About the Ministry of Health - Executive Leadership Team

About the Ministry of Health

Organisation Structure

Executive Leadership Team

Professional Advisory Group

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About the Ministry of Health
Executive Leadership Team

The Executive Leadership Team (ELT) focuses on the sound strategic management and corporate governance of the Ministry of Health. Specifically, the role of the ELT is to:

set the Ministry’s strategic direction and priorities
lead organisation-wide strategies to achieve the Ministry’s strategic goals
evaluate progress towards the achievement of those goals
lead positive change within the Ministry
lead the development of Ministry culture
manage key relationships.

The ELT has a responsibility to communicate information and leadership practices to Ministry managers and staff, and to delegate responsibilities in order to act effectively as members of the Ministry. Information sharing and leading by example are particularly important for the overall strategic direction of the Ministry, the key decisions taken, and the actions required. The ELT (collectively and individually) directly influences and models the desired organisational culture. The ELT comprises the Deputy Directors-General. The Principal Medical Advisor and Chair of the Professional Advisory Group also attend meetings.

The Executive Leadership Team (ELT) from 1 January 2008 are:

David Galler and Steve Brazier are Principal Medical Advisor and Chief Internal Auditor leading the Risk and Assurance Group respectively.

Stephen McKernan, Director-General of Health

Stephen McKernan is the Director-General of Health and Chief Executive of the Ministry of Health, a role he has held since 31 July 2006. As Director-General he is the Government’s principal advisor on health and disability matters. The Director-General has the key strategic role in leading the development and performance of the New Zealand health system. This includes the negotiation and allocation of $12 billion of health expenditure and monitoring this through 21 District Health Boards.

Stephen has held senior executive roles in the New Zealand Health system for the past 18 years. He has been a Chief Executive since 1998 with his first Chief Executive appointment at Hutt Valley Health and, subsequently, Chief Executive of Hutt Valley DHB in 2000. In 2002 he was appointed Chief Executive of Counties Manukau DHB. Counties Manukau DHB is one of the country’s largest DHBs serving a high needs population. It has an annual budget of $950 million and employs some 5500 staff.

Stephen has a Bachelor of Business Studies from Massey University and a Diploma in Public Health from the Royal Society of Health. He is an Honorary Fellow of the Australian College of Health Service Executives.

Andrew Bridgman, DDG Corporate Services and Deputy Chief Executive

Andrew was appointed as Deputy Director-General Corporate Services and Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the Ministry of Health effective from October 2007.

Prior to taking up the role with the Ministry of Health, Andrew was Deputy Secretary Policy and Legal for the Ministry of Justice for nearly four years. This included responsibility for the provision of policy, negotiations and legal advice to Ministers of Justice, Courts and Treaty Negotiations, as well as the provision of legal advice to the Ministry.

Andrew has 15 years experience in public sector policy processes and management, including as Group Manager Insolvency and Corporate Compliance with the Ministry of Economic Development. Andrew has acted as the Ministry’s Deputy Secretary Business Services Branch and Chief Legal Advisor. He also authored the Ministry’s “Māori Economic Development Strategy” (2003). Prior to joining the Ministry of Economic Development, Andrew was Manager, Policy and Negotiations, Office of Treaty Settlements and has also worked as the Senior Solicitor, Courts and Tribunals Division of the Department of Justice.

From 1987 to 1991, Andrew was a commercial lawyer with the firm Rudd Watts & Stone, Barristers and Solicitors (now Minter Ellison).

Deborah Roche, DDG Health and Disability Systems Strategy

Deborah brings to her role almost 20years experience across the health sector in New Zealand and internationally.

Most recently, Deborah has been a Deputy Director at the Department of Health in the United Kingdom. In this role she has been involved in a range of strategic issues, including: regulation, mental health, reconfiguration of services, franchising and purchasing, and European Union and international health policy. Since 2003 Deborah has been a guest lecturer in health policy at the London School of Economics.

Previously Deborah was head of the health and social care policy team at the Institute for Public Policy Research and a senior lecturer at St George’s Hospital Medical School in London. Prior to this Deborah worked as a physiotherapist in New Zealand and Australia. Deborah has published widely and regularly commentated in the media on health system and health policy issues.

Deborah has a Master of Science from the London School of Economics, a Master of Applied Science from the University of South Australia, a Certificate in Tertiary Teaching, and a Diploma in Physiotherapy from AIT.

Teresa Wall, DDG Māori Health

Teresa is of Te Rarawa and Te Aupouri descent has been with the Ministry since1997. She has over 20 years experience working in the heath sector in a number of roles. She began her health sector career in nursing and in particular renal nursing.

