RiskNZ Team and Board

I’ve held a number of roles in the UK and in New Zealand that on the surface seem wildly unconnected, but are strongly invested in building enduring relationships; communicating complex matters simply; connecting people and issues; risk based thinking and managing the unplanned – all with the aim of ensuring good decisions are made that consider a wider context.

I’ve held prior roles within the oil industry; local, regional and national government organisations; management consulting, crisis and emergency management and more recently as the GM Risk Integration within Fonterra.  My ‘resilience’ journey continues as I have returned to the now National Emergency Management Agency (previously Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management).

I’m originally from London but now live in Auckland with my husband and 2 teenage children. I love its beaches, but enjoy opportunities to escape the traffic regularly.

I assist organisations in implementing practical risk management and assurance frameworks that ensure benefits to the organisations’ stakeholders. I am passionate about improving organisations’ control environments to set them up for success.

I have over 15 years’ experience in external audit, internal audit and enterprise risk management. I have worked at a both private and public sector including; ACC, EY South Africa, PwC New Zealand, Western Cape Government and Robben Island Museum (UNESCA World Heritage Site). During my time at Western Cape Government I was the Internal Audit Manager for the Department of Health (serving a population of 5,8 million people). I am currently a Principal Internal Audit Advisor at ACC providing specialist advice on governance, risk and control. I have a bachelors and postgraduate degree in accounting and auditing, am a member of the Institute of Internal Auditors (NZ), and I am a registered Chartered Accountant (South Africa).

I am professionally interested in the interplay between all the lines of assurance within organisations and how combined assurance models can be implemented effectively to ensure the achievement of organisational objectives. I wrote an article for the RiskPost in November 2020, providing practical advice on how risk management and internal audit functions can work in a closer relationship to enable better outcomes for an organisation.

I am a responsible, dependable individual driven to provide valuable advice and practical solutions to my stakeholders. I have worked closely with senior management and governance bodies to understand their risk profiles and implement effective solutions to drive down risk levels to acceptable levels.

I enjoy working in environments where I have opportunities to challenge the traditional way of thinking about assurance and risk management. I have great interpersonal skills, the ability to help people find common ground and motivate people towards achieving a common goal.

I have excelled in both public and private sector arenas due to my ability to connect with people, understand their risk and assurances needs and deliver innovative solutions to drive better governance, risk management and control.

I am passionate about education programmes and how RiskNZ can assist our members to grow their risk management capabilities and learn new techniques for delivering risk management programmes that are truly integrated within the business processes of organisations.

I am committed to working with the members to understand the value proposition that they want from RiskNZ. As part of the Board I will work towards translating members’ value proposition requests into practical solutions that can assist them in their work strategically and operationally. I will drive educational outcomes for members, providing them opportunities to develop their risk management capabilities.

My Background

My interest in risk stems from my desire to utilise my Engineering (Mechatronics), Commence (finance), and government policy background. With 8 years specialising in risk, working in a consulting role with corporate, local government and central government agencies, I have established a sound understanding of our Risk profession and the various skills required to be a skilled operator in the field.

Work and experience

My current role is a Principal Risk Consultant for a leading insurance broker. This allows me to share my skills and knowledge regarding natural hazard risk, climate change, cyber risk management and strategic risk management to allow clients to navigate through the decision making processes and meet expectation in our modern risk aware world.
In addition to contributing to the risk profession and helping Risk NZ where I can, I also contribute my skill set to the community. I am a board member of a local school, able to advise on financial, risk based and other various decisions. Although I don’t have a child at the school this is a great opportunity to provide a risk lens in the Education sector, as I am passionate about learning.

My commitment to members

I commit to the purpose, objectives and principles set out in the constitution.
I commit to promoting and celebrating innovative risk management practices by RiskNZ members.
I commit to representing insurance and corporate risk managers perspective in Risk NZ.

I am currently the Enterprise Risk Business Partner at TSB, responsible for supporting effective management of the Enterprise Risk Management Framework, together with its core components. I am always looking for opportunities of continuous improvement and uplift through meaningful reporting and business engagement.

I have been at TSB for five years in various Risk and Compliance roles. Prior to that I worked in various commercial and Property law firms in the Taranaki Region.

I am passionate about developing and implementing sustainable risk management foundations and structured practices.

