Maree Sheard
Chief Nurse and Midwifery Officer, Northland DHB
Maree joined NDHB after working as a senior lecturer with the School of Nursing at Massey University where she was involved in the development of a Masters of Clinical Practice programme. Prior to working at Massey, Maree was an Associate Director of Nursing at Whanganui District Health Board.
Maree served as a Nursing Officer in the Army for over twenty years where she held a range of clinical and leadership appointments including that of Director of Nursing. While in the Army Maree deployed to East Timor as a flight nurse and later to Afghanistan with the Defence Force’s Provincial Reconstruction Team.
Maree grew up in Whangarei and did her initial nursing education here so she has returned to her roots.
Website: Northland District Health Board
Jocelyn Peach
Director of Nursing, Waitemata DHB
Website: Waitemata District Health Board
Email: [email protected]
I prepared as a nurse at Middlemore Hospital, registering in 1978. My post registration clinical specialities are trauma and cardiothoracic nursing and I continue to have a strong interest in clinical nursing. I am proud of leading the introduction of the Professional Development and Recognition Programme in 1988 which influenced the practice of nurses and the national programme. I have worked in Chief Nurse and Director of Nursing & Midwifery roles in the Auckland region since 1990.
I joined Waitemata in March 1999, serving the communities of North Shore, West Auckland and Rodney district. I am proud of the positive changes we have made together over the past ten years as the organisation has continued to grow in size, complexity and opportunity to serve the population of 520,000. I have enjoyed the challenge as we have put systems and processes in place to support the growth and to support the staff and to ensure patient safety.
My commitment is to support the safest clinical practice environment possible – with the right people in the right place, at the right time, doing the right thing to achieve the right outcome for each service user. The skill of nurses or midwives is critical to safe clinical outcomes. I work to ensure that nurses and midwives have the support they need to practice professionally, to develop as innovative, dynamic practitioners at the leading edge of service delivery and to make a positive contribution.
Margaret Dotchin
Chief Nursing Officer, Auckland DHB
Website: Auckland District Health Board
Email: [email protected]
Margaret completed her nursing training at Middlemore Hospital as a Registered General and Obstetric Nurse in 1985. Margaret worked in a variety of roles as a registered nurse both at Middlemore Hospital, National Women’s Hospital and overseas prior to her first senior nursing role as Charge Nurse Gynaecology Oncology, National Women’s in 1990.
Margaret was appointed to the role of Executive Director of Nursing, Auckland District Health Board (ADHB) in July 2012. Prior to this Margaret held the position of Director of Nursing for Adult Services, ADHB. Margaret has held both General Management and Nursing Leadership roles across Adult Health Services and Women’s Health Services in her long history of working at ADHB or its predecessors.
Margaret is passionate about nursing and the contribution the profession brings to the delivery of safe, high-quality, compassionate, family-centred care – balanced with financial sustainability.
Jenny Parr - RCompN, DipHE (Midwifery), DHSc
Chief Nurse & Director of Patient and Whaanau Experience, Counties Manukau DHB
Website: Counties Manukau District Health Board
Email: [email protected]
Jenny Parr commenced as Chief Nurse and Director of Patient and Whaanau Experience at Counties Manukau Health in January 2017.
Prior to that Jenny held a number of senior nursing, professional and management roles over 24 years, both in New Zealand at Waitemata DHB and in London, England. She held a Board position as Executive Director of Nursing and Patient Experience at Kingston Hospital NHS Trust from 2010 – 2013. During this time, she led the Quality Governance agenda to achieve Foundation Trust status in 2013. She was appointed to the Health Quality Safety Commission Board in 2019.
As Chief Nurse and Director of Patient and Whaanau Experience, Jenny is working to bring the expertise around patient experience, standards and safety together to create a whole of system patient experience function within CM Health. Jenny is a Registered Nurse and qualified midwife with a Doctorate in Health Science. Her research interests include the relationship between leadership, engagement and quality outcomes, and fundamentals of care. She is a Steering Group member of the International Learning Collaborative.
