Jo is an experienced consultant who has led a variety of projects and assignments.  She is regularly asked to facilitate strategy sessions with leadership teams, coach emerging leaders and lead substantial policy, strategy and gender projects. 

Jo was the previous Chief Executive of the Ministry for Women. One of the youngest Chief Executives ever appointed in the New Zealand Public Service, she has invested her time and energy in advancing the cause of the vulnerable in society, spearheading some of the most difficult issues of our time, including child abuse, child poverty, family violence and vulnerable women. 

Formerly the Deputy Children's Commissioner and leader of the Commissioner's Expert Advisory Group on Solutions to Child Poverty, Jo is a director on a number of Government and NGO boards (including the New Zealand Media Council, Royal New Zealand Navy Leadership Board, Literacy Aotearoa and CORE Education Ltd).  She has a Doctorate in Public Policy that investigated the contracting relationship between governments and NGOs. 

Following her move to a portfolio career, Jo extensively researched the future of work and the result was the 2018 co-authored book Don't Worry About the Robots: How to Survive and Thrive in the New World of Work which provides an accessible synthesis of the trends in technology that are impacting on work and practical tools for future-proofing careers.  The book has been re-printed multiple times.  

In 2020, she co-authored the book Take Your Space: Successful Women Share their Secrets; the aim of which is support women and girls to advance themselves.  All proceeds from the book will be donated to The Aunties and Otara Blue Light programme to support young women leaders.  

In 2016 she was a finalist in the New Zealand Women of Influence Awards and in 2014 was one of three recipients of a Westpac Leadership Fellowship. In 2021 she won the Women in Governance Community Award from Governance New Zealand.  

Jo is the proud mother of two and provides them with excellent taxi services. She also distills her own gin.

Dougal has been working as a clinical psychologist for over 20 years and is the CEO of Umbrella Wellbeing. His work providing psychological support to workplaces and employees has seen him assist an array of organisations, including government departments, private companies and the Sir John Kirwan Foundation. This work has taken him around the country and around the world, providing help to everyone from stressed-out bureaucrats in Wellington to people living in a constant state of fear due to impending missile attacks. Dougal is also an Adjunct Teaching Fellow at Te Herenga Waka - Victoria University of Wellington in the School of Psychology.

Kirstie is the Chief Executive at Maritime New Zealand, the national regulatory, compliance and response agency responsible for the safety, security and environmental protection of New Zealand’s seas, rivers and lakes. Kirstie joined Maritime New Zealand in May 2021. She started her career in commercial litigation and has held a range of senior leadership roles in various New Zealand government policy and regulatory agencies. One of her career highlights was undertaking extensive reform of New Zealand’s health and safety system after the Pike River mining disaster, including establishing WorkSafe NZ and playing a leadership role within the build of that organisation. Another was leading the New Zealand transport sector response to COVID 19. Kirstie has worked on a number of regulatory failures and seen too many injured people, and people whose families have died, for one person’s lifetime. It has given her a passion for safety and excellent regulatory design and implementation, and a motivation to lead a regulator which gets the right balance of holding people to account and working in partnership with others to minimise the risk of harm occurring.

Dr Nicola Emslie is a doctor specialising in Occupational Medicine - a discipline that considers the impact of health on work and work on health. She has previously worked as a medical officer for Air NZ, and is currently working in the Occupational Health and Safety Service at Middlemore Hospital, as well as offering Occ Health support to the Northern Region Rescue Helicopter service. Nicola has an interest in mental wellbeing and enjoys improving people's understanding of their health and how they can improve it, as well as helping them navigate the often complicated health system.

Margaret is the co-founder and Chair of Women in Safety Excellence New Zealand and is passionate about supporting career progression for women in health and safety. Margaret is an experienced Health and Safety Professional with 25 years’ multi sector experience in H&S group management, advisory, regulatory and consultancy roles and Managing Director of a specialist H&S consultancy providing health and safety governance, leadership and technical consultancy services. Margaret is a Chartered Fellow with IOSH, a HASANZ registered Health and Safety Professional, a member of the Institute of Directors (IoD), holds a number of governance roles and is an independent advisor across public and private sectors.

Miriska is a passionate and highly experienced Health and Safety leader with a strategic, forward-thinking mindset. She holds a Master’s Degree in Occupational Hygiene, and is one of only a few Certified Occupational Hygienists (COH®) in New Zealand. She currently leads the Safety, Health, Hygiene & Environment (SHHE) team at Douglas Pharmaceuticals which focusses on Health & Safety, Occupational Hygiene, Chemical Management and Environmental risk management and improvements. Miriska serves on various governance boards (in her current role and for other not-for-profit H&S organisations in NZ such as HASANZ) where she has gained significant experience at setting and delivering H&S strategies and change programmes successfully. She is known for her passion and influence in the H&S industry and has received several awards and scholarships in recognition. Miriska is constantly working towards improving and maintaining good worker health and safety. She actively participates in providing training, education and awareness to anyone willing to listen. As the demand grew, she also commenced her mentoring aspiration and is currently mentoring a few young professionals. Believing to accomplish as much as possible in the time we have, she also provides support to other businesses as a consultant and is involved in various projects to assist with increasing the Occupational Hygiene workforce capability and capacity in New Zealand.