I enjoy spending time outdoors being active, and can often be found adventuring one of the many beautiful hiking tracks in Taranaki. I have three busy children, who also enjoy playing sports, and I am both proud supporter and mum taxi.

David Turner is a senior business executive and trusted advisor with over 20 years’ experience in the risk management industry.

David joined the Australian Army and became part of a specialised team where he deployed to East Timor in 1999. After the military contracted to varied private and government organisations in leadership, risk and project roles; he opened his own company that advised on risk management and provided personnel for major projects including; BHPB, Rio Tinto, Multiplex, Police, Australian Elections, and also CHOGM 2011 working with State and Federal Police.

David was born in NZ and returned in 2016 to work on the Transdev Wellington rail network transition. He now lives in New Zealand permanently and has worked with Deloitte, KPMG, Defence, MOJ and PwC. He brings a unique blend of expertise across diverse areas with a focus on risk management of human behavior – one of the more complex, dynamic and often over-looked areas of the industry.

I am the Risk Manager for ATEED (Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development), an Auckland Council owned company.  I am responsible for risk, audit, policy, security, and business continuity.

I was a Police Officer for 23-years, and prior to leaving the Police led the NZ Police National Security Office.  For 6-years I represented the New Zealand Government on the Australia New Zealand Counter Terrorism Committee (ANZCTC).  For 3-years I was seconded to the Department for Prime Minister and Cabinet as a senior Policy Advisor. This role required me to write cabinet papers, as well as briefing papers for the Chief Executive and Prime Minister.  This involved leading a number of multi-agency senior working groups, as well as completing the business continuity plan for parliament.

RiskNZ is a great professional organisation with great people as members and on the board.  We are doing a lot of good things, and as a member it can still be difficult understanding what tools are available.  Even something as simple as what tertiary qualifications are available and what their respective advantage is.  I’m committed to working as part of the board to focus on how we can continue to add value to us all as members and help demystify what is out there.

Chris is the Managing Director of Global Risk Consulting (GRC).

A descendant of the Whanganui Awa (River), Uri of Ngati Tuera, Ngati Hinearo, Ngati Poutama, Ngati Pamoana, Atihaunui-a-Paparangi te Iwi.

GRC is a specialised enterprise security risk management consultancy, Chris has worked globally for the Foreign State groups (British Foreign Office and US State Department), large Multi-nationals within the Oil and Gas sector, Ambassadors, celebrities, global tech-firms and a broad range of other local and international clients. More recently Chris provided risk management support for Covid-19, secondment to Operational Command Centre, under vulnerable community programme.

Chris wrote the National Iwi Chairs Forum (National Iwi collective valued at $40bn), Pandemic Response Plan Framework (including the technology systems design process) and associated documents in line with Covid-19 to help reduce pandemic risk to Maori and other communities.

GRC is committed to risk management technology develop and has launched; Security Threat and Risk Assessment Tool (STRAT), Crisis Management System (CMS), National Security Intelligence Platform and is undertaking other technology developments for market, ie a whole of security systems approach.

My transition in to risk management has been a relatively recent occurrence. Triggered by a couple of significant events at Hastings District Council that highlighted the need for more effective identification and management of risk.

In my current role as the Risk & Corporate Services manager for the Council, I’m responsible for leading the Councils enterprise risk management programme, including advising the Council on key areas of risk.

Prior to becoming involved in Local Government, most of my career has been involved in aviation. Starting with operational flight experience overseas, and then in a quality and safety management systems role at Air New Zealand. After Air New Zealand I lead the development programme for an aviation quality and safety management application called AQD. The Product Manager role involved consulting with airlines across the global to develop and improve the system offering.

Now based in sunny Hawkes Bay with my wife and daughter, we enjoy the opportunity to get out on the local walking and cycling trails. And when this isn’t possible in winter, we love to get a way to National Park for some snow time on skis.

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed vulnerabilities and highlighted the interconnected nature of our world. We can expect the future to be characterised by more extreme events.

To succeed in this uncertain environment, we need to elevate risk management as a strategic force within our organisations. That means risk practitioners need to sharpen their skills, be bold, and step forward as leaders. RiskNZ plays a critical role encouraging and enabling this.

I am pleased to be a longstanding member of the RiskNZ community. Over the years I have contributed though various lunchtime and conference presentations. In 2016 I was awarded RiskNZ Emerging Risk Practitioner of the Year.

