Speakers

The line-up of speakers for Financial Literacy 2011 includes Tony Hobman from the UK, Chief Executive of the Money Advice Service, Olaf Simonse from the Netherlands, Project Leader of CentiQ and Annamaria Lusardi from the USA, Professor of Economics at Dartmouth College.

Diana Crossan

Diana CrossanDiana Crossan has been the Retirement Commissioner since February 2003 and has overseen many innovations at the Commission, including the expansion of their flagship website, Sorted.org.nz, and a long-term strategy to have personal financial education taught in all New Zealand schools. The Commission was instrumental in the development of the National Strategy for Financial Literacy and Diana is a member of the strategy's Advisory Group. Diana represents New Zealand at the OECD International Network on Financial Education. She is on the advisory committee, is a member of the schools subgroup, and chair of the working group on evaluating financial education programmes.

Diana came to the Retirement Commissioner role after a varied career that began with 13 years as a probation officer, following her graduation from Otago University and the University of Wales. Since then she’s filled senior roles in the State Services Commission, the Ministry of Education and the Department of Justice, and was involved in setting up the electricity State Owned Enterprise that became Contact Energy. She spent some time as the General Manager of the Clyde and Roxburgh hydro dams. After working as a management consultant, she joined the financial services company, AMP.

As well as being the Retirement Commissioner part time, Diana is on several boards in the private, public and community sectors. She is on the board of Refugees in Business and was the Chair of the Advisory Committee for the New Zealand Institute for Research on Ageing, Victoria University of Wellington until it was incorporated into the university’s Institute of Policy Studies in 2009. Diana is the Chair of Ngāi Tahu’s saving scheme Whai Rawa Ltd and is an independent member of the recently established advisory board of Massey University’s New Zealand Centre for Personal Financial Education. She is also a former Director of New Zealand Post and Mighty River Power Ltd.

Hon Simon Power

Hon Simon PowerHon Simon Power is Minister of Justice, Minister of Commerce, Minister of Consumer Affairs, Minister Responsible for the Law Commission, Associate Minister of Finance, and Acting Leader of the House. He is ranked fourth in the Cabinet. He has been the Member of Parliament for Rangitikei since 1999.

During his parliamentary career, Simon has held many parliamentary roles and spokesmanships. He was Minister for State Owned Enterprises from 2008 to April 2011. He was Senior Whip in 2004 and 2005, and chaired Parliament’s Privileges Committee from 2005 to 2008. He is currently a member of the Privileges and House Business Committees, and chairs the Cabinet Domestic Policy Committee.

Simon graduated from Victoria University with a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Laws before working as a lawyer in Palmerston North and Auckland. He was President of the Victoria University Law Students' Society for two years.

In 2010, he was selected by the World Economic Forum as a Young Global Leader.

Olaf Simonse

Olaf SimonseOlaf Simonse from the Netherlands has been project leader of the CentiQ platform, Wiser in Money Matters since 2007. The CentiQ platform has more than 50 partners from the financial sector, government, public information and consumer organisations and the science sector who have joined forces to strengthen the consumer’s position in financial matters, and improve the nation’s financial capability. The Action Plan for CentiQ, Wiser in Money Matters was compiled on the basis of results from a large-scale public survey. The platform made several strategic choices. Indicators for successful financial behaviour, such as 'financial management' and 'the habits of youth last a lifetime', together with 'concern for the future' top the strategic agenda.

Olaf also leads the development and implementation of Netherland’s National Strategy for Financial Education. He is a member of the OECD International Network on Financial Education Expert Subgroup on Financial Education in Schools.

Olaf has a degree in Econometry (Operations Research) from the University of Tilburg. Before joining the Ministry of Finance, he was employed by an ICT services and consulting company and has worked as programme and account managers for a number of financial and government organisations.

Tony Hobman

Tony HobmanTony Hobman is Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the UK's Money Advice Service.

The Money Advice Service takes a lead role in improving consumer understanding of money matters in the UK and provides frontline free and unbiased advice on managing money in addition to supporting and commissioning research. They have recently launched a new Money Guidance initiative and an online annual family financial health check. Set up by the UK government, the Service is funded by a levy on the financial services industry.

Previously, Tony was CEO of the Pensions Regulator and its predecessor organisation, the Occupational Pensions Regulatory Authority. He has also held a number of other senior appointments within the financial services arena, including Chief Executive of ProShare and the Money Channel plc. In addition Tony worked for Barclays Bank for 20 years where he held key roles in marketing, project and change management and customer service.

Dr Annamaria Lusardi

Dr Annamaria LusardiAnnamaria Lusardi is professor of economics at the George Washington University School of Business and a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. She has taught at Dartmouth College, Princeton University, the University of Chicago Public Policy School, the University Of Chicago Graduate School Of Business, and Columbia Business School. In addition, she has consulted on many financial literacy initiatives with the US Treasury, US Social Security Administration and with FINRA's recent Financial Capability Study, which surveyed more than 28,000 people to find out what Americans know, don't know and need to know about personal finance.

