Grant Avery, Director, Outcome Insights
Grant Avery, MBA (Distinction), PMP, is Director of Outcome Insights, an MBIE-listed company providing IQA reviews of major projects, risk management consulting, and P3M3® maturity assessments. Grant has been advising and speaking on high-risk projects, both in New Zealand and internationally, for over 20 years.
Grant is author of the academically acclaimed “Project Management, Denial, and the Death Zone” (JRoss Publishing Inc 2016) a book exploring the effects of risk appetite and risk homeostasis in high-risk projects. Grant is also co-author of the P3M3 v3 maturity assessment model (2015). Grant is listed on Treasury’s’ web site as an ‘Expert’ BBC (Better Business Cases) reviewer, and is an experienced Gateway major-projects reviewer in New Zealand and a number of Australian jurisdictions.
In 2016 Grant was winner of a RiskNZ Exemplar Award and in 2017 won RiskNZ’s coveted Risk Management Professional of the Year.
Jacqui Lyttle, Risk Manager, University of Canterbury
Jacqui has worked in the tertiary sector for almost 20 years, most recently in the role
of Risk Manager, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand.
Jacqui’s line management responsibilities include risk, strategic and operational insurance, business assurance, compliance, business continuity and emergency management.
In 2017, she took responsibility for a new unit within the Vice-Chancellor’s Office
called ‘Risk, Assurance and Policy’. As part of the Emergency Management Planning Group, Jacqui has implemented an emergency response strategy for the University since 2007. In addition to being a founding member of the planning group, Jacqui has a frontline role in the emergency response and has also worked with university personnel in recent years on their business continuity planning to ensure that business recovery is not hampered by poor preparedness.
Following the earthquakes of 2010 and 2011, Jacqui worked closed with the
University Registrar to manage the substantial insurance claims that were ultimately
settled in late 2014 for $550M.
In addition to managing the University’s strategic risk register, Jacqui has also been
working extensively in the travel risk space to better understand and prepare our
increasingly mobile and at risk travelling staff and students for the uncertainties
faced by global unrest.
Janine Foster, Chief Advisor: Risk, Assurance and IntegrityNew Zealand Customs Service
Janine recently returned to NZ Customs Service as the Chief Advisor: Risk, Assurance and Integrity, a part of the Policy, Legal and Governance group.
For the last decade Janine was at NZ Police. For three years she was their Chief Risk Officer.
At the 2017 Risk NZ awards NZ Police was awarded the Excellence in developing capability in Risk Management, where it was regarded that Janine led the transformation of NZ Police to a role model for effective, practical risk management with highly regarded enterprise-wide risk management performance.
A firm believer in personal and professional development, Janine completed the Advanced Diploma in Governance, Risk and Compliance. This resulted in her being the 2017 RMIA Risk Student of the Year, for students undertaking any risk-related study in Australasia.
Nigel Toms, Corporate Risk Manager,Watercare Services Limited
Nigel is the Head of Risk and Resilience for Watercare Services Limited, the sole provider of water and wastewater services to 1.5 million Aucklanders. The requirements of the role include Enterprise and Project Risk Management, Resilience Development, Business Continuity Planning and Emergency Preparedness, Incident Controller and overseeing the organisations Insurance Program.
He served as member and subsequently Deputy Chair of the RiskNZ Management Board for five years until 2016, and then as Chair of RiskNZ from 2017 to 2019. During this period he led the Continuing Professional Development and Relationship workstreams covering lunchtime presentations, future training options and agreements for sharing of professional knowledge with other organisations. He also led the development of RiskNZ Post Nominals to provide professional recognition to Risk Managers.
In his time as a member of RiskNZ he has presented at RiskNZ lunchtime seminars and conferences. He also represented RiskNZ in the group assembled by Skills NZ which culminated in the development and subsequent update of the NZQA level four and six qualifications in Organisational Risk and Compliance.
Nigel’s interests include using his knowledge of risk management qualifications to identify training programmes and education standards that benefit, not only our current practitioners, but also serve to nurture the next generation of risk management leaders. This includes leveraging tangible benefits from aligned professional bodies.
From late 2015 he has led the Watercare and Water Authority of Fiji liaison programme sponsored by Local Government New Zealand and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade which enables the building of professional relationships between these organisations and sharing of knowledge and experiences. The first work completed with Water Authority of Fiji was to assist in the development of an understanding of key organisational risks and subsequently to the development of a Risk Policy, Risk Framework and the presentation of Enterprise Risks to their Board.
In 2016 the risk work undertaken by Watercare, which included the development of a new approach to Enterprise Risks and cooperative risk approach when delivering projects, was recognised with the RiskNZ award for Excellence in Building Risk Management Capability.
Nigel’s previous experience includes strategic financial and risk roles across a range of industries including Utilities, Infrastructure, Manufacturing, Logistics and Ordnance and Munitions.
Nigel is a Certified Member of the UK Institute of Risk Management, Chartered Global Management Accountant and he holds a MSc in Corporate Governance.