Our speakers

Hamish is a Senior Associate in Simpson Grierson’s local government and environment group, based in Wellington. He is a specialist local government and resource management lawyer. His practice encompasses all aspects of resource management law. In addition, he regularly advises and represents local authorities in relation to judicial review, compensation disputes, and enforcement matters, including issues relating to: rates and rating valuations, building code compliance, liability issues, natural hazards, compulsory acquisition of property, infrastructure projects and dog control.

James (Rongomaiwahine, Ngāti Konohi, Ngāi Tai) is Director of Internal Partnerships and Protection at Gisborne District Council. He leads teams across People & Capability, Health & Safety, Legal, Information Services, Regulatory Compliance, Public Protection and Maritime Safety. With over 20 years’ local government experience, James brings deep expertise in statutory compliance, governance, corporate services, and partnerships. He is a member of the Taituarā Electoral Reference Group and contributes nationally to strengthening Māori representation and democratic integrity. Known for his calm, values-driven leadership, James is committed to building collaborative, community-focused solutions that reflect the aspirations of tangata whenua and wider communities.

Jarred Griffiths is Practive Lead – AI Transformation at MartinJenkins and an experienced leader and advisor across strategy, policy, and communications. He has worked at all levels of government on complex political and operational issues, with a focus on building public trust and supporting organisations to navigate change.

In his previous role as Director of Strategy and Engagement at Hutt City Council, Jarred led one of New Zealand’s most successful AI adoption programmes. This included scaling tools across the organisation and embedding new ways of working that delivered practical value.

Jarred is known for his calm, clear‑headed approach and his ability to provide practical advice that organisations can apply. He focuses on what it takes to adopt AI effectively in the public sector, recognising this as a shift in how people work and how organisations function over time.

Jason Larkin is a senior executive in New Zealand’s energy sector, serving as Group General Manager – Customer, Commercial & Regulatory at Unison Networks which is responsible for the electricity networks in Hawke’s Bay, Taupō and Rotorua as well as providing managed services to Centralines in Central Hawke’s Bay.

With over 17 years’ experience in the electricity industry, Jason has developed deep expertise in commercial management, strategic business development and customer engagement in a regulated environment.

He is passionate about the role of energy and infrastructure in supporting community wellbeing, regional prosperity, and decarbonisation goals.

Jennifer Parker is the Manager of Governance and Democracy Services & Deputy Electoral Officer at Wellington City Council, moving to this role in August 2019 after an earlier position leading the Council’s City Partnerships team. Jennifer has a background in strategy, communications and mediation with management experience in central government, business and the not-for profit sector. She describes the 2022 inauguration ceremony as a career highlight – the culmination of a successful election, the development of the Te Whanganui-a-Tara Māori Ward, the appointment of two mana whenua representatives and the first WCC inauguration to be held on marae.

Jenny is a senior leadership development practitioner, specialising in the Neuroscience of Leadership. She has a business background, having begun her career in the City of London, as a shipbroker and member of the Baltic and Mercantile Shipping Exchange. She has held senior roles with the global organisation P&O Nedlloyd and her career has been internationally focussed, encompassing London, Australia, Hong Kong, and New Zealand. She set up her own consultancy in 2007 in New Zealand where she works with government and private sector organisations. 

Jenny has a passion for effective leadership, believing that a combination of evidence and practical applications leads to learning and behaviour change. 

Jim was the Chief Executive of Waimakariri District Council for 17 years, retiring in 2021.  He led the Council’s recovery from the Canterbury earthquakes and oversaw two decades of strong growth in the District and Greater Christchurch. Following his retirement, he chaired the panel that undertook a two-year Ministerial review into the Future for Local Government and was the independent chair of the Greater Christchurch Partnership.

Jo Pellew is the Customer Services & Rates Manager at Bay of Plenty Regional Council. She leads the Customer Services and Rates teams, overseeing rating operations, customer experience, and service delivery. With extensive experience in local government rating legislation, process improvement, and digital transformation, Jo is passionate about finding practical ways to improve customer outcomes through technology, automation, and innovation. She is actively involved in sector collaboration and initiatives that support more efficient and customer-focused local government services.

Joanne spent 16 years working in the public sector prior to joining FrankGroup, at the Ministry for the Environment, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, New Zealand Police, and in Crown Research Institutes. Much of Joanne’s policy work had a focus on interagency collaboration and stakeholder engagement. With years of experience as a diplomat, she has a strong grounding in relationship management and interpersonal communication and enjoys teaching people from diverse career backgrounds. Joanne’s introduction to using AI came while working at Scion and Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research. She has been an active user of large language models for the last two years, in particular to help with research and analysis. 

John Whittal is a Local Government Sector Manager in the Systems Engagement team at The Audit Office, based in Wellington. He works across a broad range of local government issues, supporting audit quality and consistency and contributing to strong public accountability throughout the sector.

