Board members

Lester is a qualified medical doctor with an MBA and is a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Medical Administrators. He is registered as a medical specialist with the Medical Council of New Zealand.  

Lester has been appointed to serve on 30 Boards of Directors, 17 as Chair and three as deputy-Chair. He has served as a chair of boards of directors continuously for 27 years and has held seven ministerial health appointments over the last 16 years. Lester has been a healthcare chief executive three times, twice in the public sector and once in the private sector.  

Amy is a lawyer by profession having been a partner in her firm specialising in commercial and property law before entering Parliament in 2008 where she served for 12 years. Amy’s ministerial portfolios included being Minister for Justice and Courts, Social Investment, Communications and Information Technology, Environment, Internal Affairs and Associate Finance minister. She also serves as Chancellor of the University of Canterbury.

Naomi is a highly accomplished leader with significant experience in both governance and executive roles. Most recently she served as Commissioner and Chief Executive of Inland Revenue successfully delivering the Business Transformation Programme. Naomi is a strong champion of diversity and inclusion and led this work across the Public Sector as co-chair of Papa Pounamu. Naomi is also currently Chair of Education Payroll Ltd.

Roger Jarrold has extensive financial experience having worked in finance in both the private and public sectors for over 40 years. He has held several Chief Financial Officer roles including for Fletcher Construction, Downer New Zealand, Kordia Group Ltd, and Auckland DHB. He was previously appointed as a Crown Monitor for Southern DHB in 2020, was a previous Chair of the Audit Committee for the Health Research Council, former Chair of the Finance and Audit Committee at Hutt Valley DHB and Capital & Coast DHB, and is currently Chair of the Audit Committee for Health New Zealand Southern. Mr Jarrold is the Trustee of the Auckland Hospital Foundation, a charitable trust of Health New Zealand Auckland. He is also a current Board member of the New Zealand Blood and Organ Service (NZBOS), and has previously provided NZBOS Board and senior management with advice on its significant investments and financial operations. 

Dr Jeff Lowe trained in Otago and graduated in 1984, before working at Karori Medical Centre as a registrar and locum and then becoming a partner.  He is a trainer in general practice and has a role teaching general practice to doctors training in this speciality. Dr Lowe is currently chair of General Practice New Zealand. He is a board member of Cosine Primary Care Network, the Federation of Primary Health Aotearoa; and Collaborative Aotearoa. He also worked on Te Whatu Ora – Health New Zealand’s Planned Care Taskforce and COVID-19 Health System Preparedness group. 

Vanessa is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Directors, a chartered fellow of the New Zealand Institute of Directors, Honorary Fellow of HRINZ and Companion of Engineering NZ. Previous government appointments include having been a member of the Better Public Services Advisory Group, DOC Audit and Risk Committee, Defence Employer Support Council, Chair of MBIE’s Audit and Risk Committee and Tertiary Education Commission. Vanessa is currently a member of the Financial Markets Authority and holds other board appointments for a range of companies, not for profits and charitable organisations. Prior to her governance career Vanessa held legal, change management and senior executive transformation roles for Air New Zealand and Carter Holt Harvey. Vanessa is passionate about diversity and inclusion having previously chaired Global Women. 

Dr Curtis Walker is the current chair of the Medical Council, and has extensive experience in governance, clinical leadership and public policy and works in Palmerston North Hospital as a Kidney Specialist. 

“We cannot underestimate the importance of the opportunity to reform our public health system into a more cohesive and effective whole, where health outcomes are equitable for all. It is a privilege to serve Aotearoa New Zealand on the Board and a privilege to continue to serve patients as a practising doctor.” Dr Curtis Walker