Keynote Speakers

Hana O'Regan
Tumu Whakarae | Chief Executive Officer - CORE Education

She / Her

Dr Hana O’Regan has worked in the areas of language revitalisation, identity and cultural development, te reo Māori and education for over 25 years. Hana is a published author and composer and is recognised internationally for her work in indigenous language acquisition and revitalisation. A graduate of Te Panekiretanga – Institute of Excellence in Te Reo Māori, Hana is widely respected for her Māori language contribution, skills and advocacy. Hana’s passion for education and community, history and equity has resulted in a career committed to working with organisations, businesses and individuals to support and enhance positive outcomes for learners and whānau.

Since late 2020 Hana has been Tumu Whakarae of CORE Education.

Sacha McMeeking 
Kaihautu Matua Pakakano | Executive Director Māori, Pacific And Equity

She / Her

Sacha McMeeking (Ngāi Tahu) is a Co-Director of the Child Wellbeing Research Institute at the University of Canterbury and the Associate Professor of Māori Wellbeing and Education.  She has held senior management roles with Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu and UC, as well as serving as the Head of Aotahi-the School of Māori and Indigenous Studies.  She has been a Fulbright Harkness Fellow, appointed to a range of government advisory bodies and holds an MPhil from Cambridge University as well as an LLM (Hons) from UC. 

Hana Halalele
BA PGDipSW MCAPS (Otago) Reg Social Worker 11832 ANZASW

She / Her

Hana Halalele is New Zealand born Samoan, based in Waitaki, an Independent Registered Social Worker, Deputy Mayor & Councillor for Waitaki District Council, General Manager for the Oamaru Pacific Island Community Group Inc.

Hana is passionate about community empowerment and collaboration, believes in investing in the wellbeing of our people, and advocating for social change for betterment of our community. Adept at operating at strategic level within a strengths-based framework, applying this in governance and across social service delivery. Hana has strong community connections at local, regional and national levels advocating for community resilience, building capability and capacity.

Hon. Lianne Dalziel
Former Mayor of Christchurch, New Zealand 

She / Her

Lianne Dalziel served for 23 years in the New Zealand Parliament, including as a cabinet minister in the fifth Labour Government under the leadership of Prime Minister Rt. Hon. Helen Clark. 

During that time Lianne held a number of portfolios, including Commerce, Immigration, Women’s Affairs & Associate Justice. She chaired the Commerce Select Committee from 2008-2011.

Having represented an electorate that was hard hit by the 2010-2011 Canterbury Earthquake Sequence, Lianne has become a respected champion of resilience with a strong understanding of post-disaster challenges and opportunities. This led her to be invited to serve on the Parliamentary Advisory Group on Disaster Risk Reduction for the UNISDR (now the UNDRR).

Lianne was elected Mayor of Christchurch in 2013, and served three terms, having stepped down at the election in October 2022. 

Lianne has a degree in law from the University of Canterbury and is a frequent speaker on a range of issues, including the importance of building community resilience, the role of leadership, and sharing lessons learned. She also writes a fortnightly column for Newsroom, an independent, New Zealand-based news and current affairs on-line site.

Session Speakers

Chris O'Brien-Smith
Te Waipounamu Lead for Wāhine – E rere ana ki te pae hou

She / Her

Chris has taken on a regional lead role to deliver Ara Poutama’s Te Waipounamu response to the recently released Women’s Strategy Wāhine – E rero ana ki te pae hou. This includes taking on the Senior Responsible Owner functions for the Te Mana Wāhine Pathway, to provide senior oversight of this pioneering initiative. 

Chris’s is Regional Operations Director, Corrections Services Southern Region, which she has held for ten years.  This is a key regional leadership position responsible for leading the development and delivery of Community Corrections services, including probation, programmes and interventions, psychological services, and special treatment programmes to offenders/prisoners across the region.

Angela Desmarais
Disabled Persons Assembly NZ (DPA)

She / Her 

Angela Desmarais is a researcher and policy advisor working for Disabled Persons Assembly NZ (DPA), New Zealand’s only pan-impairment Disabled People’s Organisation. Angela's work currently focuses on equity in employment. Angela joined DPA in early 2020 and worked on Mahi Tika – Equity in Employment, a disabled-led employment programme DPA has been piloting in Waikato that empowers disabled people on their employment journey towards the work or training of their choice.

