Chief Executive at Waipā District Council

Steph is currently Chief Executive at Waipā District Council. Her executive and governance leadership roles span the private, public and iwi sectors. Including five and a half years at Whakatane District Council as CE, CE of Te Runanga o Ngati Ranginui, Principal Advisor for Kanoa in the Bay of Plenty, Treaty Settlement Negotiator and Governance Appointee to the Waikato River Authority for Raukawa, Inaugural Chair of The University of Waikato Adams High Performance Centre (Mt Maunganui), Chair of The People’s Project in Tauranga (a multi-agency collaboration enabling a Housing First approach to homelessness) and the formation of the largest multiparty JV in the home based health sector in regional NZ.

She has a deep interest in leadership, and inspiring and serving others, and is committed to ongoing learning about the dynamics of relationship.

Steph has a demonstrated remarkable ability to create strong and enduring relationships in complex environments. These include relationships with iwi, central and local government.

Steph will talk about how relationships are maintained in challenging times where the relationship itself is put to the test. Her leadership and relationships with stakeholders, including governance, has been put to the test through significant challenges including national level disasters including the Whakaari- White Island eruption, Rena Maritime Disaster recovery, emergency management events and significant organisational transformation projects.

Having sat on both sides of the table as a Governance Appointee and a Chief Executive, Steph is a deep believer in mutually creating the conditions for success to empower and enable high performance.