Chief Executives Forum

On 1 February 2017, Martin Matthews began his seven-year term as New Zealand’s Controller and Auditor-General.

Martin has worked in the public service for more than 36 years.

He joined the (then) Audit Office in 1979 and spent the first 18 years of his career in the office. He was an Assistant Auditor-General from 1990 to 1998, holding various portfolios during this period.

Martin then spent 10 years as Chief Executive of the Ministry of Culture and Heritage. He later served as Secretary for Transport and Chief Executive of the Ministry of Transport, from 2008 to June 2016.

Martin was the select committee’s advisor on the Public Finance Act 1989 and led much of the policy design work for the Public Audit Act 2001.

As Controller and Auditor-General, Martin's principal functions and duties are set out in the Public Audit Act 2001. In summary, they are to:

• ensure that the office carries out its obligation to conduct audits of public sector bodies, and report to Parliament on the results of the audits; and
• ensure the efficient, effective, and economical management of the Office of the Auditor-General.

Martin is a Fellow of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand, New Zealand Institute of Management, New Zealand Institute of Chartered Logistics and Transport, and Companion of the New Zealand Institute of Professional Engineers.

Jim Palmer chaired the panel that undertook a two-year review into the Future for Local Government, which delivered its report in June 2023. In 2021, he retired as chief executive of Waimakariri District Council after 17 years. Currently, Mr Palmer is the independent chair of the Greater Christchurch Partnership. He is a Fellow of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand, with experience as an audit director for Audit New Zealand and the Audit Office. Mr Palmer’s governance experience includes Chair of Riskpool, Chair of the Kaikōura Earthquake Recovery Steering Group and Chair of the Canterbury Chief Executives Forum.

Stephen is currently Chief Executive of Auckland Council and took up his position in January 2014. He has previously been Regional Director for the NZ Transport Agency, in Auckland. While at the NZ Transport Agency, Stephen led the Australian market engagement for the country’s first PPP for Transmission Gully.

Before returning to Auckland in 2010 Stephen spent 8 years as Chief Executive of Tauranga City Council. He has held a variety of Chief Executive roles in the education and local government sectors over the past 20 years

Bill Bayfield has been the Chief Executive of Environment Canterbury Regional Council since 2011. Bill is well known for his leadership qualities in matters of water resources and strategic planning for local and central government projects in New Zealand, along with his broad experience in environmental management. He describes himself as being someone who relishes a challenge, and has always been involved in leading change in the roles he has taken.

Brendan has had 21 years as an elected member of the Horowhenua District Council and 12 of these as Mayor.

He has chaired the Provincial Sector of Local Government NZ for 6 years and Zone 3 chair for 9 years. He held the position of Vice President of LGNZ for 3 years. His governance experience is well respected within elected members across New Zealand.

Brendan is a Director on the Board of MITO, he was appointed by the Minister as Deputy Chair of Mid Central District Health Board and has recently received a second Ministerial appointment as a temporary Commissioner on the Local Government Commission for a 12 month term.

Brendan, along with his wife Sheryl, has run a successful business in Levin for the last 30 years. Canvasland Holdings Limited is a manufacturing business employing 22 staff providing products across New Zealand and internationally.

Barbara is nationally recognised as a leader in local government management. She has an executive career in local government spanning more than 35 years, with experience in almost every facet of council work. Currently the Chief Executive of Wellington City Council, Barbara moved to Wellington in 2017 after serving nine years as the Chief Executive of New Plymouth District Council. There she was responsible for driving the projects that changed the reputation of New Plymouth, gaining national and international recognition for its arts, culture and lifestyle.

Barbara’s story is inspiring for her staff – from her very early career as a Librarian to Chief Executive of the capital city. She was the President of Taituarā — Local Government Professionals Aotearoa for three years and during that time co-chaired the Central and Local Government Chief Executive Forum and served as a member of the Office of Auditor – General Local Government Advisory Group.

She is currently a member of the Advisory Board for the Wellington School of Business and Government. In her spare time Barbara enjoys getting out into the trails and open spaces of Wellington, though not as quickly as she did in the 1980s when she was a champion marathon runner and represented both Australia and New Zealand.

David is PwC’s lead local government specialist and provides advice to many councils across a broad spectrum of areas including governance, strategy, organisation change, policy, legislation, finance and funding. David has been involved in a number of strategic sector assignments including project Director for PwC when it was appointed strategic advisor to the Auckland Transition Agency in 2009. Clients serviced also include entities that are associated with the sector incorporating government agencies, CCOs and utilities including ports and airports.

Prior to joining PwC in 2007 to drive the establishment of its local government strategic market practice, David had a long career at the legacy Auckland City Council incorporating senior financial and executive roles. As a member of PwC’s global cities network, he also provides advice across a broad range of international jurisdictions.

Sarah is a Senior Manager in PwC’s Data Assurance team and is passionate about generating business insights for clients using data. Sarah has been instrumental in the development of the Local Government Performance Excellence program now in its 6th year with around 140 councils from Australia and New Zealand making use of the comparative insights to enable prioritisation of change and evidence-based decision making. As well as data analytics, Sarah is the leader and business owner of PwC’s secure online data collection and interactive data explorer platform, Datapoint.

Colin MacDonald is Chief Executive of New Zealand’s Department of Internal Affairs, Secretary for Internal Affairs, Secretary for Local Government, and the Government Chief Information Officer (GCIO).

In his GCIO role, Colin is the ICT Functional Leader for government and works collaboratively across the state sector to transform government ICT and digital services, making it easy for New Zealanders to choose digital channels to access government services.

Colin has had more than 30 years of public and private sector experience in information technology and general management, beginning with studies in computer science at Glasgow University, and then starting his career in the UK. In New Zealand, he was previously Chief Executive of Land Information New Zealand, Deputy Commissioner Business Development and Systems at Inland Revenue, and Chief Operating Officer for the ANZ Banking Group (NZ).