Limited availability - Civic Financial Services Strategic Finance Forum

Ian was appointed Chief Executive of Civic on 20 March 2017. He has worked in the insurance and superannuation industry since 1987 and most recently from 2005 to March 2017 was Superannuation Manager for Civic before taking on the role of Chief Executive.

Ian is well known to most of the Local Government fraternity. He was one of the architects that designed Civic’s SuperEasy employer and KiwiSaver scheme which most of us will know. Is there anybody out there that hasn’t seen Ian’s buckets?

Despite being born in Scotland he passionately supports the All Blacks (and Black Caps) in every game they play and is a staunch Wellingtonian. The fact that he is married and has three girls just reinforces why one “must” save for retirement.

Raymond re-joined Taituarā in June 2014 as Sector Improvement Manager, before commencing his current role as Chief Advisor at Taituarā. He has spent most of the last 20 years in local government related roles, most recently with the Department of Internal Affairs.

He describes his job as two-thirds providing assistance to the local government sector and one-third providing advice to central government on local government matters. His ambition is to help develop a Local Government Act that doesn’t require changes every 18 months. He asks that you wish him well with this task.

Jonathan is a member of Simpson Grierson’s environment and planning group, specialising in public law and local government in particular. He is one of New Zealand's leading experts on the structures, processes, and funding of local government, with significant experience in council’s rating functions and associated decision-making.

Bronda joined CHBDC as CFO in her first local government role in January 2015. She has over 25 years’ experience in strategic planning, customer relations, finance, information management and administration in diverse industries including exporting, engineering, financial services, retail, hospitality and local government.

On the Risk Management front, Bronda has developed risk frameworks, business continuity plans and disaster recovery plans for a number of corporates. Recently she was on the Risk Management Advisory Panel for the LGNZ Business Case for a Local Government Risk Agency.

Bronda has a Bachelor of Business Studies and Master in Business Administration from Massey University.

Lizzy commenced her career in local government as a strategic policy analyst at the Western Bay of Plenty District Council. She then worked at a law firm in Tauranga as a resource management and litigation solicitor, with a special interest in local government issues, before joining Simpson Grierson in June 2012.

Lizzy has a particular interest and expertise in rating and valuation law, and judicial review litigation. She has represented clients at all levels of the Courts, and acted for the councils in the recent high-profile judicial review rating cases.

Hugh joined the Office of the Auditor-General as a sector manager in the local government group in 2016. He is responsible for Councils and their associated entities in the Canterbury and West Coast regions. He also has responsibility for port companies. Before joining the Office, Hugh was an Audit Manager at Audit New Zealand.

Many of you will know Phil who has nearly 30 years of tax advisory experience across a diverse range of clients, and who for the last 14 years has been a leading indirect tax adviser to the local government sector.

Phil’s deep experience working with Local Authorities has included advising the sector on an extremely diverse range of issues, including compliance, policy and transactional matters. His particular areas of expertise include tax‑structuring for better community outcomes, optimising group tax efficiency, advising on tax-efficient remuneration packages, managing Inland Revenue audits, and the development and implementation of tailored tax risk management solutions.

He has a solutions focused approach to tax advice and has a proven track record for building long term adviser relationships with his clients. He has strong professional relationships with Inland Revenue and has been integral in PwC’s submission on tax policy with respect to Local Government.

Jordan Hughes joined Ibis in 2009 as an Implementation consultant/trainer, and moved into the Product Manager role during 2014, responsible for the financial modelling products in the Ibis suite of software.

Through his time consulting across Australia and New Zealand Jordan has gained extensive experience personally working with over 100 Councils. With a good level of knowledge of the rating legislation for all the different territories Jordan has also expanded his knowledge of local government rating complexities through working on such projects as Amalgamation impact studies, legislation review projects, Special Rates Variations and many other Rating review projects.

Anthony heads the team supporting the New Zealand Accounting Standards Board (NZASB) at the External Reporting Board (XRB) in its role of developing and issuing accounting standards for New Zealand entities who report in accordance with GAAP.

Anthony has over 17 years of professional accountancy experience, providing audit, internal audit, and business advisory services across the for-profit, not-for-profit and public sector.

Prior to joining the XRB, he held senior leadership positions at his predecessor firms providing assurance and technical advisory services, specialising in IPSAS™ and IFRS implementation and interpretation.

