Our speakers

Lisa Thomas is the Strategy Manager at Manawatū District Council, where she leads the development of the Long-term Plan, Annual Plan, Council strategy, and a wide range of strategic policy and planning work. She also oversees Council’s policy and bylaw review programme and prepares submissions on legislative reform.

Having worked in local government for more than a decade, Lisa has been involved in every stage of the Long-term Plan process—from environmental scanning and forecasting assumptions through to infrastructure strategies, financial policies, consultation, submissions, and adoption. She has a particular interest in helping elected members and organisations understand the practical implications of legislative reform by translating complex technical information into clear, accessible advice.

As a member of the Taituarā Corporate Planning Reference Group, Lisa is passionate about sharing knowledge across councils, learning from others, and working collaboratively to improve planning practice throughout the sector.

Macaela is the Manager, System Oversight at Ministry for Cities, Environment, Regions & Transport (MCERT), leading the team responsible for ensuring the new planning and environmental management system is working as intended in practice. She brings nearly two decades of experience across local, regional and central government, with a background in policy, implementation, strategy, operations and project management. Having worked on both the development and delivery of government policy, she enjoys tackling the challenges that arise when policy meets practice and finding ways to make the system work better for those implementing it.

Mali has a 10 plus year career local government, governance. In her current role she leads two teams, Democracy Services and Tai-ranga-whenua with a focus on all processes related to democracy, supporting council’s co-management arrangements with local iwi and leading policy and strategy work aimed at growing capacity to engage with Māori. Co-governance at Waikato Regional Council has been in effect for almost 10 years now. The introduction of Waikato River treaty settlement legislation was the catalyst for forging long term partnerships with iwi in the Waikato. And with more treaty settlements on the horizon the drivers for change will continue to emerge from this space.

With over 20 years’ experience in leadership development, change management, organisational design, and people and culture strategy, Mat brings both expertise and genuine care for people. He helps leaders build high-performing teams, navigate change with humanity, and deliver transformative results.

Matt Conway is an environmental lawyer at Simpson Grierson in Wellington. He advises councils and applicants about environmental policy, consenting and compliance issues, including district and regional plan reviews, roads, prisons, farm discharges, water supply networks, marine consenting, waste water treatment plants, vegetation clearance and child care centres.

He has been involved in hearings before councils, boards of inquiry, decision-making panels, the Waitangi Tribunal, the Environment Court, the Maori Land Court and the High Court.

Mereana Beconcini brings over two decades of experience in sales, marketing, advertising, branding, L&D and communications to her role as COO at Taituarā. As a seasoned leader, Mereana has guided teams and organisations through strategic initiatives that drive growth and foster meaningful connections with clients and stakeholders. Her expertise spans across various sectors, with a particular focus on digital solutions, learning and development, advertising, and integrating Te Ao Māori into her work.

At Taituarā, Mereana is excited to contribute to the organisation’s mission of supporting and enhancing local government in Aotearoa. Her commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi aligns with Taituarā’s values, and she is passionate about ensuring that the organisation’s efforts authentically uplift Māori.

Her recent roles at Springload and Special Group have seen her at the forefront of impactful projects, including award-winning campaigns and successful new business ventures.

Outside of work, Mereana enjoys spending time at the beach with her husband and two young children and she is passionate about learning te reo Māori and volunteering at her kids Kura.

Michael is the Manager, Governance and Legal at Invercargill City Council since November 2021 and the Deputy Electoral Officer since 2018. Michael led the elections team during the 2019 Elections as well as two recent by-elections. He joined Council in 2014 as in house Counsel having spent 9 years working in private practice in both Invercargill and Queenstown with experience in local Government law, Resource Management as well as Family Court and Crown prosecutions.

Michelle is an experienced commercial lawyer specialising in data protection, AI and technology matters.

Michelle regularly drafts and negotiates commercial contracts for technology transactions for both customers and suppliers across a range of industry sectors, including large-scale technology procurements, ‘as a service’ arrangements, data licensing arrangements and technology licensing contracts.