Previously, Angela worked for 20 years in the Education sector across Italy, Spain, and New Zealand and has Bachelor and Master degrees in Linguistics, within the fields of Sociolinguistics and Critical Discourse Studies. Angela has since carried out research with the disabled community on a range of topics such as assistive technology, transport, healthcare, and employment.

Earlier this year, Angela moved into a Research and Development Advisory role at DPA, focusing on equity in employment at a national level. This includes the continued development of Mahi Tika – Equity in Employment, as well as research on the employment experiences of disabled people. Angela also meets with employers to discuss inclusive workplaces and gain insights into their experiences of employing disabled people.

Angela is one of the 95% of DPA staff who identify as disabled.

Melissa Ruscoe
Former Black Ferns Captain

She / Her

Melissa Ruscoe is of the most remarkable dual-international sportswomen New Zealand has seen; she not only represented New Zealand in rugby and football but captained both sides.

Born December 15, 1976, Ruscoe made her Football Ferns debut in 1994 in a 0-1 defeat to Bulgaria. She went on to captain the side, playing 23 games between 1994 and 2000, scoring two goals.

She then set her sights on rugby, making her debut for Canterbury in 2003. A loose forward, she played 17 games for the Black Ferns, scoring 32 points. She featured in both the 2006 and 2010 Rugby World Cups, won by New Zealand, beating England in the final on both occasions. She was captain during the victorious 2010 World Cup campaign and also captained the New Zealand sevens team during the World Cup Qualifiers in Samoa, in 2009.

In 2005 she was awarded New Zealand Women's player of the year and in 2011 became a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to women's rugby.

Sarah Clifford
Immigration New Zealand

She / Her

Sarah’s career with Immigration New Zealand (Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment) spans more than 20 years and has provided her with a diverse range of experiences in leading and managing complex multi-disciplined service delivery operations both in New Zealand and overseas in the Pacific, Vietnam and the Philippines. She has led through a number of emergency situations, including the 2011 Christchurch Earthquake and the March 2019 Terror attacks. 

A 2021 ANZSOG Executive Fellows Programme alumni, her current role is National Manager Visa Operations, based in Ōtautahi.Sarah is passionate about authentic and inclusive people centred leadership and supporting others to succeed.

Dr Hafsa Ahmed
Lady Khadija Charitable Trust

She / Her 

Dr Hafsa Ahmed was born in Hyderabad, India and came to Aotearoa New Zealand in 2007. She is the co-founder and trustee of Lady Khadija Charitable Trust, which works to help us understand our common ground as a species so we can treat each other with respect despite our differences. She has held board positions in different organisations in the not-for-profit sector over the past decade, which includes being the Chair of Canterbury Interfaith Society and a Trustee on the Board of Ako Ōtautahi – Learning City Christchurch. In January 2023, she was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to ethnic communities and women.  Hafsa describes her love language as acts of service to achieve the common good and inspire others to do the same. She says her life's journey would be incomplete without her husband, Razi Syed and her two amazing children - Hussain and Zahra.

Alice Andersen 
Qtopia

She / Her

Alice Andersen is from Ōtautahi Christchurch where they are Executive Director of Qtopia —a social support service for LGBTQIA+ people, their whānau, and their communities; creating positive social change through education, advocacy, support and celebration across Te Waipounamu. 

Alice’s background is in strategy and development, community activation, and educational design and delivery. Alice has lead workshops, and lectured on inclusivity and identity in both Aotearoa New Zealand, and Australia. 

Workshop Speakers

Bevan James Eyles 
Fitness Professional

He / Him

Bevan James Eyles has been a world leading fitness professional since 1999. In this time he has won New Zealand fitness instructor of the year three times, competed to a high level at Ironman Triathlon, travelled the world training fitness instructors, started New Zealand’s top running business, and he’s also written the best selling book called 'I Will Make You Passionate About Exercise'. 

Claire Ryan
Whaikaha | Ministry of Disabled People 

She / Her

Claire Ryan is passionate about human rights. She is a creative and motivational person who thrives on the energy of like-minded people. Her working life has been dedicated to pushing the boundaries. She is a firm believer in everyone’s right to live fully in their skin without negativity or discrimination. Having worked for over 30 years in the disability sector Claire has been a leader in the area of sexuality and relationships focusing on access and education in support of tāngata whaikaha Māori and disabled people, whānau and allies. Running a successful consultancy called To Be Frank. She is also a proven leader in the area of person directed funding and is currently the Portfolio Manager in this area for Whaikaha – Ministry of Disabled People.

