-
WINZ Commissioners
- NORTHLAND : SHARON BROWNIE
"Sharon comes to the role of Regional Commissioner for Northland from a background of management in health and education. She is currently General Manager of the Templeton Centre in Christchurch, which provides residential services for people with intellectual disabilities.Sharon is an experienced manager with a history of motivating people to succeed, even when the challenges are great."
- AUCKLAND NORTH : BARRY FISK
"Barry is currently Area Manager South Auckland for Income Support, responsible for a 12 branch network. Prior to that he held a number of senior management roles for Social Welfare, all based in Auckland.Apart from his long management experience in people-focused roles, Barry has significant local community involvement as a JP and Deputy Chairperson of the Papakura Enterprise Board."
- AUCKLAND CENTRAL : ISABEL EVANS
"Isabel Evans is currently Manager of Income Support's National Call Centre _ the first point of contact for that organisation's 850,000 clients. She has previously held area and district management roles for Income Support in Northland and Auckland.Isabel has operated at the `sharp end' of providing service for Income Support customers for a number of years, effectively managing large budgets and staff. She will bring these skills to her new role of Commissioner for Auckland Central."
- AUCKALND SOUTH : DENISE FINK
"Denise has been Northern Regional Manager for the New Zealand Employment Service for the past three years, responsible for 17 employment and project centres in Auckland and Northland and a budget of $45 million.Denise has excellent management skills, together with a strong record of working with communities to find employment solutions.
Before becoming her current NZES role, she managed employment centres in Hamilton and Timaru. Prior to that she had a sales manager role for a retail organisation."
- WAIKATO : KATRINA INGS
"Katrina is based in Hamilton where she has spent her career to date in the health sector. After working as a social worker in mental health, she moved into health services management. Her most recent role was Midland Regional Director for the Health Funding Authority, responsible for a regional health services budget of just over $1 billion.Katrina has held a number of senior management roles in health which qualify her well for the new Waikato Regional Commissioner role. She also knows the Waikato scene well, having worked there all her life."
- BAY OF PLENTY: LIZ JONES
"Liz Jones is presently acting National Service Delivery Manager for Income Support, responsible for the organisation's service delivery through 13 regions.Before stepping into her current national role, Liz was Income Support Area Manager for Bay of Plenty and is a previous District Manager based in Rotorua. As a result she understands the local scene as well as having strong management and service delivery skills."
- EAST COAST : LINDSAY SCOTT
"Lindsay Scott is Chief Executive of the Thames Coromandel District Council and a Commissioner on the Hillary Commission for Sport Fitness and Leisure. He began his career as an army officer and has also worked at Parliament.Lindsay's community experience through his sports and local authority roles will obviously be a benefit in his new role as East Coast Regional Commissioner, as will his strong management record."
- TARANAKI : GLORIA CAMPBELL
"Gloria Campbell is currently Central Regional Manager for the New Zealand Employment Service, responsible for the operation of 20 employment centres.Gloria has managed employment centres in New Plymouth, and Hawera / Stratford, as well as Hamilton, and has had other frontline roles in the region. As a result, her understanding of the challenges facing local job seekers is considerable, and she has a history of developing responsive employment solutions in partnership with communities."
- CENTRAL : TE REHIA KOMENE
"Te Rehia has a background as a psychiatric nurse and an social worker, before moving into management roles in Social Welfare. She is currently Taranaki Area Manager for Income Support, responsible for seven service centres.Te Rehia has proved herself to be a strong manager, able to motivate staff to achieve shared goals. Te Rehia's iwi affiliations are Waikato_Maniapoto and Ngati Porou. "
- WELLINGTON : KELVAN SMITH
"Kelvan is currently the Canterbury Area Manager for Income Support. He has previously worked for the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries and the Inland Revenue Department and has been a union organiser for the PSA.Kelvin's community involvement includes membership of the St Margaret's College Trust Board and he is active on the Christchurch Local Community Employment Co-ordination Group and the Strengthening Families management committee. He has an MBA from Massey which he passed with distinction."
- NELSON : MIKE SMITH
"Mike Smith is currently Nelson Area Manager for Income Support and has previously held a number of other management roles with the organisation.Mike has spent most of the last decade managing the delivery of services to communities. His current role involves responsibility for seven services centres from Blenheim to Greymouth, so he understands the needs of the area for which he will be Regional Commissioner."
- CANTERBURY: BRUCE ASH
"Bruce comes to the Canterbury Commissioner role from an entrepreneurial business background that also includes significant community involvement. His past roles include Managing Director of Telecom South Limited and chief executive roles in two private companies of which he was also a major shareholder: Network Dynamics Limited and, most recently, Streat Electrical Limited.Bruce has also held an number of directorships and has recently been involved in Canterbury Dialogues, a group of 50 leaders from local government, business and community groups who worked together on issues affecting the future of Christchurch."
- SOUTHERN : WARREN HERRING
"Warren has spent his career in Social Welfare, starting as a cadet and moving through a number of management positions in Wellington, Hamilton and Auckland before becoming Area Manager Southern for Income Support in 1996.Warren brings people management skills, and a strong understanding of community issues. Earlier this year he designed, developed and delivered a training programme for Income Support, Employment Service and Community Employment Group staff, which involved `being in a job seeker's shoes' for a day."
Source from The Head Line letter by Chistine Rankin Issue 6, 7 September 1998, and Issue 8, 14 September 1998.
Who will be delivering in the regions?
from The Jobs Letter No.87 / 23 September 1998
The Work and Income Department has named its Regional Commissioners earlier this month. Chief Executive Christine Rankin says that the Regional Commissioners will have full responsibility for the delivery of employment and income services in their regions and will be working closely with their communities to encourage and develop local employment and training initiatives.
Rankin: "They will be expected to be strongly involved in their communities, chairing local community advisory groups, attending community meetings, developing community needs assessment strategies and working closely with local politicians, community leaders and local businesses"
"This announcement is an exciting milestone in establishing our new business. It signals a major move forward and begins to shape the strong regional and local character of Work and Income NZ. It also means we can now begin to make the other senior regional appointments.
"The Regional Commissioners have been chosen for their strong leadership, management and networking skills. They all have a strong strategic focus and drive and commitment. We were delighted to receive such a range of good quality applications and I am very pleased there is a very good mix of internal and external appointments."
The following Commissioner profiles were provided by Christine Rankin in her newsletter to WINZ staff, called The Head Line.