Before joining the Systems Engagement team, John spent more than 10 years as an Audit Director with Audit New Zealand, where he led the audits of a number of local authorities, including Annual Reports and Long-Term Plans. This experience gave him extensive exposure to local government planning, reporting, infrastructure investment, and public accountability issues across a diverse range of councils.

John works closely with councils, appointed auditors, and sector organisations on annual audit, long-term planning, and broader local government matters. His work focuses on improving audit quality and public accountability through sector engagement, sharing insights from annual and other Audit Office work, and contributing to The Audit Office’s understanding of emerging issues and challenges facing the local government sector.

He is currently contributing to the update of The Audit Office’s methodology for the 2027 Long-Term Plan audits to reflect developments in the local government sector and support efficient, consistent, and effective audit delivery.

Jonathan has held senior positions within government and the private sector in the UK, Australia, and New Zealand. This has included maximum security prison management, Chief Security Officer for New Zealand Parliament, and Director of National Security Operations for the Ministry of Justice in NZ. Jonathan currently sits on the Board of the New Zealand Security Association. He has a long history in designing security solutions, conducting security investigations, negotiation, threat, and risk assessment and how to mitigate security risks through proportionate, effective protective security solutions. Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) and the NZ Police Crowded Places Strategy are passion areas for Jonathan.  He prides himself in demystifying security and intelligence for clients as he works in partnership with them to shape pragmatic solutions to their problems.  

Jonathan advises on commercial, insurance and insolvency disputes in New Zealand. He has a great deal of experience litigating and resolving issues for a range of clients, from SMEs through to large corporates, insurers and public bodies. 

The best way to resolve problems is stop them arising in the first place and Jonathan works with clients to identify and mitigate risks, liabilities and reputational issues. 

Jonathan has spent time as in-house counsel and understands businesses’ requirements for strategic legal and risk management advice in a commercial context.

Jonathan is widely regarded as New Zealand’s leading expert on the structures, powers, processes, and funding of local authorities, advocating for the sector’s interests through periods of dramatic reform and on specific major projects for over 35 years. Jonathan primarily acts for local authorities and their organisations, but also for those dealing with, or regulating for, local government. He is sought out by private sector and governmental bodies looking to work with local authorities.

From a deep understanding of statutory and political contexts, Jonathan advises on local authority major projects, litigation, and reforms; lobbying, drafting, and promoting legislation, and judicial review proceedings. He regularly advises, and, as required mediates, in governance and restructuring matters, and provides new council inductions and governance training.

Jonathan frequently leads legal teams dealing with complex commercial initiatives within a local government context.

Jonathan was a legal adviser and peer reviewer for SGS Reports to the Ministry for the Environment on “Mechanisms for managing urban change”, and a legal adviser on Local Government Know How projects on rating and local authority decision making. He was the principal legal adviser to Local Government New Zealand and Taituarā (the Society of Local Government Managers).

Jonathan was the principal author of Brookers Guide to the Local Government Act 2002 and Thomsons Local Government Law in New Zealand. He also authored several papers on the National Transition Committee for Local Government Reform – A New Century for Local Government.

Jordan Hughes joined Ibis in 2009 as an Implementation consultant/trainer, and moved into the Product Manager role during 2014, responsible for the financial modelling products in the Ibis suite of software.

Through his time consulting across Australia and New Zealand Jordan has gained extensive experience personally working with over 100 Councils. With a good level of knowledge of the rating legislation for all the different territories Jordan has also expanded his knowledge of local government rating complexities through working on such projects as Amalgamation impact studies, legislation review projects, Special Rates Variations and many other Rating review projects.

Josh Lindsay is a Partner in PwC New Zealand’s Transformation Design and Delivery practice and leads the Christchurch Consulting team. With more than 15 years’ experience across the insurance, construction and public sectors, he helps organisations deliver complex transformation programmes and strategic change.

Josh brings expertise in systems thinking, programme delivery, operations and change leadership, helping leaders navigate complexity, manage transformation risk, and achieve practical, sustainable outcomes in a rapidly evolving environment.

With over 13 years of experience in local government, Josh is a seasoned corporate planning and reporting practitioner. Currently the Team Leader: Policy & Corporate Planning at Tauranga City Council, Josh contributes significantly to long-term planning and reporting and business process improvements.

Driven by a passion for enhancing efficiency, Josh continuously seeks to optimise processes to ensure they are effective and robust. Key to this is ensuring alignment with council priorities and community outcomes.

Previously, Josh has held corporate planning roles at Rotorua Lakes Council and City of Ryde in Sydney, where he led corporate planning and helped embed robust performance frameworks.

Juanita Victor is a Partner in PwC New Zealand’s Risk Services practice, specialising in governance, risk management, and internal audit. With more than 20 years’ experience, she works with local government and other public sector organisations across New Zealand, helping leaders navigate risk, strengthen control environments, and make confident decisions in an increasingly complex and fast-changing world.
Juanita brings practical insight into how emerging technologies, including generative AI, are reshaping risk management and organisational resilience. She works with organisations to understand both the opportunities and risks of innovation, and how governance and controls can evolve to support the future operating environment