Annamaria is currently the Director of the Financial Literacy Center which was launched in 2009, with the support of the Social Security Administration. The mission of the Financial Literacy Center is to develop and test innovative programs to improve financial literacy decision-making. Just launched is a Workplace Financial Fitness tool kit co-designed by Annamaria for both employers and employees.

Annamaria is the recipient of the Fidelity Pyramid Prize, awarded to authors of published applied research that best helps address the goal of improving lifelong financial well-being for Americans. In addition, she was recently recognised by the New York Times as one of the six most influential economists in the area of financial reform. In the fall of 2009, she served as academic advisor to the Office of Financial Education at the US Department of Treasury.

Dr Manuka Henare

Manuka HenareManuka Henare is Associate Dean (Māori and Pacific) at the University of Auckland Business School as well as founding Director of the Mira Szászy Research Centre for Māori and Pacific Economic Development. He is also Associate Professor in Māori Business Development and Academic Co-ordinator of Te Tohu Huanga Māori Post Graduate Programme. 

He is on the National Strategy for Financial Literacy Advisory Committee as well as the Board for the Environmental Risk Management Authority (ERMA) and Chair of its Audit and Risk Committee. Manuka is a member of the Institute of Directors and a consultant and research in the public and private sector. He has advised government departments, local authorities and other institutions on bicultural policies and has also served on government advisory committees on development assistance, peace and disarmament, archives, history and social policy.

Prior to his university career he was CEO of two national non-government organisations involved in international development, justice and peace, and has travelled extensively throughout Asia and the Pacific. 

Karen Sewell

Karen SewellKaren Sewell is the Secretary for Education and Chief Executive of the New Zealand Ministry of Education.  Karen is a foundation member of the National Strategy for Financial Literacy Advisory Group.

From 2001-2006 she was the Chief Review Officer of the Education Review Office, with responsibility for reviewing and reporting on the quality of early childhood services and schools throughout New Zealand.

Karen’s background is in education. Before she joined ERO Karen was principal of Green Bay High School, a large coeducational secondary school in Auckland. She has been President of the Auckland Secondary Schools Principals’ Association and between 1994 and 1996 she was Chairperson of the Principals’ Council of the New Zealand Post Primary Teachers’ Association.

Karen has held a teaching fellowship at Victoria University of Wellington, and a Nuffield Bursary for study at the Institute of Education, University of London. She has delivered keynote addresses and seminars at national and international educational conferences.

In June 2005 Karen took on the role of Acting Chief Executive of the New Zealand Qualifications Authority. She returned to her role as Chief Review Officer in May 2006.

Karen announced in March that she is retiring at the end of July 2011 when her current contract ends.

Prof Martin Young

Professor Martin Young is Head of School of Economics and Finance at Massey University.

As well as his academic experience, Martin has also had wide experience working within financial markets, and was a member of the New Zealand Stock Exchange for many years. He has a particular interest in research in the Asian financial markets, is a member of the Asian Finance Association Board, and is the New Zealand representative on the Asian Shadow Financial Regulatory Committee. Publications include articles in the Journal of Banking and Finance, the Financial Review and the Pacific-Basin Finance Journal and he currently serves on the editorial board of the International Review of Financial Analysis.

Mary Anne Mills

Mary Anne MillsMary Anne Mills is the curriculum manager for CORE Education, a not-for-profit educational research and development based organization. Mary Anne began her career as a history and social studies teacher. She held various senior management positions before becoming a lecturer and course coordinator at the Graduate School of Secondary Education, Wellington College of Education (now Victoria University) in the social sciences and professional learning programmes. She has a BA (Otago University) and an M. Ed from Deakin University (Melbourne).

Mary Anne has had extensive experience working with school leaders, teachers and other public and private organizations focused on changes that impact positively on student outcomes. She was the project manager for the Ministry of Education for the redevelopment of the draft New Zealand Curriculum from 2002 – 2006. In her current role with CORE she works with school leaders and other organizations in executing school change.

Adrian Orr

Adrian OrrAdrian Orr joined the New Zealand Superannuation Fund in February 2007 from the Reserve Bank of New Zealand where he was Deputy Governor and Head of Financial Stability.

Established under the New Zealand Superannuation and Retirement Income Act 2001, the New Zealand Superannuation Fund (Fund) is an investment fund that accumulates and invests Crown contributions to partially provide for the future cost of funding New Zealand Superannuation payments

Since joining as Chief Executive the Fund has been internationally recognised for investment leadership and for leadership in Responsible Investment and transparency. Adrian and his team navigated the Fund through the Global Financial Crisis – at 31 March 2011 the Fund stands at NZ$18.8 billion.

Prior to joining the Fund, Adrian held the positions of Chief Economist at Westpac Banking Corporation, Chief Manager of the Economics Department of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand and Chief Economist at The National Bank of New Zealand. He also worked at the New Zealand Treasury and the OECD.

