• Introduction
  
• Timeline
• New Executive Directors announced
• Restructure Consultation
  
• Executive Director Recruitment process
• Comments and questions

Introduction

This page gives information on the Foundation's recent senior management restructure, featuring the latest news and updates first.

Timeline

On Thursday 8 May 2008, Chief Executive Sandra Budd announced a consultation process with RNZFB staff on a proposed restructure of senior management.  
The aim of the restructure was to build a team to deliver the Foundation's future direction and sustainability.
On 27 May, Sandra Budd announced the final executive structure along with the implementation timeline and work began on recruiting a team of Executive Directors (EDs).   On 29 July Sandra Budd announced those new appointments.

New Executive Directors announced

On 29 July, Chief Executive Sandra Budd officially announced five new Executive Directors, plus one Acting Executive Director to members.

The Foundation is pleased to welcome:

Neil Jarvis, ED Access, Innovation and Enterprise

Neil has had an extensive career working in the disability sector, both in the United Kingdom and, since 2004, with the RNZFB. Neil has worked in consulting and project management, established new businesses and has run his own business for a number of years, providing consulting services around IT accessibility. A key accountability for Neil’s portfolio is to support our members’ independence by providing accessible information and by creating innovative solutions that improve their environment. Neil started his new role on 21 July.

Alison Wheatley, ED Marketing & Fundraising

Alison has twenty years of experience with international consumer goods, services and retail companies including Lion Nathan and Nestle. She has gained wide exposure to all facets of brand building, marketing management, and team leadership. With her team, Alison will be focusing on building a lifetime relationship with our supporters and donors. Alison joins us on 1 September.

Paulette Cotter, ED People & Culture

Paulette has had over 13 years’ international experience as a human resources professional, working with a range of commercial and corporate organisations in New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Within her portfolio, Paulette will be focusing on developing a learning culture that attracts and retains the best talent and supports staff and volunteers. Paulette joins us on 1 September.

Sara Peary, ED Stakeholder Relations

Sara has had over ten years' professional experience in marketing, political marketing, government relations, PR and consumer affairs working in the USA, Europe and New Zealand. As ED Stakeholder Relations, Sara will be responsible for building excellent collaborative partnerships with all our stakeholders to improve our members’ experience. She will also be responsible for setting internal and external strategic communication and growing our profile nationally and internationally. Sara joins us on 1 September.

Gerard Rahman, ED Strategy, Improvement and Performance

After being educated and qualifying as a Chartered Accountant in the United Kingdom, Gerard had 20 years' professional services experience spanning the Caribbean, UK, Middle East and New Zealand. Gerard joined the RNZFB as Chief Financial Officer in 2007. The key focus for Gerard is to ensure the Foundation is run efficiently and effectively, demonstrate good corporate governance systems, continuously improve our processes and progress the RNZFB 2020 project. Gerard started his new role on 21 July.

Gary Henry, ED Direct Client Contact Services (Acting)

The initial recruitment round did not result in an appointment to the ED Direct Client Contact Services (DCCS) position. Until that candidate is appointed, Gary Henry will be on board as the Foundation's Acting ED Direct Client Contact Services. Gary will take up this position on 1 August. Gary is an extremely experienced senior executive having spent many years in consultancy, general manager and chief executive roles, including six years as General Manager of NZ National Women’s Hospital. Gary will lead the DCCS team’s work around service modelling and help with preparation for the new Executive Director.

Restructure Consultation

The consultation was completed on the 22nd May 2008. A range of key themes and specific issues were highlighted, all of which helped refine the final executive structure, announced on 27 May. 

During the consultation period, Sandra Budd presented the proposal to over 300 staff around the country. These meetings have also been attended by volunteers, consumer group representatives and some members.

Many people also accessed information on the website. 104 formal feedback responses from staff, consumer groups and members have been received by post, email and via the website. The responses were reviewed daily and the most common questions and concerns addressed through the FAQs on the website. The level of interest, critiquing and recommendations has resulted in 45 FAQ responses.

The feedback helped refine the final structure and will continue to inform the implementation phases as the restructure progresses.

Specific issues and related actions

Executive Director Recruitment process

The recruitment process, managed by specialist external recruitment consultants Kinross and BridgesOne, was conducted in four stages.

Firstly, alongside regular advertisements on www.seek.co.nz and the restructure recruitment pages of the RNZFB website, the recruiters conducted an Executive Search, approaching potential candidates who were currently in senior roles with other organisations. The incumbent Senior Management Team were made aware of the process and invited to apply for the positions prior to the broader advertisement of the roles.

From these two activities, Kinross and BridgesOne conducted initial interviews, which resulted in a shortlist of candidates from both within and outside of the organisation.

Along with external specialists in each of the fields, Sandra Budd conducted second interviews with those shortlisted between 26 June and 3 July, where we agreed on preferred candidates for each role. 

On 4 July, the Advisory Panel established by the Chief Executive, comprising of representatives from consumer organisations, met with those preferred candidates.   The feedback from the Panel helped ensure robustness in the process.

Comments and questions

If you have any comments or questions, please use the online comments form or email Sandra Budd's office.