Sue Hayward
Director of Nursing, Waikato DHB
Website: Waikato District Health Board
Email: [email protected]
Sue Hayward has been Director of Nursing and Midwifery (DON/M) since February 2008, and has been nursing since graduating in 1977. Sue’s clinical background is neonatal, and has worked in neonatal units and services in the Hutt, Whangarei and Christchurch Women’s hospitals. Sue is a Registered Nurse with a Bachelor of Nursing, Postgraduate Diploma in Health Management and Masters in Health Sciences.
The role of DON/M Waikato District Health Board (Waikato DHB) reports to the CEO providing advice and guidance to the CEO and Executive team. Sue heads a team of Clinical Nurse and Midwifery Directors who in turn provide professional oversight, delivery of education and all aspects of practice development to nurses and midwives.
On a national level Sue is:
- Chair of the Nurse Education Advisory Team- reporting to the DHB Directors of Nursing
- Chair of the Midland NENZ - reporting to National NENZ
- Represents the DHB DoN’s on the Cardiac Surgical network.
- Chair of the A.C.E (Accelerated Choice of Employment) Governance Group
Sue has also been the Chair of the NETP project group, and was a member of the Safe Staffing Healthy Workforce committee of Inquiry. She has been involved in setting up the ACE (Accelerated Choice of Employment) a centralised recruitment process for all newly graduated nurses going into NETP or NESP.
On a local level the key activities are set out in the Nursing and Midwifery strategic plan. In summary our focus is on:
- Recruitment and retention.
- Developing the right staff and skill mix for each specialty.
- Developing a clear pathway for nurse practitioner development and inclusion within the organisation.
- Leadership capability of nurses and midwives.
- Implementing the recommendations of the COI Safe Staffing and Healthy Workplace
- Develop a culture that expects and encourages nurses and midwives to be involved and engaged, at every level of the organisation.
Julie Robinson
Director of Nursing, Bay of Plenty DHB
Website: Bay of Plenty District Health Board
Email: [email protected]
Julie has a B.A (Social Sciences) with a Masters in Health Management.
Julie works in conjunction with the Nursing Leadership Team to ensure nursing contributes to excellence in integrated patient and family centred care for the population of the Bay of Plenty District Health Board.
Nursing has identified the following strategic priorities for 2014 - 2017:
- patient safety
- a strong confident nursing workforce
- dynamic sustainable leadership
- kaitiaki of health resources
- integrated health.
BOPDHB Nursing Leaders want to recruit and retain high calibre staff with the proper balance of knowledge, skills and experience to have Bay of Plenty District Health board seen as a place of opportunities and excellence in nursing.
Serita Karauria
Acting Director of Nursing, Quality and Patient Safety
Website: Hauora Tairāwhiti
Email: [email protected]
Raised in Tokomaru Bay, Serita completed her undergraduate in Auckland before returning to Gisborne to start her career as a New Graduate Nurse. Since then Serita has expanded her career across the United States and New Zealand, gaining clinical credibility within the critical care setting, being certified as a Critical Care Registered Nurse (CCRN) and Certified Emergency Nurse (CEN).
Switching gears from bedside to leadership in order to start a family, Serita first embarked on an education journey before managing a team of 100+ specialty nurses for a 5-Hospital health care system in San Diego, California.
Serita returned to Gisborne with her husband and two children. She understands the community in which she serves and is devoted to promoting optimal patient outcomes via nursing excellence.
Gary Lees
Director of Nursing, Lakes DHB
Website: Lakes District Health Board
Email: [email protected]
Gary has been a Nurse for 25 years and has worked in a variety of mental health settings covering clinical, managerial and professional roles. He moved to New Zealand in April 2006 to the role of Director of Nursing and Midwifery for Lakes DHB.
Gary’s previous role was managing the learning and development system for an NHS Trust in the UK as well as being the Organisational Development lead. His main interests are organisational culture and how it is impacted by leadership practice, complex adaptive systems, partnership development and organisational learning.
There are about 500 Nurses employed directly by Lakes DHB. There are also large numbers of Nurses working in varied roles within the Lakes communities. The provider arm of the Lakes District Health Board provides secondary hospital and community based health care services to the people of the region. Lakes DHB has hospitals at Taupo and Rotorua that have a combined total of 210 beds.