Teresa’s most recent role has been as the Manager, Māori Health Policy. She has been responsible (with the Public Health Directorate) for the development and dissemination of the inequalities tools across the Ministry and DHBs, and provided input into the Ministry’s response to the Ministerial review of ethnically targeted policies and programmes. Teresa also led the review of the National Kaitiaki Group following the Gisborne Cervical Screening Inquiry and has represented the Ministry on a number of inter-agency officials groups.

Anthony Hill, DDG Sector Accountability and Funding

Anthony has been with the Ministry since 1995 when he became Chief Legal Advisor, managing our Health Legal team. In 1998/99 he completed, with Ministry sponsorship, a Master of Laws at the University of Virginia School of Law.

Following the merger between the Ministry and the Health Funding Authority, Anthony was appointed Manager, DHB Governance and Organisational Performance in the new Funding and Performance Directorate, and later became Group Manager Funding following an internal reorganisation of the directorate. In this role he was responsible for negotiation of DHB accountability documents and resolution of funding and performance issues, both financial and non-financial.

Margie Apa, DDG Sector Capability and Innovation

Fepulea'i Margie Apa is currently Deputy Director-General, Sector Capability and Innovation, Ministry of Health (New Zealand). Reporting to the Director-General, Margie's role is responsible for working proactively with the sector to support implementation, build capability and share innovations across the sector that support the Minister’s strategic priorities operationally.

Margie's background is in public policy having worked for the State Services Commission early in her career, change management in the Health Funding Authority and accident insurance policy in the Department of Labour. Margie was also General Manager, Pacific Health at Counties Manukau District Health Board with funding, planning and service development responsibilities in improving the health of Pacific populations in the South Auckland area.

Margie joined the Ministry of Health in February 2007 as Director Change and Development. She was responsible for implementing a programme of organisation development and change management that was based on a review of the Ministry of Health conducted in December 2006. Margie then took up her current role in October 2007.

Margie is married, has two children, enjoys sport and carries an honorific (or chief) title from her home village of Sale'aula, Savai'i, Samoa.

Geraldine Woods, DDG Health and Disability National Services

Geraldine has spent the last 17 years in contracting and management roles within the public sector, so has extensive knowledge and experience in contracting and purchasing for social services, particularly in the employment and disability sectors.

Geraldine’s previous experience includes purchasing education and training services, employment services and disability support services. Just prior to joining the Ministry of Health, Geraldine was responsible for establishing the social services contracting unit in Work and Income, a service of the Ministry of Social Development.

Geraldine has a BSc and a Masters in Public Administration (Exec).

Janice Wilson, DDG Population Health

Prior to her appointment as DDG Population Health, Dr Janice Wilson held the position of DDG, Mental Health, since 1 July 2000. She joined the Department of Health in March 1993 as Director of Mental Health, and was also appointed to the position of Chief Psychiatric Advisor in July 1993, later called Chief Advisor, Mental Health in 1997.

Prior to joining the Ministry, Janice was Manager of Mental Health Services for the Wellington Area Health Board. A psychiatrist and Fellow of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, Janice held the honorary position of President from May 1997 until June 1999.

Janice also holds a Diploma in Health Administration and a certificate of Health Economics from Victoria University. She has worked both clinically as a psychiatrist and as a Manager in Mental Health Services.

David Galler, Principal Medical Advisor

Dr David Galler has worked for more than 20 years in the health sector both in the UK and in Auckland. His qualifications include a BSc, MBChB, FFARACS, FANZCA and FJFICM. He is an Intensive Care Specialist by training and has worked as a Specialist at Middlemore Hospital since 1991 where he was previously the Clinical Director of Acute Care Services. During that time David was an Executive Member, Vice President and ultimately, the National President of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists.

His clinical interests include Quality Improvement, new models of care, care of the burned patient and management of physiologically unstable patients on the wards.
He continues to work at Middlemore half time.

Since late 2003, David has been on secondment to the Ministry of Health from Counties Manukau DHB on a half-time basis.

The role of the Principal Medical Advisor includes: provision of medical advice to the Director-General and the Minister; medical input into policy development; functioning as a liaison between the Ministry and the medical profession. The Principal Medical Advisor is seconded from the sector to ensure strong and ongoing sector linkages.

His major interests since arriving in the Ministry have been in the fields of Quality Improvement, improved relationships with the sector, new models of care within and across our District Health Boards, shared decision making in Governance and in promoting a more inclusive and collaborative working style from the Ministry of Health.

Page last updated: 12 March 2008