Faumuina Felolini Maria Tafuna’i
Creator of a wayfinding thinking system and Chief Executive of Flying Geese Pro

She / Her

Hailing from the villages of Mulifanua and Asaga in Samoa, Faumuina is the daughter of Ifopo Lopeti and Nivaga. She carries the Tafuna’i from her late husband Patrick, and continues to guide their son Oliver. She is an award-winning journalist and ocean voyager. Guided by navigator Hoturoa Barclay-Kerr, Faumuina created a wayfinding system that takes the wisdom of celestial navigation and voyaging and transposes it into a strategic framework. She has developed and run programmes for Oxfam, UN Women and UNDP. She is also an Edmund Hillary Fellow.

Panel Speakers

Steph Voight
Regional Commissioner , Ministry of Social Development Southern Regional Public Service Commissioner, Otago and Southland

She / Her

Steph is a proud Southerner, growing up in the small town of Kurow in North Otago and now living in Ōtepoti/Dunedin. 

After graduating with a BA in Political Studies from The University of Otago, Steph moved to Wellington, where she joined Te Manatū Whakahiato Ora | Ministry of Social Development in the Kilbirnie Service Centre.  This gave her true insight into MSD’s core role serving our whānau and hapori across the motu through the spirit of service. 

She has held various leadership roles in the Southern and Wellington Regions, as well as MSD’s National Office – and has also been supported to gain an Executive Masters Public Administration from Australia New Zealand School of Government (ANZSOG).                  

Steph left MSD in 2019 to take up the role of Regional Manager at Te Tāhū o te Tūre / Ministry of Justice for Otago and South Canterbury.  Working across the Justice Sector, supporting our judiciary and enabling greater access to justice in our hapori expanded her mind and passion for working collectively across the Public Service and our key partners. 

Donna Matahaere 
Ngāi Tahu, Ngāi Te Ruahikihiki, Taranaki Iwi

She / Her

Donna has experience across many roles, particularly enjoying opportunities to collaborate with community and regional leaders to create solutions for all sorts of situations. Her previous work as a policy director for government in Wellington and as a contractor to the Ministry of Education, Te Manatū Whakahiato Ora (MSD) and Oranga Tamariki has given her an understanding of the machinery of government.

She is currently Acting Chair of Te Rūnanga o Ōtākou, Director and Founder of Ōtākou Health Limited Te Kāika which opened in 2018 to provide whanau with holistic culturally focused wellbeing in Dunedin. In 2018 Donna was awarded a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM) for her services to Māori and health.

Donna lives in Dunedin always close to her whānau and mokopuna.

Diane McDermott 
Regional Commissioner at Ministry of Social Development (MSD) Agency Lead for the Collective Impact Board New Zealand

She / Her

Mata Cherrington 
Ngāti Hine, Te Kapotai, Ngāpuhi-Nui-Tonu, Ngāi Pakeha

She / Her

Conference MC

Petra Bagust
Kaikōrero. Broadcaster. Host

She / Her

Petra has been a voice of influence in Aotearoa since the nineties, and while her hairstyle has changed, her positivity and charismatic communication certainly hasn’t.  Petra brings a wealth of real life experience to the table having navigated the turbulent world of media, balancing the challenges of family life and career, through to partnering with powerful organisations of change both locally and globally. Always engaging, sometimes irreverent, Petra speaks her mind with purpose, clarity and soul. 

Intention Setting

Peter Mersi
Commissioner, Inland Revenue appointed

He/Him

Mr Mersi was appointed Chief Executive, Ministry of Transport in 2016.

From 2012 to 2016 he was Chief Executive Land Information New Zealand.

He was Acting Secretary and Chief Executive Department of Internal Affairs (2011-2012).

From 2010 to 2012 Mr Mersi was Deputy Commissioner, Business Transformation at Inland Revenue Department.

He held a number of senior roles at the Treasury from 1996 to 2010, including Deputy Secretary, State Sector Performance Group (2003-2010) and Deputy Secretary, Regulatory and Tax Policy Branch (2002-2003).