Our speakers

Based in Wellington, Phil leads PwC’s national Public Sector specialist tax advisory team and is co-lead of the PwC Local Government team.

Phil spends the majority of his time advising the local authority sector on an extremely diverse range of matters, from tax governance and tax risk management matters to compliance requirements, policy and transactional issues.

Particular areas keeping Phil busy of late have been the proposed income tax changes for local authorities, including working with Taituāra and presenting to the FEC. and the most recent submission work on Public Funds. This is in addition to keeping over the top of 3 Waters, RMA reform and the Future of Local Government review!

Philip has been consulting to a variety of Local Government related organizations since June 2007 in financial management and strategy, risk and asset management, financial policies and financial governance, and is a facilitator for Local Government New Zealand.

He has been the independent member on a number of Audit & risk committees and is currently the chair for three committees.

Between 1993–2007 Philip was the Chief Financial Officer and Group Manager Revenue and Finance for WBOPDC.Prior to joining WBOPDC he was a Business Services & Audit Manager with Coopers & Lybrand (now PricewaterhouseCoopers) in Tauranga, London and Hamilton.

Philip joined Taituarā in September 2025, as Principal Advisor, Sector Readiness.

He brings over 20 years of experience, and relationships in local government and the public sector.

His career includes 10 years in senior roles with councils and more recently 7 years as Principal Policy Advisor with Local Government New Zealand. He has most recently worked in leadership roles at Waka Kotahi and at EECA where he was Development Lead in the Standards and Regulations Team. Philip’s expertise includes policy development, regulatory analysis, stakeholder management, and project and programme delivery.

In his role as Principal Advisor, Sector Readiness, Philip is committed to supporting the Sector Readiness Team develop tools and resources that help the sector prepare for and successfully implement new legislation and policies.

Priyani has over 30 years’ experience in the field of asset management, advising communities and governments across the world in this profession.  Priyani is a Chartered Asset Management Professional, the world’s first Certified Fellow in Asset Management, and is a Technical Fellow – Strategic Asset Management at Beca. Priyani sees the future of indigenous asset management as pivotal to prosperous and resilient futures, and practitioners as Kaitiaki and guardians of future generations.

Priyani is the Vice President of IFME, Past President and Life Member of Āpōpō, and former Chairperson and Life Member of Carbon and Energy Professionals (CEP).

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.

Reuben is a director in the Digital & Data Transformation advisory practice. He brings experience in delivering advanced AI and agentic solutions, transforming organisations AI experiments to tangible value

He has worked across many public and private sector organisation to drive automation and AI change. His work involves helping organisations advance their process maturity, and leading the cloud engineering practice for AI application delivery. 

Richard Catherall is a strategy advisor working with boards, CEOs, and public sector leaders in complex systems under pressure, where direction is not always clear and decisions carry long-term consequences. 

His career developed through early exposure to leadership at points of significant change. By his late 20s, he had co-chaired national cross-sector policy groups, led a social enterprise through turnaround, supported mergers, and advised over 100 chief executives across government and industry. He was recognised for pioneering practical models of system collaboration and market-shaping, with approaches that were adopted and replicated across England.  

He has since worked internationally across Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa including in post-conflict and fragile state environments. His work spans governance, development systems, and innovation ecosystems – often at the intersection of public, private, and philanthropic sectors.  

Alongside initiatives that progressed to funding and scale, his experience includes complex opportunities that did not proceed – shaping his focus on timing, posture, and the conditions for change. In several cases, the underlying models proved more durable that the programmes themselves, contributing to the resilience of wider systems. This has informed his emphasis on second- and third-order impact, and a leadership approach focused on “finger prints rather than footprints” – the cumulative effect of well-placed interventions.  

His leadership philosophy – recalibrate, don’t retreat – supporting leaders to maintain direction under pressure, while adapting how progress is achieved.  

Robyn Broadhurst is a Corporate Planning Specialist with experience supporting strategic planning, performance frameworks, and community-focused initiatives. She leads key processes and works closely with organisational leaders to align long-term plans with community outcomes and statutory requirements. Robyn brings a pragmatic, collaborative approach to planning processes and is passionate about creating clear, accessible plans that reflect local priorities.

Sara leads the implementation of the new planning and environmental management system.   She has deep experience working closely with local government in the implementation of government reforms. Sara has worked in the areas  of environmental law, policy, sustainability, relationship management, project management, government administration and implementation.   Her background includes technical experience in resource management, and climate change. She practiced as a lawyer and worked as a sustainability consultant before joining the New Zealand government in 2010.  

Sarah Scott is a specialist environmental lawyer based in Christchurch with extensive experience working with councils and private clients around New Zealand on policy development, resource consents and permits, and development projects.

Through her career Sarah has worked with a number of infrastructure clients, from ensuring consenting pathways remain available, to project strategy and obtaining consents and designations. Sarah has also been significantly involved in some of New Zealand’s biggest policy processes, including those located in Christchurch (following the earthquakes), Queenstown and Otago.

Sarah is the Finance and Revenue Manager at Tararua District Council. A Chartered Accountant, she brings over a decade of experience in local government across diverse accounting roles, complemented by a background in private practice. She plays a key role in long-term planning and reporting, with a strong focus on delivering practical, achievable outcomes for the community. Sarah is passionate about community voice, future-focused planning and robust performance frameworks. She sees the Long Term Plan as a clear promise to the community and is driven to ensure it is both credible and deliverable. Collaborative and pragmatic, Sarah is committed to helping shape a sustainable future for Tararua.

He mokopuna au o Te Waipounamu, ko Tangata Tiriti ahau. E noho ana au ki te Wairarapa īnaianei. 

My current work is focused on supporting councils to understand and take action on their Te Tiriti o Waitangi responsibilities. This mahi is built on a platform of experience working across Treaty settlement negotiations, local government Te Tiriti partnerships, systems and policy development, as well as central government Te Tiriti partnership management. My passion for supporting improvement in the exercise of kāwanatanga and upholding Te Tiriti o Waitangi has also extending into academic areas, and I hold a Masters in Māori Studies.  

I’m an unashamed fan of the impact and potential of local government with over a decade of experience working across a wide range of councils across the motu. This experience has also shown me the significant challenges facing councils, and the humble and dedicated efforts of kaimahi across the sector to address these challenges on behalf of their communities.  

I’m really pleased to be able to partner with Taituarā on this programme to support local government Te Tiriti practice that is specific to the challenges, opportunities and aspirations currently facing local government. It’s also a time of great disruption in this space – and how councils navigate changes in their governing and legislative arrangements while upholding and growing their relationships with mana whenua really matters.  

I live in eastern Wairarapa with my husband and badly behaved dog. We spend our time gardening, growing excessive amounts of fruit and vegetables (there’s a chance workshops held in harvest months will be beneficiaries of this mahi), and a long-term wetland restoration project.