State Premiers on both sides of politics. The topics have ranged from long-term budgeting for the $4bn City of Melbourne Financial Plan to the potential for a high-level nuclear waste storage facility in South Australia. nDF has also contributed to the OECD’s ‘Deliberative Wave’ reports and produced a Handbook on ‘Democracy Beyond Elections’ for the UN Democracy Fund

Yvonne has been part of the Local Government governance whānau for quite some time. She began her local government career as Tauranga City Council’s first Policy Analyst before moving into the Governance Manager’s role at both Tauranga City Council and Bay of Plenty Regional Council spanning 18 years. Yvonne enjoys working in a political environment providing governance advice and guidance to Chief Executives and Elected Members.

Yvonne has an interest in reframing the role of Governance Services to having a more strategic relationship focus within Councils.

Dr Jean Drage has taught and researched local government and politics for a number of years and has published and edited several books on representation and participation in New Zealand’s local government. She has a particular interest in the role of those elected to make decisions on our local councils: how they manage the balancing act between the demands and processes around decision-making and the role of representing their community.

Dr Mike Reid, Principal Policy Advisor, LGNZ. After starting his local government career at Christchurch City council Mike has been with LGNZ since 1996, during which time he has worked in a diverse range of policy areas ranging from local governance and social policy to legislative change and local democracy. He currently leads LGNZ’s localism programme. Mike completed his PhD on the topic of strengthening local governance and local government in in 2011 and is currently on the board of the Institute of Governance and Policy Studies. He speaks regularly on local government matters and has published widely.

Rebecca Williams first role in local government was as the Mayor of Dunedin’s personal assistant in the late nineties. Since then, she has been fortunate to have held roles in the governance team at the Dunedin City Council before moving into community development, first as team leader before becoming the Events and Community Development Manager. A move to Central Otago three years ago, saw Rebecca take on the Governance Manager role at the Central Otago District Council and she has recently moved back into Community Development. Rebecca has worked with politicians at a national and local level for many years and appreciates the unique perspective that governance professionals have. Rebecca is a member of the Democracy and Participation Reference Group.

Will has over 22 years’ experience as an executive leader in both the private and public sector. Moving from the UK in 2006, he was heavily involved with the infrastructure rebuild after the Christchurch earthquakes.

He has been in Kaikōura now for over five years. Initially assisting with the Council infrastructure rebuild programme and then the major state highway and rail rebuild following the 2016 earthquakes. He has been Chief Executive Officer at Kaikōura District Council for 18 months.

Toby Adams is Mayor of the Hauraki District Council. He was elected to Council in 2010 as a Councillor for the Paeroa Ward, holding the office of Deputy Mayor for the 2016-19 term. In 2019 Toby was elected Mayor of the Hauraki District Council, and in 2021 he was elected Zone 2 Chair which represents 18 Councils.

Fairness, respect, straight talking, boundless energy, and enthusiasm are what he brings to any role he plays.

Toby owns his own electrical business in Paeroa which has been in operation for the last 16 years, is married, and has two grown sons.

Dinnie Moeahu is a descendant of Te Atiawa, Nga Ruahine, Taranaki, Nga Porou and Te Arawa. He has a background in business, owning his own company for several years before transitioning into the finance sector. His drive and passion as a champion and advocate for multiple local charities and community organisations over the past 20 years earned him multiple accolades including the NPDC Citizens Award and 2019 Taranaki Daily News Person of the year. Now he enters a new chapter of his life being in service to his New Plymouth district as a Councillor full time.

David Ward, Chief Executive of Selwyn District Council has been involved in local government since 1991, spending the first 17 years as Corporate Services Manager for Tasman District Council, then six years as Chief Executive at Horowhenua District Council before taking up his current role at Selwyn District Council in July 2013.

David is focused on ensuring that local government is planning appropriately for its changing demographic and local economies. David is also a champion of local government best practice and of developing staff within the Local Government sector. David is a qualified accountant. Prior to entering local government, David worked in the commercial sector.

Julie has worked in local government since 1994. Starting as an information officer with Auckland Regional Council she entered the governance world when she took on the roles of Hearings Coordinator and Committee Adviser. Moving from Auckland to New Plymouth in 1999, Julie became a Committee Adviser with New Plymouth District Council. In 2013, Julie was appointed Governance Lead (“the Governess”) at New Plymouth District Council. Julie has had involvement in a wide range of Council related activities including international relations, elected member inductions and elections. Julie is currently a member of the Democracy and Governance Support Working Party.

Judith is a senior associate in Simpson Grierson’s planning and environment group, based in Christchurch. She recently re-joined Simpson Grierson after several years as part of the in-house legal team at Christchurch City Council. Judith specialises in local government issues, advising on decision-making, consultation and conflict of interest matters, official information and privacy, rating issues, bylaws and policy development. She also has significant experience with local government regulatory issues, including Building Act, Dog Control, Sale and Supply of Alcohol and Health Act.

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.

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.

Kathryn is a Senior Associate in Simpson Grierson's local government and environment group in Wellington. She often helps councils respond to requests for official information or personal information, and to handle complaints made to the Ombudsmen and Privacy Commissioner. Kathryn also advises councils on a wide range of issues under the Local Government Act 2002, including decision-making and consultation, meeting requirements and Standing Orders, making and reviewing bylaws, elections, and CCO governance. She is also experienced in advising elected members on conflicts of interest, including bias and predetermination issues and disqualifying contracts. Kathryn really enjoys working with her council clients, helping them to help their communities.

Janice is Group Manager People and Partnerships at the Kāpiti Coast District Council , with oversight of the governance and legal services, Iwi partnerships; community development; communications and customer engagement functions. With more than 15 years’ experience in communications and engagement before stepping into senior leadership roles, Janice has a passion for increasing public participation in local democracy and making the provision of public services more citizen-centric.

Ainslee has been the Governance and Policy Advisor at Waitaki District Council for the past five years. She has facilitated the transformation of her Council’s meetings and agenda systems from manual to digital, and through to full production of hybrid (Zoom and physical) meetings and live streaming as part of a cross-organisation collaborative team. The Democracy and Participation Reference Group has recommended Ainslee’s participation on this panel to share her experiences and key messages/lessons learned related to the governance technology journey from the perspective of a provincial rural council.

Ainslee is a strong proponent of sector collaboration and shared best practice. She is a member of the LGNZ working party on Standing Orders and a selected sector representative for the Remuneration Authority team’s consultations on elected member remuneration issues.

Before joining local government, Ainslee worked in regional economic development and social development in Otago/Southland, and before that, in central government roles in Wellington and overseas.

Coral has been the Manager: Democracy Services at Tauranga City Council since October 2019 and is one of three Privacy Officers. Coral has over 30 years’ experience in central and local government and highlights include her time at the South Taranaki District Council as the Policy and Governance Manager and working for nearly 20 years at the Whakatane District Council in the governance role. Coral was previously a member of the LGNZ working party on Standing Orders and is studying for a Masters of Public Policy through Victoria University.

Alex is Senior Advisor, Democratic Services, and leads a team of advisors at Greater Wellington Regional Council. Alex and her team are responsible for providing governance support to Greater Wellington’s Council and Committees and for managing Greater Wellington’s official information framework. She has worked at Greater Wellington for 18 months, with this being her first local government role. Previously, she worked extensively in central government, with an international focus, including an offshore assignment at the New Zealand Embassy in Washington DC with Immigration New Zealand.