Champions for Change: June Summit Brings Actions to the Forefront

Champions for Change Summit 17 June:

Fifty New Zealand Champions for Change – Chief Executive Officers and Chairs of significant New Zealand organisations, private and public – are in action, working together to achieve a common vision of a new generation of diverse leaders driving New Zealand’s future economic growth and social prosperity.

The Champions have each made a commitment to:

  • Communicate the business value of diversity to their organisations, sectors and other business leaders
  • Hold themselves accountable, internally and externally, for their success in bringing through diverse leaders
  • Invest in new initiatives to bring diverse people into their organisations and support their development into successful leaders
  • Ensure that their work cultures are inclusive and flexible

Four Action Groups are shaping up priority initiatives to help Champions deliver on these commitments, including a standard external reporting commitment on gender and diversity, a resource of powerful stories of change illustrating the business value of diversity, and a strong group commitment to TupuToa (catalysed by Global Women, TupuToa is a new organisation providing sustained support for Māori and Pasifika tertiary students and emerging leaders within corporates to become business leaders).

Co-Chairs and Sponsors:

Champions for Change is co-chaired by Dame Jenny Shipley and Anthony Healy, CEO, BNZ. The four Action Groups and their sponsors are:

  1. Sharing the Case for Change  – Gabriel Makhlouf, Secretary and Chief Executive Treasury, and Theo Spiering, CEO Fonterra
  2. Measurement and Accountability – Kirsten Patterson, NZ Country Head Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand, and Thomas Pippos, CEO Deloitte
  3. Growing Talent Pools – Christopher Luxon, CEO Air New Zealand, and Jason Walker, Managing Director Hays
  4. Mainstreaming Flexibility – Mark Verbiest, Chair Spark, and Bruce Hassall, CEO PwC

We look forward to bringing you continued updates on progress.