Communication and Engagement Forum 2019

Nathan is the head of design and branding for Stanley St Agency (Across Wellington & Auckland), with over 19 years in the industry working within graphic and advertising agencies.

He’s been instrumental in increasing awareness, brand preference, increased sales and business turn-around and has directed diverse design and communication projects throughout NZ from Government, Local Government, FMCG, Interiors, Retail and Brand Communication.

His work has appeared in top design books around the world from Europe to Asia and throughout the Pacific, including the Asia Pacific Design Annual, D&AD and IdN Magazine. He has received multiple awards for branding, product design, typography, outdoor, illustration and interior design and is a member of the Designers Institute of NZ.

In his spare time you’ll find him enjoying time with his family (his wife and four children), surfing, and painting fine art.

Experienced in senior roles across local government, central government, and not-for-profit organisations, Barbara has a strong focus on facilitating and supporting comprehensive, locally-led development.

For many years she has been involved in the Eastern Bay of Plenty under the auspices of Inspiring Communities, Toi EDA and Ōpōtiki District Council. Her focus has been to awhi economic development initiatives which realise Iwi aspirations, and enable increased local wellbeing through better jobs and incomes.

Originally from Waihopai in Te Waipounamu, Barbara has been Bay of Plenty based for nearly four decades.

Sam has 18 years senior management experience in sectors as diverse as journalism, professional sport and more recently local government. He also holds a number of governance positions locally, regionally and nationally and was Chair of the National Basketball League for eight years until 2016. British by birth, but Kiwi by choice, he and his family emigrated to New Zealand in 2006 so they could support the All Blacks without fear of reprisals.

He has recently taken up a new challenge as Communications Manager at Bay of Plenty Regional Council, having performed a similar role at Masterton District Council for the past six years. He was a member of the first cohort of the Taituarā LGExecutive Leaders Programme, which he describes as both invaluable and inspirational.

Sam’s leadership style is very much one of an enabler, with his pet hate being micromanagement. The well being of the teams he leads is high on his list of priorities, believing that only those comfortable in their own skin can be fully effective.

He feels blessed to have learned so much from working closely with many CEOs over the last two decades, each with their own unique style, strengths and foibles.

Katerina Pihera-Ridge is well known within Te Arawa for being a champion for indigenous rights both locally and internationally. With a background in indigenous and international development, management and governance roles within her iwi, Katerina knows first-hand the challenges iwi experience when engaging with local and regional authorities. She leverages this experience in her current role as a Senior Māori Advisor for the Bay of Plenty Regional Council.

Kate is our General Manager, Sector Projects. Kate is responsible for developing the Well-beings Indicator Project and overseeing the Vote 2019 project as well as other developments in the sector Improvement area for Taituarā.

Kate’s previous roles have included Policy Manager at LGNZ where she worked on Better Local Government Reforms, the Productivity Review on Regulation, as well as other policy areas. Prior to that she was Strategy and Policy Manager at New Plymouth District Council.

Kate came to New Zealand fourteen years ago where she was Regional Head of Business and Enterprise in the Regional Development Agency for the North East of England and Chief Executive of the Northern Business Forum.

Kate has been a Director on several Boards in the UK and set up Excellence North East to run the Business Excellence Assessment Programme using the EFQM Excellence Model.

In her spare time Kate enjoys music, reading and good food.

Ko Mataatua te waka
Ko Kirieke te maunga
Ko Te Wai Kaukau o Kiritapu te wai
Ko Te Whānau a Apanui te iwi
Ko Kahurautao te hapū
Ko Pāhāōa te marae
Ko Aroha Gilling tāku ingoa

Aroha is a Kaitiaki Whakatinana Tiriti/Treaty Settlement Ranger employed by the Department of Conservation and responsible across Te Tau Ihu o te Waka-a-Māui for seeing that DOC is meeting their Treaty settlement obligations. Aroha has an academic background and came to the Department from the tertiary education sector where she specialised in Te Tiriti o Waitangi education.

Aroha lives and works in Nelson although she grew up in Dunedin and came from the East Coast of the North Island.

As Head of Communications and Community, Kate oversees Countdown's corporate communications as well as media relations, PR and influencer activity, issues and occasional crises, charity partnerships, Countdown food rescue and the company's goal towards zero food waste to landfill. In her spare time Kate is also mum to four year old twin girls. Kate has held a range of agency and in-house comms roles including Auckland City Council a long, long, long time ago.

Richard Briggs is the Chief Executive of Hamilton City Council, the local authority for New Zealand’s largest inland city and one of the fastest growing cities in New Zealand. Richard is responsible for leading the organisation of more than 1100 staff in the delivery of its strategic direction and operations of Council.

Hamilton’s economy is growing faster than the national economy, and with this growth, the city is confronted with several challenges – including how to develop a city that balances infrastructure and amenity needs and its financial constraints. Richard is an experienced Chief Executive with a passion for delivering transformational strategic outcomes by building and delivering a high-performance organisation.

He is a disruptive leader who sets clear and ambitious goals that challenge the status quo and leverage innovative, and sometimes challenging, approaches. He is skilled in all aspects of leadership with a track record in influencing leaders, and their organisations, to significantly improve performance and deliver on their ultimate purpose - in this case improving the well-being of Hamiltonians. Richard also serves as an Independent Appointed Board Member of Surf Lifesaving New Zealand.

Natalie Palmer is the Manager, Communication and Engagement at Hamilton City Council.

She leads 16 communication specialists, responsible for all communications (including digital communications), engagement and community events. She works for a chief executive, Richard Briggs, whose mantra is to ‘reimagine local government’ – and she is.

Since starting at Hamilton City Council in 2018 Natalie has introduced a fresh approach to engagement, taking staff and elected members out of their comfort zones to face issues head-on.

Natalie joined Hamilton City Council after forging a reputation for her innovative and creative approach to engagement at Waipā District Council and prior to that, at Tauranga City Council. She has a slew of awards.

In 2013 she won the Ted Zorn Waikato Alumni Award in Management Communication from the University of Waikato.

In 2015 she was in the Waipā team which won the Fulton Hogan LGNZ Excellence Award for Community Impact for a feisty campaign that set a new bar in local government engagement. In the same year, she led the team that won the ALGIM award for Best Web Project.

Natalie has also been a finalist in the Brookfields Emerging Leader of the Year Award.

In 2018, just before she moved to HCC, Natalie’s Waipā team carried off the Fulton Hogan LGNZ Excellence Award for community engagement for the second time.

Natalie is a foodie, a runner and a cocktail connoisseur. She holds a Bachelor of Communication Studies from the University of Waikato plus the internationally recognised Accreditation in Public Relations (APR).