We are pleased to advise you that the Taituarā Executive has completed the process of recruiting a new Chief Executive and are now delighted to announce the appointment of Suzanne Boyd. 


Suzanne is currently the Chief Executive of Student Job Search (SJS), Aotearoa New Zealand’s largest student employment platform. SJS has a membership base throughout the country, comprised of student associations and representative organisations, polytechnics, and private training institutes.

Suzanne will join Taituarā at an exciting time. The local government sector is facing significant challenge, change and opportunity and Taituarā is responding to this shifting environment with a review and re-set of its own. We have a significant opportunity to revitalise our existing service offering, while growing our partnerships with others, to continue supporting thriving professional leadership and best practice in local government. Suzanne’s background will be instrumental in this process, and she will work closely with us to create a roadmap for revitalising Taituarā into a dynamic, future-focussed organisation.

Suzanne is recognised for her work in leading the transformation of SJS over the past four years into a more commercially minded, successful organisation, well on its Te Tiriti journey, and providing greater outcomes for students, employers, and stakeholders. She is energised by working in the not-for-profit sector where there is a real sense of purpose in giving back to the community.

We look forward to working with Suzanne as she builds on the strong foundation created by former Taituarā Chief Executive Karen Thomas. With her years of commercial experience and expertise in the transformation of a national membership-based organisation, combined with the strong collective sector experience she can tap into, we have a great team to take Taituarā forward.

Suzanne will assume her role on 13 November 2023 and until then we are grateful to have experienced former local authority Chief Executive Miriam Taris continuing to provide stability and leadership as our interim Chief Executive.

He timatanga houhe waka eke noa

New beginnings – we are all in this together

Ngā mihi nui,

The Taituarā Executive Committee