Ministerial Appointees
Pauline A Winter (Chairperson)
INTERPACIFIC Strategic Management is Pauline's Auckland based business specialising in governance mentoring, strategic planning and general management assistance to businesses and individuals in the public and private sector. Prior to establishing her own business Pauline was CEO of Workbridge Inc. a national specialised employment agency for people with disabilities. Prior to that she worked in the building industry for 17 years managing a commercial interior company. She was the first woman to be appointed to the NZ Shopfitters Association during that time.
Pauline chairs the Pacific Business Trust, is a Board member of the Legal Services Agency, the Auckland Energy Consumers Trust, and a Council member of UNITEC Auckland. She is Deputy Commissioner of the Transport Accident and Investigation Commission and a Trustee of the Auckland Mayoralty Foundation and a member of the Māori Women's Welfare League. She received the Pacific Island Business Person of the Year Award in 1997.
Trudie McNaughton
Trudie McNaughton has worked in equal employment opportunities since the late 1980s. In her roles at the University of Auckland (EEO Officer 1989-1992) and as Chief Executive of the EEO Trust (1992-2003), Trudie pioneered work to identify the social and business benefits of work/life balance. She has created alliances between diverse partners committed to making New Zealand a great place to live, work and bring up children. Her work has also included leading research and communications projects on a range of other workplace issues, including cultural diversity, disability, age and gender.
Trudie is currently a Ministerial appointee on NACEW, a member of the Human Rights Review Tribunal and Board of Career Services and the Pro Vice-Chancellor (Equal Opportunities) at The University of Auckland.
Dr Anne Meade
Dr Anne Meade has been associated with early childhood education for many years, as a parent and in career roles that include teacher, researcher, lecturer and policy adviser. She was the convenor of two major Ministerial working groups on early childhood care and education (Education to be More, 1988; and Report to the Minister of Education on a Strategic Plan for Early Childhood Education, 2001).
Anne was the Director of the New Zealand Council for Educational Research for six years, Chair of the Special Education Board and member of the Council governing Wellington College of Education. She has also been a member of several Ministerial working groups.
Anne is currently a self-employed consultant, specialising in educational research, advice and writing with a focus on early childhood education. Her projects take her overseas as well as around New Zealand. She is currently the Research Leader for Te Tari Puna Ora o Aotearoa/ New Zealand Childcare Association.
Jan Francis
Jan Francis has worked in the employment field for the last 18 years, in local, central government and community sectors. She currently runs her own employment and economic development consultancy business (WorkWise Solutions Ltd), and includes work with the Mayors Taskforce for Jobs as Executive Officer. Which involves building and maintaining relationships with Mayors, their staff, Government Ministers and Officials.
Jan has previously worked as a teacher; Co-ordinator of the Canterbury Women’s Employment Trust which provided training, employment and advocacy for women in employment; Manager of the Employment Services Unit with the Christchurch City Council which ran government employment schemes, a small business advisory service and a youth employment service; and National Manager of the Local Employment Co-ordination Unit in the Department of Labour. Jan has a long involvement in the community sector and is a member of a number of Boards in that sector.
Jan has a MA (Hons) Degree in Political Science from Canterbury University with a Thesis which researched Women’s Enterprise Development in New Zealand 1984-94 and has served as the NZ President of the Australia and New Zealand Regional Science Association. She is deeply committed to addressing the issues of work and income in our society through economic development and job creation, using these terms in their broadest sense.
Janice Gordon
Janice Gordon has been involved in the disability sector for nearly 30 years in both paid and voluntary positions, beginning with her experience as a parent of a child with Cohen’s Syndrome. Janice and her husband Mike have successfully raised four children into adulthood as well as maintaining a career focus which has included working for disability agencies and tertiary institutions. Currently her role is CEO of Phoenix Incorporated, a supported employment agency that achieves significant and sustained employment outcomes for people with a disability.
Through Janice’s expertise and leadership, Phoenix Supported Employment has won several awards including joint winner of the EEO Trust Small-Medium Business Awards for Work/Life Balance in 2003, finalist in the Walk the Talk Award in 2003 and 2005, and winner of the Small to Medium Organisation Award in 2007.
