Our speakers

Frances Dagg (Ngāti Kahungunu ki Te Wairoa / Ngāti Kauwhata) is the Water Manager at the Commerce Commission, where she supports the development of the regulatory framework for water services in Aotearoa. With a background spanning policy, iwi/Māori relationship management and partnership‑building, she joined the Commission in July 2025 and committed to approaches that reflect local perspectives and deliver positive outcomes for communities across Aotearoa.

Ganesh is well known to local government having previously been the Chief Economist for BERL.

As the Former Chair of the Productivity Commission, he oversaw the Fair chance for all inquiry into reducing persistent intergenerational disadvantage in Aotearoa.

Ganesh outlined some of the findings from the inquiry, including a review into the recent progress of joined-up social services. Read the review Together alone: A review of joined-up social services or a summary here

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 is the Delivery Lead for Spatial Planning for New Zealand’s planning system reform. With Queensland and New Zealand experience spanning local government, state government, central government, and the private sector, she has led major initiatives in planning system reform, spatial planning, and cross-government and cross-sector city deals. Prior to her current role, Jen developed the strategic case for the Government’s investment in new digital and data platforms for the planning system, and helped shape new approaches to planning system stewardship and performance.

Jennifer Lamm is a lawyer, public health specialist and advisor. Her professional experience is broad. She has worked in central and local government, not for profit and private practice. Jennifer held a regulatory health promotion role at Auckland Regional Public Health Service (smokefree, alcohol and resource management). As a Senior Lawyer at Auckland Council, she specialised in public law, including bylaws, and provided advice on Auckland’s local alcohol policy. Jennifer has also worked at the Ministry of Health, where she managed a portfolio of public health contracts including those covering alcohol health promotion and the statutory role of Medical Officers of Health. Jennifer is currently with Alcohol Healthwatch, an organisation dedicated to reducing and preventing alcohol harm and inequities in Aotearoa New Zealand.

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. 

Jessica Ranger is a General Manager in MCERT’s Planning System Reform Group, leading delivery of land use and spatial planning reforms, as well as urban and infrastructure policy. Her career spans planning, urban development, public transport, spatial planning, and building and construction policy, including leadership roles at the Ministry for the Environment, MBIE, the Ministry of Transport, and the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development.

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.