Elizabeth Hughes

Director

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CBEC Elizabeth

Elizabeth is a communication and engagement specialist for local government, government and not-for-profit sectors.

Her passion is enabling meaningful connections between communities and councils – supporting elected members and staff to build trust and confidence with the people they serve.  

Elizabeth is a pragmatist who is valued for her “IRL” no-frills and common-sense approach - creating clarity from chaos and turning the complex into the understandable. 

Her portfolio includes delivery of strategies, audits, policies, facilitation, crisis/emergency/recovery response, mentoring, media learning, and reviews for over 35 councils (plus community boards) and includes 15 years in communication, engagement and advocacy roles, and six years with Local Government New Zealand.

Elizabeth has been a regular columnist for the Local Government magazine since 2016 and tries not to bore people too much with her mildly obsessive observations and commentary about the state of councils and local democracy in Aotearoa.