Who we are

25 Feb 2019

Tourism New Zealand is a crown entity governed by Board members who are appointed by the Minister of Tourism. Tourism New Zealand's leadership team is responsible for the organisation's business operations.

For contact details, please visit the Contact Us page.

	Kerry Prendergast - Chair Kerry Prendergast is the former Mayor of Wellington and former Vice-President of Local Government New Zealand and holds an MBA from Victoria University. Kerry is currently Chair of the Environmental Protection Authority, Tourism New Zealand, and New Zealand Film Commission. She is a Director of Oceania Healthcare, Compass Health PHO and NZ China Council, and a Trustee of the New Zealand Community Trust, National Army Museum, the Wellington Free Ambulance Board and the Victoria Foundation. Kerry is also a Board member of the Phoenix Football Club and the NZ-US Council Advisory Board. She is a member of the New Zealand Conservation Authority, a shareholder of IKE GPS and Patron of Mary Potter Hospice Kerry was awarded a CNZM in 2011 for her services to local government, and is a distinguished Alumni of Victoria University. In July 2016 Kerry was also awarded a Lifetime Excellence Award for Outstanding Contribution to Local Government.
	Colleen Neville Colleen is currently the CEO of Te Arawa Group Holdings Limited, the commercial arm of Te Pumautanga o Te Arawa Trust. Colleen has held this position for approximately four years and, prior to this appointment, was the CFO for four years. Colleen (Ngati Maniapoto, Waikato-Tainui) has 16 years experience as a Chartered Accountant in diverse sectors including tourism, forestry, agribusiness and health services. She also has extensive expertise in Māori post-settlement governance entities (PSGEs), Māori incorporations and Māori land trusts. Colleen’s previous roles have included Finance Manager for NZMACI (Te Puia) and Business Advisory Services for professional accountancy and management firms. Colleen has governance experience as a director of Scion (NZ Forest Research Institute Limited), Poutama Trust (business development services to Māori), Te Ohu Kaimoana (independent Audit and Risk member and Director of Portfolio Management Services), Te Kakano Whakatipu Ltd (Forestry), Te Arawa Agribusiness Ltd and Te Matai Pacific Iwi Collective (Kiwifruti).
	Kauahi Ngapora Kauahi is General Manager of Whale Watch Kaikoura Ltd and has 25 years of experience in the Māori tourism sector. His governance experience includes directorships at Tourism Industry Aotearoa and Whale Watch Australia. Mr Ngapora has also been Chair of Destination Kaikoura and is a member of the Tourism Infrastructure Fund panel. Kauahi was awarded the Outstanding Māori Business Leader Award at the 2018 University of Auckland’s Aotearoa Māori Business Leaders Awards.
	Mike O'Donnell Mike "MOD" O'Donnell is Chief Commercial Officer of Work. He is also a director of Radio NZ, online global music company Serato, software company Raygun, online booking company Timely and IP Marketing Agency G2G Knowhow. He is also advisor to Ruapehu Alpine Lifts Limited. MOD is a weekly business columnist for Fairfax Media. He was previously the chairman of Positively Wellington Tourism and has managed several online travel businesses. MOD was re-appointed to the New Zealand Tourism Board on 16 December 2016 for another three-year term ending 15 December 2019.
	Jan Hunt Jan is a director at Skyline Enterprises and Jumping New Zealand. Previously she was a Board member of the Queenstown Chamber of Commerce and worked as a General Manager at Millbrook Resort, Sky City Hotel & Convention Centre, and Millennium Queenstown. Jan was appointed to the New Zealand Tourism Board in June 2017 until June 2021.
	John Thorburn John is Chief Executive of InterCity Group and was previously the Chief Executive of Ngai Tahu Tourism. John is also Director of Intercity Group Australia Pty Limited. He has held senior positions in a range of industries, including manufacturing, marketing and telecommunications. John has also held previous board positions with the New Zealand Tourism Industry Aotearoa and the New Zealand Conservation Authority. John was appointed to the New Zealand Tourism Board on August 2015 for a three-year term which has been extended until June 2019.
	Jamie Tuuta Award winning Māori business leader, Jamie Tuuta chairs Te Ohu Kaimoana, the body set up to oversee Māori fisheries assets throughout New Zealand, conservation project Taranaki Mounga and Māori Television. Jamie was the Māori Trustee and Chief Executive of Te Tumu Paeroa, an organisation responsible for managing nearly 100,000 hectares of land and more than $100m worth of assets and investments. Jamie has held a range of governance positions in iwi development, agribusiness, fishing, investment, health, Māori development, tourism and education. He is currently a director of Moana New Zealand an export fishing company and Taranaki Whānui Ltd an iwi investment entity. In 2015 Jamie received the Young Māori Business Leader Award at the Aotearoa NZ Māori Business Leaders Awards, and was awarded the Sir Peter Blake Emerging Leadership Award in 2010. Jamie was first appointed to the New Zealand Tourism Board in March 2013 and was reappointed for a third term that ends on 30 June 2020.
	Roger Sharp Roger is the Chairman of global digital travel business, Webjet and has over 30 years’ experience in the travel and technology sectors and in capital markets. In the 80's Roger built and sold his first tech company and became an aviation banker in the 90's, leading and advising on flagship transactions, such as the merger of Australian Airlines and Qantas, the acquisition by British Airways of 25% of Qantas, and the initial public offering of Air New Zealand. Since then Roger has worked for one of the world’s largest financial institutions, founded a technology investment firm, and has chaired or been a director of eight stock exchange listed companies. Roger was officially appointed to the board on 1 December 2018 for a term ending on 30 June 2021.
	Leah McDonald Leah McDonald is Executive Assistant to the Chief Executive and Board Secretary. Email Leah in the first instance to get in touch with any of Tourism New Zealand's Board members.