Chris McKenna
Chief Nursing Officer (Hospital & Primary Care), Hawke's Bay DHB
Website: Hawke’s Bay District Health Board
Email: [email protected]
Chris has been a nurse for 25 years and has worked in a variety of acute settings, largely in Intensive Care and Emergency Care, her career spanning a range of health leadership, managerial and education roles. Chris is well known in Hawke’s Bay and has been part of many health developments over the years, of late working with the PHO to strengthen linkages with developing nursing capability.
Chris has been Director of Nursing for Hawke's Bay DHB since 2010 and is a member of the Executive Management team plus a member of a number of health sector groups and represents HBDHB nursing at a governance level regionally and nationally.
Building sector relationships and developing capability and supporting clinicians across the sector to practice at the ‘top of their licence’ is core to the role. The role supports nursing working collaboratively and interdisciplinary, so as to provide a quality environment for our patients/clients. Chris has a Masters of Nursing.
Lyn Wardlaw
Director of Nursing, Taranaki DHB
Lyn Wardlaw commenced as the Director of Nursing for Taranaki DHB as of 20 May 2019. She has previously worked in Australia as a Director of Nursing/Midwifery and Facility Manager for Mareeba District Hospital and also Executive Director of Nursing and Midwifery at Torres & Cape Hospital Health Service.
More recently Lyn was the Operations Manager for Theatres, PACU, Endoscopy, Inventory and CSSD across Waitemata District Health Board. Lyn originally trained and worked as a registered nurse and well child nurse in New Plymouth before undertaking her midwifery training.
Lyn looks forward to supporting, advocating and adding value to the nurses and midwives across Taranaki.
Website: Taranaki District Health Board
Email: [email protected]
Lucy Adams
Director of Nursing, Whanganui DHB
Website: Whanganui District Health Board
Email: [email protected]
Lucy took up the role of director of nursing at Whanganui DHB in May 2019. Prior to this she was employed at Waitemata District Health Board as an associate director of nursing and has had clinical governance nursing director positions in Queensland, Australia.
Lucy trained as a comprehensive nurse in the late 1980s and worked at Auckland DHB, and specialised in neurosurgery and neurointensive care before transferring to emergency nursing. During her tenure at Auckland DHB Lucy was involved in the change management programme and was an occupational health and safety advisor. Lucy then joined the New Zealand Police where she continued in an occupational health and safety role and was a key project manager for the implementation of stab resistant body armour, along with other projects. She was then appointed to St John as a health emergency manager where she implemented the MoH emergency management project, the Emergo Train system.
Lucy has worked in Australia, New Zealand and the Caribbean, in public and private hospitals, on cruise ships and in rural and remote areas. Lucy has a Bachelor of Nursing, Masters in Health Sciences and an MBA.
Celina Eves
Executive Director of Nursing and Midwifery, MidCentral DHB
Website: MidCentral District Health Board
Email: [email protected]
Celina has vast experience in healthcare provision. Celina has worked as both a nurse and a midwife and held executive director and very senior positions in both nursing and midwifery management, leadership, supervision, project management and staff development in the UK and in Saudi Arabia.
Celina joined MidCentral District Health Board as their executive director of nursing and midwifery in January 2018, she is accountable for ensuring high standards of quality patient care and services are maintained, including patient care and experience. One of Celina’s key roles is to ensure the on-going development of the nursing and midwifery services within the whole DHB to ensure that the needs of the patient underpin practice and care.
Chris Kerr
Chief Nursing Officer Hutt Valley and Capital & Coast DHBs
Website: Hutt Valley District Health Board
Email: [email protected] 
Chris has worked in the New Zealand Health sector since completing her nursing training at the Wellington Hospital School of Nursing in 1983, with her nursing career including secondary and aged residential care, with a predominant focus in the primary care sector since 1992. Her primary care experience includes practice nursing; nurse manager of a Maori Health Provider; and clinical leadership for a large PHO.
