Jo is an experienced gender and leadership 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. Recent assignments include facilitating sessions at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in London in April 2018, working with the leadership team of the New Zealand Defence Force to develop strategies to increase the gender diversity of the forces, and completing a gender analysis of immigration policy.
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 and Institute of Public Administration of New Zealand (IPANZ). She has a Doctorate in Public Policy that investigated the contracting relationship between governments and NGOs and management degree from the University of Cambridge, UK.
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.
Jo is regularly invited as a keynote speaker both here and internationally to share her thoughts on gender, diversity, the future of work, leadership and governance. She delivered a well-received Ted talk on the gender pay gap in 2017.
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.
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