My background includes commercial aviation risk, data analytics, complex systems. Now my focus is on raising the bar for Enterprise Risk Management and strategic risk transfer. Outside of lockdowns, I travel extensively around the country. I work with corporate organisations, Councils, and central government agencies facilitating workshops, improving risk maturity, and helping shape better decisions.

As a newly elected RiskNZ Board member I will bring a huge breadth and depth of experience. But more importantly,
I’m passionate about connecting at an individual level, and driving partnerships at an organisational level. I’m excited at the prospect of stepping up my contributions to RiskNZ and elevating our community.

I have had a career as a subject matter expert, driving evidence-based change and shaping policy with a wide range of organisations. I have specialised in strategic risk management and the global SDG remits contributing to risk literacy, practice and government policy development in both NZ and the UK.

My experience from the UK includes working with practitioner bodies such as the BCI and government agencies on projects focused on mitigating the impact of extreme events and threats, managing uncertainty, risk and resilience.
With 80% of the UK CNI private sector owned, public-private partnerships were perceived a means to mitigate some of the impact of extreme events.I was commissioned by the UK Cabinet Office – Civil Contingencies Secretariat (CCS) to help inform regulatory frameworks. Based at Warwick University I managed a research and advisory centre, chaired advisory groups, reported to central government funders and policymakers, and liaised with government agencies (including CT police and blue light services) and industry partners to identify opportunities for developing a joined-up approach. I helped to develop the Organisational Resilience BS standard, revised the CCA Act (2004), inform the development of the National Risk Register, the Regional Resilience Forums and the broadening of the National Security Strategy. As the remit around resilience, I was involved in developing scenarios, public-private partnerships and multi-agency responses as an all of government approach and hence, linked to security sector related remits. Outputs of these projects were published in The Chatham House and The Smith Institute publications (‘Britain and Security’) and presented at policy development forums to inform for example; the national security strategy review (eg; at No10 Downing Street and Westminster).

I was faculty on the Institute of Governance and Public Management programmes and taught public sector leadership, management and public policy to senior civil servants. I also taught on the University of Birmingham Applied Health Research Institute programme ‘Aspiring future NHS leaders’ and at the University of Warwick NHS Institute and the National Policing College in Coventry. I was appointed as an adjunct to the UK Cabinet Office Emergency Planning College (EPC) in York and was a member of the Industry and Parliamentary Trust (IPT) and conducted thought leadership events for MPs in Westminster.

Since returning to NZ my activities have focused on developing organisational resilience capabilities; sustainability and wellbeing linking to the global narratives of the UN Sustainability Goals and Sendai framework; UN Disaster Risk and Recovery (DRR) and the TEC Centre of Excellence: QuakeCoRE; focused on reviewing national earthquake regulations and local government planning processes. I have also informed the development of The Treasury Living Standards Framework and contributed to the Royal Inquiry/WorkSafe review of tourism safety standards in the wake of Whakaari/White Island and review of government communications in crisis and the use of social media.

I have also supported the NZ Universities Risk Managers Network and during Covid-19 advised the University of Auckland Risk Office and Business Recovery Programme and conducted risk management thought leadership sessions for the senior management team. I am a founding member of the NZ Security Sector Network (NZSSN); a member of the Crowded Places Special Advisory Group (CPSAG); member of the Defsec editorial board for the Line of Defence publication and been appointed as member of the judging panel for the 2022: RISKNZ Annual Awards, Outstanding Security Professionals Awards NZ (OSPAs) and Women in Security awards.

I have also consulted to NZTE/MBIE/KEA focused on the market entry challenges and risks mitigation strategies adopted by NZ exporters. During Covid-19, this was focused on how they survived the added market entry challenges, supply chain issues and documented examples of how they thrived by pivoting their offering to fit the changing context.

I have helped to develop the NZ risk literary as part of national capability development pathways examples include DPMC/CDEM funded RRANZ (Developing Response & Recovery Capabilities Aotoeroa) programme; MFAT to develop APEC regional emergency management capabilities . I am also working on projects aimed at learning from previous crisis in NZ, the emerging NZ approach to leadership in crisis, and indigenous approaches to crisis management.

Alongside of this role I have over 20 years of consultancy work in my career, I have advised organisations adapting to policy changes in governance and regulatory frameworks, most recently due to Covid-19. I have been able to successfully combine academic capability with real-world insights to help inform risk management literacy.