Since 2009, Chris has held clinical leadership roles at Compass Health PHO, including Clinical Director, Chief Operating Officer and Acting CEO. This work included reportable event management; complaints and privacy officer roles; sub regional District Health Boards (Wairarapa, Hutt Valley and Capital & Coast) integrated care work, service planning, integrated care, development of new models of care, and emergency management.
Chris is a member of the Nurse Executives of New Zealand and College of Nurses groups.
She is passionate about nursing leadership; empowering and supporting nurses to work to the level of their expertise and training, and to adapt to changing models of care; the development of the nursing workforce so that nurses are equipped for not only today, but for the challenges facing healthcare in the future; and is committed to supporting the safest practice possible with a focus on patient safety.
Chris has completed a Post-Graduate Diploma in Primary Care (with distinction) from Otago University - graduating in 2004. She has worked alongside the Health, Quality and Safety Commission promoting the reporting of and learning from adverse events, and contributing to the review of the National Adverse Event Reporting Policy (reviewed document released 2017).
Phill Halligan
Acting Director of Nursing, Wairarapa DHB
Phill joined Wairarapa District Health Board (WrDHB) in September 2018 as the Site Manager for the Care Capacity Demand Management (CCDM) Programme. Since then he has achieved several milestones in the implementation of CCDM as well as contributing to the development of nursing as a member of the senior nursing leadership team. He comes to the current role with over 25 years of experience as a Registered Nurse, health manager and strategic leader.
After five years post graduate experience as a staff nurse working in various NZ hospitals, Phill entered service with the NZ Defence Force (NZDF). Employed as a Nursing Officer, he deployed operationally several times in support of overseas missions before promotion and a move to health management.
Following a successful tenure commanding the Health Support Company at the Waiouru Military Camp, Phill spent three years strategically managing the careers of a range of specialist officers in the NZDF including nurses, doctors and dentists. After two years spent as an Associate Director of Nursing, Phill was then appointed Director Health Strategy where he was responsible for the development and delivery of strategic direction for all health services provided by the NZDF. He has risen through the ranks from Lieutenant to Lieutenant Colonel and continues to serve in the Reserve Forces.
Following graduation from a joint, interagency, and multi-national leadership course at the NZDF Staff College, Phill completed a Master of International Security degree in 2015 and the United States Medical and Strategic Leadership Programme in 2016. He has been awarded both a Chief of Army commendation and Armed Forces Award for exceptional Service.
Phill believes that professional, holistic nursing practice is pivotal to delivering effective healthcare. Nurses must be ‘empowered to perform’ within the multi-disciplinary team through great leadership, enlightened teamwork, focussed professional development, and the freedom to innovate.
Website: Wairarapa District Health Board
Email: [email protected]
Pamela Kiesanowski
Director of Nursing and Midwifery, Nelson Marlborough DHB
Website: Nelson Marlborough District Health Board
Email: [email protected]
Pamela Kiesanowski was appointed Director of Nursing and Midwifery for the Nelson Marlborough District Health Board in December 2014.
Prior to this Pamela held a number of clinical and management roles within the Nelson Marlborough and Canterbury District Health Boards. She has also worked in the primary healthcare sector and held several clinical nursing roles in London.
The role of Director of Nursing and Midwifery for Nelson Marlborough differentiates from a larger city role due to its vast geographical spread. The District covers from Blenheim on the east coast to Takaka in the north and as far south as Murchison. Nelson Marlborough also has one of the fastest growing ageing populations within New Zealand, requiring a significant focus on integrated care, working closely with the primary healthcare sector.
As a member of the Executive Leadership Team, Pamela provides input into the strategic plan to meet the overall goals of the District. Her vision for nursing and midwifery is to build a strong leadership team; develop the workforce; and support new initiatives to provide quality care, in an empowered and safe working environment.
Holly Mason
Director of Nursing, Te Whatu Ora – Te Tai o Poutini | West Coast
Website: West Coast District Health Board
Email: [email protected]
Holly has had a long and varied career in health spanning across acute and specialised roles of ED, ICU, Urology and Nephro-urology through to wider rural generalist roles as a Practice/PRIME Nurse, District Nurse as well as rural and remote nursing. Holly has held a number of senior nursing leadership roles and recently was the Clinical Nurse Manager for District Nursing and Clinical Nurse Specialists. One of the most interesting roles Holly has held was as a Health & Safety Business Partner for Meridian where she led significant culture change and supported the achievement of continuous improvement of both safety and staff health practices.