Anthony has been the Technical Advisor to the New Zealand Board member on the International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board (IPSASB) from March 2016.

Anthony is also a member IR4NPO Technical Advisory Group who are developing the world’s first internationally recognised guidance for not for-profit organisations.

David works in the Finance team at Auckland Council as the Manager Corporate and Local Board Performance. Despite his youthful appearance he has over 20 years of senior management experience in the private, public and local government sectors covering strategy, policy, business analysis and performance.

He has also been an advisor to public sector chief executives and a private secretary to government ministers. At Auckland Council, David’s the “non-finance” person in finance, trying his best to translate the mysterious language of finance into plain-English.

Hillmarè Schulze is the Chief Economist at BERL. She draws on her experience, being a practising economist for more than 30 years across the globe. She has worked in multilateral and bilateral organisations, private and government sector. She is currently heading BERL, and values the credible and independent voice that the team brings to the economic and policy dialogue in New Zealand. BERL has been in business for more than 60 years, and prides itself on being a private economic consultancy, supporting central and regional government, private companies as well as various Māori and iwi entities by providing a credible evidence base and economic analysis to support good decision-making. She is a strong supporter of regional economic development, the Māori economy and making sure that the next generation has the tools to be productive global citizens.

Prior to joining BERL, Hillmarè worked for Te Puni Kōkri and the then Department of Labour. She moved to New Zealand in 2016, from the World Bank, where she worked as a senior economist focussed on 47 African countries.

She believes that economic development is a means to an end, and definitely not the end itself. Economic development should support families and communities to grow and thrive.

Adele is the General Manager Corporate Services at Western Bay of Plenty District Council. She is passionate about local government having been in the sector for 15 years. She has previously worked for both Wellington and Napier City Councils before moving further north. Adele is the current Chair of the Financial Management Reference Group at Taituāra supporting the sector activities and contributing to the key financial work programmes.

Claire is a Partner in our Management Consulting team and has a lead role for local government. Her career spans over 20 years in New Zealand and the United Kingdom in a range of senior-level consulting and public sector roles, spanning local, regional and central government and the Fire and Rescue Service. Claire is passionate about making a positive contribution to society and the organisations she works with. She is known for successfully leading citizen and people-centered change / improvement in cross-agency and multi-stakeholder environments, delivering tangible outcomes and benefits.

Claire has particular expertise in performance improvement and operating model design, working closely with central and local government to deliver significant programmes of transformational change. This included time in the UK as part of the South West Regional Improvement and Efficiency Partnership helping low performing and/or financially-constrained councils to deliver a step change in improvement, as well as delivering the Transformation and Local Area Agreement/place-based programmes. Recent work in New Zealand has included time with Wellington City Council exploring opportunities to improve financial sustainability and alternative approaches to service delivery.

Amy is a Manager in the Wellington Management Consulting team, with over 15 years experience in a range of positions across local, regional and central government both here in New Zealand and in the UK.

Starting life in local government, Amy has retained a keen interest in how local services can be delivered in the best way for their users, regardless of their provider. Highly experienced in delivering real transformational change, Amy is well known for her ability to combine strong business analysis, performance improvement planning and project/programme management skills, focussing on delivering real value for both the organisation and the users of a service.

Amy led the Client Payments business analysis workstream for ACC’s transformation programme, and key elements of the establishment of Workforce Development Councils as part of the Reform of Vocational Education (RoVE) programme, focusing on alternative operating models and how they can be used to deliver efficiencies, savings and better ways of working. Amy has recently supported both Wellington City Council and Greater Wellington Regional Council to understand delivery capabilities in their respective Property and PMO functions, identifying opportunities for improvement and more effective ways of delivering.

Antonia has extensive experience in funding, governance and strategy on complex projects. She has provided a broad range of commercial, funding & financing, structuring and strategic advice for public and private sector clients in New Zealand, the United Kingdom and continental Europe. She has recently worked on commercial and governance aspects in the water, transport, housing, CCO and utilities sectors.

She has a naturally collaborative style and is known for her ability to bring stakeholders together in sensitive situations. This includes helping to bridge the gap between central and local government drivers as well as support Council groups to and operate efficiently to deliver lasting community outcomes.