Susan is passionate about all things people within the organisations she works within knowing that diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging are acritically important part of any culture.

She feels that culture is at the heart of any organisation and a great culture is about enabling people to bring their whole selves to work and be their best self.

Susan is the Chief People and Sustainability Officer at Fuel50, the world’s fastest growing Talent and Opportunity Marketplace.

Becoming a Mum to Waiaria at 17 provided Haylee with the motivation to move through law school and into legal practice before joining Fonterra, where she is currently the Global Head of Diversity and Inclusion.

Outside of mahi, Haylee has contributed to iwi governance roles and led parts of her iwi settlement with the Crown, a process that showed her that from adversity and resilience can come resolution and hope. Haylee’s biggest influence is growing up in a large whānau Māori which shaped her as a wāhine Māori; strong, bold and proud of her divine brown skin.

Alex is currently Deputy Commissioner Workforce, Employment Relations and Equity at Te Kawa Mataaho| the Public Service Commission.

She is responsible for the Equal Pay Taskforce which drives system-wide work to close gender and ethnic pay gaps across the Public Service. Under Alex’s leadership, the Public Service gender pay gap dropped by one-third in three years and there has also been positive progress in reducing Māori, Pacific and Asian pay gaps. Alex sits on the Public Sector Pay Equity Governance Group which advises Ministers on the progress of pay equity claims in the Public Sector.

She is also a current Trustee of Diversity Works New Zealand.

Nina Russell (she/her) is the Director of Diversity and Inclusion for the New Zealand Defence Force, a role she has held since Jan 2019.

Nina holds a Bachelor of Psychology (Hons) from James Cook University in Australia and is passionate about achieving equal outcomes using equitable processes for diverse groups.

Her advice to anyone working to support gender equality is ‘rest when you are tired, but don’t quit!’. One of her favourite whakatauki is: “Kia kaha, kia māia, kia manawanui mō ake ake ake” - Be strong, be courageous, be generous, as you go into the future.

An outspoken and passionate advocate, Pia has worked in the inclusion, equity, diversity, and belonging space for the better part of the last decade. Having held roles across the private and public sector including at Meridian Energy, Kiwibank, Springload, and most recently WorkSafe as well as leading the organisational development consultancy Canary Collective.

Pia also holds positions on the Board of the YWCA of Greater Wellington, is an advisory board member of the Aotearoa Inclusivity Matrix, and is part of the co-design think tank to redevelop HRNZ competencies for HR practitioners in Aotearoa.

Cathy leads Strategic Pay as the Managing Director and has over 15 years of remuneration consulting experience.

Over the last few years before becoming Managing Director Cathy successfully set up and ran our Tauranga office, resulting in significant growth in Tauranga and the Bay of Plenty Region.

A focus of Cathy’s work has been pay equity where she has chaired the internal committee; developed and managed our systems, worked on and led client assignments in this area, and was a member of the group that presented to the parliamentary select committee on the draft legislation.

Martha hails from the Pacific Islands of Tuvalu and Tokelau. Born in Wellington, raised in Porirua East, Martha is a young professional currently working in HR, and an emerging Pasifika leader challenging the status quo as an advocate for our Pasifika, Māori community and wāhine toa.

Martha is a proud ally of our MVPFAFF+ and Rainbow community an advocate for Matauranga Māori.

Tēnā koutou

He uri tēnei nō ngā waka Mātaatua, Te Arawa, Tainui me te Aotea

Ko Ngāti Awa, ko Te Arawa, ko Ngāi Tūhoe, ko Ngāti Raukawa, ko Ngāti Ruanui, ko Ngā Rauru ōku iwi

Ko Karli Te Aotonga tōku ingoa

Nō reira

E mihi ana ki a tātou katoa

Karli is wāhine Māori and a proud māmā to two boys Cobey and Woremu Te Awarua (with another boy on the way) – and share this with her hoa rangatira, Tiaki. Karli am passionate about strengthening organisations ao Māori capability and transforming HRM practices and leadership across Aotearoa.

Karli is currently studying towards a PhD in Māori Studies which is focused on tikanga-led restorative people processes in the Public Service.

Fleur was appointed to her current role of General Manager, Performance and Reward for the SkyCity Entertainment Group in February 2019, and is responsible for leading the development and implementation of performance and reward strategy across the SkyCity group – which includes being the SME for Pay Gap and Pay Gap Reporting.

Prior to joining SkyCity, Fleur held senior performance and reward roles with Fisher and Paykel Healthcare, AMP and Apple.

Fleur lives in Tāmaki Makaurau and is a mum to Esme and Edie, a partner to Russell, and an ardent Warriors supporter.