Holly has experience in pandemic planning, CIMS emergency planning, has set up Community-based Assessment Centres (CBACs) and COVID-19 testing stations, and was also the West Coast DHB’s liaison with Civil Defence during the Westport flooding events.
Holly has clear strengths in collaboration, in building strong teams that are highly functioning and has demonstrated skills in leading change and transformation of work culture. Holly will support the West Coast with strong nursing leadership as we continue to lead the way in rural health, developing our rural generalist workforce model and working alongside iwi and our Māori health providers to reduce inequities in health outcomes.
Becky Hickmott
Acting Executive Director of Nursing, Canterbury DHB
Website: Canterbury District Health Board
Becky works closely with the Directors of Nursing and other nursing leaders across the Canterbury health system. As EDON she holds several portfolios including Care Capacity Demand Management, Infection Prevention & Control Nursing, Nursing Workforce Development, and Corporate Quality and Patient Safety teams. Becky is also the Canterbury DHB Executive Lead for Manawa Governance which includes simulation, research and education as well as for Te Papa Hauora (Health Precinct) Advisory Council.
Becky is a Registered Comprehensive Nurse and has worked in nursing since 1982, completing both a Postgraduate Diploma in Leadership and Management as well as a Masters in Health Science. She has previously been a Nurse Manager for Workforce Development, working with the EDON and Directors of Nursing for the past 15 years. Becky is a member of Nurse Executives of New Zealand, and the College of Nurses Aotearoa.
Lisa Blackler
Director Patient, Nursing and Midwifery, South Canterbury DHB
Website: South Canterbury District Health Board
Email: [email protected]
Lisa Blackler is a Registered Nurse and Midwife. She commenced her career in nursing in general surgery before moving into a variety of other roles including community, education and staff development roles. She was involved in the new build of Southland Hospital in 2004 and was part of the leadership team in the Southland orthopaedic and surgical ward for a number of years. With a focus on Orthopaedics Lisa extended her knowledge by completing a diploma in Health Assessment – Speciality Orthopaedics.
In 2009 Lisa was seconded to lead the nursing and midwifery team in the Southland Maternity Service, which led her to undertake a diploma in midwifery in Queensland Australia. This evolved into leading the maternity, nursery and paediatric teams, and then the inclusion of the perioperative service, at Central Queensland Hospital and Health Services.
In 2016 Lisa returned to New Zealand and in her role at the DHB has professional oversight of nursing and midwifery in the region as well as Operational Leadership of Hospital Services and Child and Youth Community Services. This is a diverse role and as the Director of Patient, Nursing and Midwifery at South Canterbury DHB she gets the best of both worlds being Operational Executive and Professional lead. Lisa has a passion for modelling health and wellbeing, so as a leader and role model in health she sees it as essential to aim for optimal health in herself, wider whānau and staff teams. Lisa Blackler has been integral in building a better health system which ensures ‘every moment matters’ for patients and staff in South Canterbury.
Jane Wilson
Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer – Southern District Health Board
Website: Southern District Health Board
Email: [email protected]
Jane was appointed to the role of Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer in August 2017.
Prior to this, Jane was Director of the Commissioner’s Office (since October 2015) and Acting Director of Nursing Operations. Jane has held a number of nursing leadership positions at Southern DHB since returning home in 1991 after spending several years working and studying in London, including clinical nurse specialist, nurse educator, charge nurse manager, service manager and nursing director.
Jane is committed to working closely with colleagues across all disciplines and is continuously building connections nationally and internationally to advance clinical practice and build capacity and capability within the broader health system - all in the context of best serving her community. The most satisfying part of her role is getting out and about amongst staff and teams who work most closely with patients, clients and whanau to find out what she can do to improve their experience so they can improve the experience of others – doing more of what matters most.