Michelle has expertise in advising clients on privacy, data protection and cybersecurity issues in the development and deployment of new products and services, including connected car services, biometric and digital identity verification tools, satellite communication services, machine learning models and generative AI tools, drones and facial recognition technologies.

Before joining Simpson Grierson, Michelle worked in-house for a leading AI technology company where she advised on a variety of contracting arrangements as well as regulatory and compliance issues affecting new and emerging technologies.

Mike Jones is the owner of Gathered Minds, a Learning & Development company focused on providing everyday skills that feel real and usable.

With over 10 years’ experience in L&D, training, and organisational development, Mike has worked with leaders and teams across a wide range of industries to build capability, tackle workplace challenges, and navigate change.

Mike believes the best learning happens when people have the opportunity to share experiences, learn from each other, and work through real challenges together. For the Leading Through Uncertainty series, his focus is on helping leaders recognise how their people are responding to change, understand what they need from them as leaders, and find practical ways to provide that support.

His sessions are engaging and interactive, and you’ll end every workshop with a clear idea of simple things you can do straight away to put what you’ve learned into practice.

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.

Mike is a partner in Simpson Grierson’s environment and planning group, based in Wellington. He specialises in local government and environmental law, with a particular focus on the regulatory functions and processes of local government (including under the RMA), and decision-making and governance obligations and requirements. He regularly represents local authorities in relation to RMA matters (including before the higher courts) and has appeared before many other specialist tribunals and council hearings on specific strategic and regulatory matters.

Miriama Kamo (Ngāi Tahu/Ngāti Mutunga) is a celebrated broadcaster, acclaimed author, environmental advocate, and cultural leader.

A familiar face in Aotearoa’s media landscape, Miriama is the long-standing host of Māori current affairs programme Marae and a former host of TVNZ’s Sunday, as well as a trusted presence across many of the network’s news programmes. Her journalism is marked by integrity, depth, and a strong commitment to elevating underrepresented voices.

Murray is a Director and GM of Sales and Consulting at Liverton Security, a leading NZ cyber security software company and consultancy. Liverton is an ALGIM member. With more than 35 years of experience in information technology, Murray has advised organisations of all sizes across the private, public, and not‑for‑profit sectors, including Local Bodies. He has served as a vCIO and vCISO for multiple organisations, helping leaders navigate technology strategy, cybersecurity risk, and digital transformation.

Murray is a Member of the Institute of Management Consultants, a Certified Management Consultant (CMC), a Chartered Member of the Institute of Directors, a Chartered IT Professional and the NZ Chapter Lead for Digital Directors Australia.

Neill is the Valuer-General of New Zealand, based at Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) in Wellington. A Registered Valuer since 1983, Neill has held senior roles in both the public and private sectors. As Valuer-General, he oversees the regulation of the rating valuation system and chairs the Valuers Registration Board. He also serves on the NZIV Council under the Valuers Act 1948.

Nick has deep expertise in developing funding and investment cases for major initiatives, including government funding and charges or levies on third parties. His work includes Queenstown Lakes District Council’s infrastructure funding and the Canterbury Museum redevelopment. He is well placed to explain how AI investment can be built, costed and presented defensibly within a long-term plan.

Nick is a senior litigation and dispute resolution lawyer with a broad range of experience in dealing with complex, high-stakes disputes across different sectors. He has a particular focus on commercial disputes that involve public issues – whether that is commercial entities that are interacting with public decision-makers or public entities that are involved in a commercial dispute. 

Nick has acted for various organisations across a broad range of disputes and industries, including commercial contracts, energy and the Emissions Trading Scheme, property and leasing issues, judicial reviews, infrastructure, insurance disputes, insolvency, class actions, banking and financial services, telecommunications and technology, and construction disputes. He has appeared before the High Court, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court.  He also has considerable experience in arbitration, and in alternative dispute resolution forums such as mediation. 

Prior to joining Simpson Grierson, Nick worked for Herbert Smith Freehills and Allen & Overy in London.

Nick is also an Adjunct Lecturer and Teaching Fellow at Victoria University’s Faculty of Law. He currently teaches the University’s compulsory course on the core skills of legal research, legal writing, legal analysis, and advocacy.