	Stephen England-Hall, Chief Executive Stephen joined Tourism New Zealand as Chief Executive on 3 April 2017. Before joining Tourism New Zealand Stephen was Chief Executive Officer of Loyalty New Zealand, the company behind New Zealand’s customer loyalty and data coalition, Fly Buys, and the analytics business LAB360. Stephen has extensive international experience working as a senior executive of world leading digital marketing, data and technology companies in the UK and North America. Stephen is also a Board member of the New Zealand China Council Board and the Tourism Industry Association and The New Zealand Story. As the Tourism New Zealand Chief Executive Stephen also sits on the New Zealand Screen Production Grant Panel and Significant Economic Benefits Verification Panel. Stephen was a trustee and Board member of New Zealand data charity Figure NZ, a founding member of the New Zealand Data Futures think tank, a member of the Data Futures Partnership and served as a member of several Cambridge University Advisory Boards. Stephen holds an MBA from Cambridge University.
	René de Monchy, Director of Commercial René de Monchy joined Tourism New Zealand in August 2015 as Director of Trade, PR and Major Events. René brings 15 years' global experience in consumer-led businesses including local and international marketing roles for Fonterra and Heineken and most recently as Marketing Director at Asia Pacific Breweries in Singapore. The primary objective of the Commercial Director role is to lead the in-market commercial arm of Tourism New Zealand through leveraging global and local relationships, prudent fiscal management, strategic direction, coordinated and effective execution as well as insight-led investment of all in-market activities across the planning and partnerships, marcomms, trade and public relations teams.
	David Craig, Acting Director Creative & Content David has taken up the position of Acting Director Creative & Content for six months. David was previously the General Manager - Asia at Tourism New Zealand from 2014 to 2017 and before that he led the development of Tourism New Zealand’s Latin America strategy. The primary objective of the Director Creative & Content role is to lead the evolution of Tourism New Zealand's core creative narrative including the 100% Pure New Zealand brand. This new role takes responsibility for the creative philosophy and the standard of creative output for the organisation. It takes a multidisciplinary approach that works across marketing, PR and trade to ensure cohesive and powerful storytelling that engages minds and changes hearts such that the visitor ecosystem benefits New Zealand in the short and long term.
	Sue Parcell, Chief Financial Officer Sue Parcell is responsible for managing and leading the financial and accounting functions of Tourism New Zealand, while also managing our IT infrastructure. She also oversees the performance reporting function. Sue has had considerable experience in the tourism industry and this includes senior finance and general management roles. Prior to this she worked in finance roles in business services in New Zealand and overseas.
	Rebecca Ingram, General Manager NZ and Government Relations Previously, Rebecca was responsible for overseeing Tourism New Zealand's international PR activity, including the international media programme, and work to leverage major events. She led TNZ’s film tourism work, building on the highly successful Middle-earth legacy and positioning New Zealand as the best place in the world for visitors to experience a living film set. Rebecca has more than ten years of experience in marketing and communications, with significant experience leading and developing successful public relations campaigns and large scale events during her time at both Telecom and Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand.
	Natalie Haines, General Manager, People and Culture Natalie is responsible for leading Tourism New Zealand’s people, organisational culture, safety and wellness work streams. Natalie brings more than 16 years of people and culture experience, and joins Tourism New Zealand from senior HR roles at Oranga Tamariki - Ministry for Children and Contact Energy. She brings a strong background in organisational change and capability and culture development.
	Leah McDonald, Executive Assistant to Chief Executive Leah joined Tourism New Zealand in 2008 and in 2012 was appointed to the role of Executive Assistant to the Chief Executive and Board Secretariat. Before joining Tourism New Zealand, Leah lived offshore from 1995 to 2008 (Florida, London and Sydney) supporting Senior Executives across various sectors, including Australia’s leading medical defence organisation and medical indemnity insurance provider and the largest housing association in the United Kingdom.

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Tourism New Zealand

Who we are