Janice is involved in many other community initiatives and in 2003, was awarded the Civic Honour Award, Palmerston North City Council’s highest award, for over 20 years’ service to her community. She was made a life member of Parent to Parent New Zealand in 2002 in recognition of service development for families of children with disabilities since 1984, and was inducted into Sages Hall of Fame for the Association of Supported Employment in New Zealand in 2007 for her contribution to the industry. She has also been involved in establishing the Palmerston North Green Bikes Trust, a recycling programme aimed at providing a free sustainable transport system for Palmerston North; was involved in planning for the deinstitutionalisation of Kimberley Centre in 1988 and chairs the Manawatu Horowhenua Community Organisation Grants Scheme Committee (COGS). Janice is also a member of the Elder St David’s Presbyterian Church Palmerston North.
Carolyn Weston
Carolyn Weston lives in Invercargill with her husband Tony and has two sons in their twenties. She has a genetic condition which has caused her to be legally blind and have osteoporosis since childhood. She started working life in a soap factory where she stayed for almost nine years until the birth of her first son. Following this, she studied the Otago Playcentre Supervisor’s Certificate and worked for three Invercargill Playcentres in the late 1980s.
For the past 16 years, Carolyn has worked in the disability sector at the governance level. Her commitment to voluntary work is noteworthy and she has held positions on an extensive number of national and local boards including the Royal New Zealand Foundation for the Blind Board of Trustees (1992-8) and Community Committee (1986-present, and chair since 1997); DPA New Zealand National Executive Committee (1991-7 and 2001-4) and its National President (2001); the Association of Blind Citizens national governing body (1992-2007) and its National President (2003-7); the Board of Trustees of Mt Anglem College; the Disability Resource Centre Southland (Board Chair 1992-5); the Health and Disability Multi-region Ethics Committee (present); the Ministry of Health’s Disability Consumer Consortium (present); Southland District Health Board’s Disability Support Advisory Committee (2005-7); Disability Advisory Council (2005-6); and was a lay member of the New Zealand Medical Council’s Complaints Assessment Committee (1999-2002).
Carolyn was also involved in DPA’s Employment Week 1988 and several projects on the employment of blind people. Her interest regarding women’s issues is long standing, and includes involvement in organising and facilitating the first New Zealand Vision Impaired Empowering Women Seminar in 1989, and being a member of the New Zealand non-government organisation United Nations Convention of Women Beijing 2005 Committee.
Lorraine Skiffington
Lorraine Skiffington is the founding Executive Director and Chief Executive of Strategic Directionz, a Wellington based specialist strategic advisory consultancy. She is also an executive director on the Wellington based strategic consultancy firm, Guinness Gallagher and the Strategic Director for the Hui Taumata Trust.
Lorraine’s career spans both law and education. She has taught across the education spectrum from primary to tertiary. Lorraine is a Barrister and Solicitor of the High Court of New Zealand and has practiced law in both the public and private sector. Her key specialist areas are public law reform and policy, and employment law. Lorraine has published widely in the area of employment law, human rights and parental leave.
As Senior Advisor to the Minister of Labour and the Attorney General and Associate Minister of Justice Lorraine has played a leading role in a range of high profile law reform projects including: Employment Relations Act 2000, Property (Relationships) Amendment Act 2001, Review of Guardianship Act 1968, Review and reform of Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992, Review of Holidays Act 1981, Review of the Privacy Act 1993, the Human Rights Amendment Act 2000, and review of Queens Counsel and ending appeals to the Privy Council.
Key roles held by Lorraine include the Senior Legal Advisor to the Minister of Maori Affairs, Associate Minister of Education, Senior Advisor to the Attorney General, Minister of Labour and Treaty Negotiations, Chief Crown Negotiator for the Ngati Porou ki Hauraki Foreshore and Seabed claim, Teachers’ Disciplinary Tribunal Member appointed since 2005, Senior Consultant to central government and public sector, National Manager – Transition Tertiary Education Commission, and Director Employment Relations – Waikato Polytechnic.
