Maree Sheard
Chief Nurse and Midwifery Officer, Northland Hospital
Maree joined Northland health district 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
Kate Gilmour
Director of Nursing Hospital and Specialist Services
Website: Waitematā
Margaret Dotchin
Chief Nursing Officer, Auckland health district
Website: Auckland
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 health district
Website: Counties Manukau
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 health district
Website: Waikato
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 health district 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 health district Directors of Nursing
- Chair of the Midland NENZ - reporting to National NENZ
- Represents the health district 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 speciality.
- 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.
Rosalind Jackson
Director of Nursing, Bay of Plenty Hospital
Website: Bay of Plenty
Brenda Close
Chief Nursing Officer Toi Ora, Bay of Plenty Hospital
Website: Bay of Plenty
Brenda Close has a Pākehā and Māori heritage and is a mokopuna of Te Tai Tokerau with whakapapa to Ngāpuhi, Te Rarawa and Ngāti Maniapoto. Her home marae is Mangamuka. She is a senior Māori Nurse leader with over 30 years of practice as a Registered Nurse in both Aotearoa and Australia.
She commenced her clinical nursing with her career at Princess Mary Childrens Hospital with a focus on child and youth health. Throughout her career she has worked across many clinical specialities in both hospital and community settings moving to a whānau ora focus in her nursing. This has included leading service development and delivery in rural and remote communities, working in partnership with communities. Early in her career she moved into leadership roles with mahi in policy, strategy, management and challenging inequities and racism within the health system. She has a passion for workforce development and Māori and indigenous health. She has held a number of nursing leadership positions in health and professional entities, locally, regionally and nationally.
Brenda Close has recently relocated to the Bay of Plenty after 4½ years of service with Te Whatu Ora Waitaha as Director of Nursing Ashburton and Rural Health Services. She has just started as the Chief Nursing Officer Toi Ora for Te Whatu Ora Hauora a Toi and is looking forward to leading Māori health and nursing and working beside local whānau, community and teams to support the implementation of Toi Ora Systems of Care and the achievement of Toi Ora.
Serita Karauria
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+ speciality 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.
Nina Hartley
Director of Nursing and Midwifery
Website: Lakes
Karyn Bousfield-Black
Chief Nursing Officer
Website: Hawke's Bay
Karyn completed her undergraduate nursing qualification in 1990 and has subsequently completed a Post Graduate Diploma in Nursing and Masters in Health Science. Karyn gained broad generalist nursing experience in the rural health environment of the West Coast of the South Island, with speciality experience in cardiology, before moving into nurse leadership roles. Karyn held the role of Director of Nursing on the West Coast from 2010, before heading home in 2019 to the Hawke’s Bay region, where she was appointed as Chief Nursing Officer and Director Patient Safety & Quality in February 2021 for Health New Zealand - Te Matau a Māui.
Passionate about the profession, Karyn has a particular interest in standards of care, quality and patient safety, cultural safety and clinical governance, and is an alumnus of the Australasian Institute of Clinical Governance.
Diana Fergusson
Interim Director of Nursing
Website: Taranaki
Maurice Chamberlain
Director of Nursing
Website: Whanganui
Yvonne Stillwell, RN, BA, MBus. (HealthMgt), FCNA(NZ)
Executive Director of Nursing (Acting)
Website: MidCentral
Yvonne gained her nursing qualifications and undergraduate degree at Glasgow University. As a Senior Lecturer at Te Pukenga/UCOL, she led the transition of the undergraduate nursing programme from diploma to Bachelor of Nursing degree. As Nurse Lead, she co-led the successful submission and subsequent implementation, of the Better, Sooner, More Convenient Primary Health Care business case to the Ministry of Health. Yvonne later developed and implemented the regional workforce strategy for Tū Ora Compass Health.
As Associate Director of Nursing Yvonne provided strategic, operational and staff leadership through twenty-four direct reports, by driving innovation, service improvement and high-quality service delivery across the district. Appointed to the Interim Executive Director of Nursing role in 2023, Yvonne provides leadership and strategic direction to the district, with a particular focus on the nursing and kaiāwhina workforce. Yvonne sees one of our biggest challenges as Māori health equity, which will not be achieved unless kaupapa Māori approaches are valued and effectively integrated within the health sector - ‘if we can get it right for Māori, the greatest equity challenge in our work, we will get it right for everyone else’ (MOH, 2017).
Claire Jennings
Acting Chief Nursing Officer
Website: Hutt Valley
Phill Halligan
Director of Nursing, Wairarapa Hospital
Phill joined Wairarapa Hospital (formerly Wairarapa District Health Board) 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
Email: [email protected]
Sandy McLean-Cooper
Director of Nursing and Midwifery, Te Tauihu – Nelson Marlborough
Website: Nelson Marlborough
A proud mokopuna of Waikato Tainui / Scottish ancestry, Sandy joined Nelson Marlborough Health in 2005. Having trained and worked in Sydney for many years, the time was right to return to Aotearoa with Whānau. Sandy’s nursing background was initially in Medical and Intensive Care nursing; Nelson Marlborough provided the opportunity to move into Nursing Leadership and Management roles as Duty Nurse Manager Team Lead, Charge Nurse Manager, Nurse Consultant Workforce development, ADON and Operations manager and currently Director of Nursing and Midwifery.
Sandy’s passion is growing the Nursing workforce across all specialties in order to address inequities that continue to exist for those that are marginalised with a priority of positive health gains for Māori. Working alongside Nurses of diverse clinical backgrounds, aspirations and skill sets is her motivation for being part of shaping Nursing now. E ki ana te Whakatauki: “Kia Whakatōmuri te haere Whakamaua” Sandy talks about this whakatauki which keeps her grounded, literally as she walks backwards into the future with her Tipuna on her shoulders.
Becky Hickmott
Executive Director of Nursing, Waitaha Canterbury and Te Tai o Poutini West Coast
Website: Canterbury and West Coast
Becky works closely with the Directors of Nursing and other nursing leaders across the Canterbury and West Coast health systems. As EDON she holds a number of portfolios including Care Capacity Demand Management, Infection Prevention & Control Nursing, Nursing Workforce Development, and Corporate Quality and Patient Safety teams with a strong focus on clinical governance. Becky is also the Canterbury District Executive Lead for Manawa Governance which includes simulation, research and education, is the Canterbury District lead representative for Te Papa Hauora (Health Precinct) Advisory Council, and is the Canterbury lead representative on the Māia Health Board. Becky also is the Senior Responsible Officer lead clinician for System and Acute Flow.
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. Becky has a strong interest in building our own workforce, and has led significant increases of student and new graduate intakes over the past 15 years. Becky is a member of Nurse Executives Aotearoa, and the College of Nurses Aotearoa.
Lisa Blackler
Director Patient, Nursing and Midwifery, South Canterbury health district
Website: South Canterbury
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
Website: Southern
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 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.