Adrian has a Masters of Development Economics from Leicester University (UK) and a Bachelor of Social Sciences from Waikato University.

John Meeuwsen

John MeeuwsenJohn Meeuwsen has been the CEO of the Retail Institute, the Industry Training Organisation [ITO] for the retail and distribution industry since 2007 and prior to that was CEO of another ITO. John was Chair of the Industry Training Federation for 4 years from 2005 and remains on its Board. For several years now he has been active in the development of financial literacy training resources and in promoting their use by ITOs in the on job training context.

John gained an Economics degree at Monash University in Melbourne. He was involved in employment services and labour market training through the 1980s in NZ and was the founding CEO of Workbridge Inc from 1990 to 1995. He was involved in a variety of major change management projects in central and local government and in the private sector from 1995 until he joined the ITO sector in 2003. He is Chair of the Library Consortium of NZ Ltd and of the Personal Advocacy Trust for people with intellectual disabilities.

Kerri Thompson

Kerri Thompson leads the distribution and product teams and Contact Centres which deliver banking services to our personal customers across our retail brands, ANZ and The National Bank.

Before joining ANZ, Kerri was CEO of Global TV based in Sydney. Prior to that, she spent about 10 years with General Electric (GE) in Australia and internationally. She joined GE to lead the Portfolio Management team in the Consumer Finance business in Australasia.

Other Australasian GE roles included being Chief Operating Officer for GE’s Consumer Finance business and General Manager of GE Plastics.

Kerri has almost two decades of experience in financial services, having held a variety of roles at Commonwealth Bank (CBA), within branches and at head office in Sydney. Her final position before commencing with GE was as Chief Manager Credit in CBA’s Personal Bank.

Raewyn Fox

Raewyn Fox is the CEO of the New Zealand Federation of Family Budgeting Services Inc and has held this position for 12 years. Prior to that she managed a local budget service in Porirua for 13 years and was an active part of the Governance Structure of the Federation for the majority of this time.

Raewyn also works in the field of Consumer Representation and spent 6 years on the Governance Board of the Insurance and Savings Ombudsman Commission and 2 years on the Government Taskforce for the Regulation of Financial Intermediaries.

She is currently on the Board of Financial Services Complaints Limited and is passionate about protecting the rights of consumers in financial transactions and the promotion of financial literacy.

Sarah Mehrtens

Sarah Mehrtens was appointed Chief Executive of the New Zealand Bankers’ Association and General Manager of Interchange and Settlement Limited in September 2009.

Sarah began her career as a solicitor at Rudd Watts and Stone (now Minter Ellison Rudd Watts) in 1989 and moved on to be Senior Legal Counsel for The National Bank of New Zealand from 1994. Before heading the Bankers’ Association Sarah gained five years’ experience as an independent consultant regulatory economist.

Sarah is a member of the National Strategy for Financial Literacy Advisory Board.

David Kneebone

David Kneebone joined the Retirement Commission in June 2006 to manage a project focused on KiwiSaver decision making. He managed the Marketing & Communications team for the Commission from late 2007 to 2010 and most recently became the Commission’s Executive Director (January 2011).

As the Retirement Commission’s Marketing Manager David’s primary focus was on delivering relevant information and tools to the two million people currently using sorted.org.nz resources each year. As Executive Director his focus has shifted to include the Commission’s four primary goals: leading development of a financially capable population; actively supporting the development of a trustworthy financial service sector; contributing to stable and effective government retirement income policy; and contributing to the protection of both current and intending retirement village residents interests

His background includes several marketing management roles for NZ companies (including the Bank of NZ and Telecom NZ). He’s also established and/or led two communications agencies in Australia and NZ in recent years (within both the Interpublic and Photon Groups).

Peter Neilson

Peter Neilson is the Chief Executive of the Investment Savings and Insurance Association of New Zealand Inc (ISI), the industry body for the managed funds, KiwiSaver and life insurance sectors. Prior to this appointment, he was Chief Executive of the New Zealand Business Council for Sustainable Development from 2004, and has also been an economist and international consultant with Ernst and Young and the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research, a merchant banker, and a Minister in the New Zealand Government, including portfolios in finance, revenue, SOEs and works.

 

James Ruddell

James Ruddell is the External Relations Manager for SavY, a charitable trust formed in 2008.

SavY is dedicated to improving the financial literacy of the youth of New Zealand. It runs workshops in high schools across the Auckland region and is on track to undertake 120 of these in 2011. The workshops aim to teach young people about concepts such as debt and saving, give them practical guides to budgeting and help them set (and reach) their financial goals. As an organisation run by university students, SavY hopes to communicate with school students on a personal level and improve their financial literacy with real life examples to which they can relate.

James' role in SavY involves working with the organisation's partners, publicising SavY and giving a youth voice to the issue of financial literacy.

SavY is supported by the University of Auckland Business School and the Bank of New Zealand.