Wellington

Elizabeth Patterson
Ministry of Education,

Simon Arcus
Chief Executive,New Zealand Institute of Directors, New Zealand

Gareth Ellis
Assistant Auditor General, Parliamentary Group

Gareth heads the Parliamentary Group, which is responsible for managing relationships with Parliament and the Office’s other key stakeholders in the Parliamentary and central government sectors. The Parliamentary Group is responsible for advising the Auditor-General on key matters in these sectors and any proposed audit response. The Group maintains direct relationships with each public entity in these sectors, and a broad range of sector stakeholders. Gareth also has portfolio responsibilities for the transport sector. Before joining the Office, Gareth worked in internal audit for the UK’s Post Office and held a number of management positions in the UK’s National Health Service.

Richard Kirkland
Director, RiskIQ

Patrick Teagle
Head of Commercial & legal, OMV New Zealand Limited

Janita Stuart
Information Manager, Worksafe New Zealand

Janita Stuart has had a long career in Information Management beginning as a librarian and continuing into web development, records and archives management, and knowledge management. Janita has two related masters degrees and is a popular conference and seminar presenter. She has worked for numerous public sector agencies and currently works for WorkSafe New Zealand as an Information Manager in the High Hazard and Energy Safety Unit.

Fiona Ewing
National Safety Director, Forestry Industry Safety Council

Fiona is the National Safety Director of the Forest Industry Safety Council. The council was formed in July 2015 as the result of an industry initiated Independent Forestry Safety Review. Fiona worked with the UK regulator, the Health and Safety Executive, for 20 years before switching to the private sector in NZ. Fiona was previously the Group Manager, Health Safety Environment and Quality, for Powerco and has 30 years' experience as a health and safety professional in a wide range of industries including energy, engineering, construction, agriculture and forestry in both New Zealand and the United Kingdom (UK). Fiona lives in New Plymouth and has been involved with both the Taranaki Construction Safety Group and BeSafe Taranaki. She is a Chartered Member of both the Institute of Occupational Safety and Health in the UK and the NZ Institute of Safety Management.

Richard Wards
Senior Advisor, Ministry Of Education

Richard Wards is a Ministry of Education senior advisor for schools and ECE. A key aspect of his role during the last 18 months has been the sector facing health and safety programme of work, which has included delivering workshops for board chairs and principals and creating new health and safety resources. One of those resources is the Health and Safety Practical Guide for Boards of Trustees and School Leaders, which was developed in collaboration with a health and safety sector reference group. Richard has a first class honours in Russian and European Union studies from the University of Canterbury. Richard is fluent in Russian and his other interests include Karate, antiques, home renovations and volunteering.

Richard Langley
Group Manager, HSE, Todd Corporation

Richard is an accomplished safety, environment and risk professional with over 20 years experience in industry, consulting and regional government. He has worked for the Auckland Regional Council, Fernz Corporation and spent seven years in international environmental and engineering consulting firm URS as an Associate Risk Consultant. Latterly he has worked for Contact Energy as a Risk Manager and is currently employed as Group HSER Manager for The Todd Corporation, one of New Zealand’s largest and diverse conglomerates with interests in oil & gas exploration and production, electricity generation, gas distribution, property and mining. He has also been engaged by the Environment Court of NZ as an expert witness in the field of quantitative risk assessment. Richard holds a Bachelor of Science degree and Post Graduate Diploma in Civil Engineering from Canterbury University and Post Graduate Diploma in Environmental Management from Auckland University.