Following its announcement of a major reset, Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora has appointed four highly experienced health leaders to the roles of regional Deputy Chief Executives.

“One of the main objectives of our reset was to empower regions and bring decision making closer to the communities where care is being provided.  Health NZ will achieve that by establishing regional leadership that has the required level of autonomy to arrange their resources to deliver National Health Targets and health services more broadly for their populations,” says Chief Executive Margie Apa.

The new Deputy Chief Executives will hold budgets and accountability for their regional hospital services and the health services we fund others to provide. This is so they can join up care across community and hospital services. 

“What health services are delivered in each region, how and where they are delivered and by whom will be informed by clinical leadership and be responsive to local and regional stakeholder input and feedback,” says Ms Apa.

“In appointing to these roles, I was looking for people with leadership experience in health service delivery, who could integrate a financial and non-financial picture of operations and engage clinical and people leadership through change. They also needed a strong commitment to improving the experience of patients, whānau and communities,” Ms Apa said.

“I look forward to working with these new Deputy Chief Executives and supporting our teams to deliver the kind of health outcomes I know we all want for New Zealanders.”

Key performance indicators include a significant uplift in achieving National Health Targets, including Mental Health Targets, and getting expenditure back to budget.

“These appointments represent a welcome next step in our efforts to reset Health NZ. They’ll move us closer towards ensuring New Zealanders get the healthcare they need in the shortest time possible, enabling the delivery of much more healthcare within the resources we have, and making sure every contact New Zealanders have with our services is compassionate,” says Health NZ Commissioner Lester Levy.

The four new Deputy Chief Executives and their respective regions are:

  • Mark Shepherd – Northern | Te Tai Tokerau
  • Catherine Cronin – Midland | Te Manawa Taki
  • Robyn Shearer – Central | Ikaroa
  • Martin Keogh – South Island | Te Waipounamu

The new regional Deputy Chief Executives will begin in their roles progressively from 19 August to 16 September 2024.

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For more information contact hnzmedia@tewhatuora.govt.nz

 

Notes for editors, please find below biographical information about the four new Deputy Chief Executives.

Mark Shepherd

Mark is currently Regional Director, Hospital & Specialist Services for Health NZ’s Northern Region.  Mark brings broad health sector expertise, encompassing strategic and operational management, including executive level clinical service, operational, financial and performance management roles. His most recent roles include Executive Director, Hospital Services, Waitematā District Health Board from 2020 – 2022 and locumed as Chief Operating Officer, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centres. Melbourne, Victoria and Sunshine Coast University Hospital, Sunshine Coast.  Mark has held executive leadership roles at South Eastern Sydney Local Health District, Nepean Blue Mountains Local Health District and general management roles in hospitals throughout New South Wales where he began his nursing career.  Mark came to New Zealand for a short term opportunity and finds himself still here four years later because he has thoroughly enjoyed working in New Zealand. 

Catherine Cronin

Cath has served in executive roles in public health in Melbourne and Auckland since 2006.  Cath also worked at Monash Health as interim Chief Operating Officer Acute Services, Deputy Chief Operating Officer Monash Surgery and Director Transformation from 2019 to 2024.   From 2012 – 2019 Cath has worked at Waitematā District Health Board as Director Hospital Services and before that Clinical Director, Surgical Services at Alfred Health.  Cath’s nursing career pre 2006 spans a diverse range of specialties at Waikato Hospital, National Women’s, Auckland Hospital, Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne, Middlemore and The Alfred.   Cath is looking forward to returning home to Waikato to be closer to her family, bringing her experiences to benefit whanau and communities in the Midland | Te Manawa Taki region.

Robyn Shearer

Robyn comes to this role from her previous position as Deputy Director General – Clinical, Community and Mental Health at the Ministry of Health. Robyn is a respected, strategic leader with a proven track record in health and disability sector senior operational and strategic management roles.  Those roles included Deputy Director General DHB Performance, System Performance and Monitoring and establishing and leading the Mental Health Directorate.  Robyn has held a range of executive leadership roles from 2019 – 2024 at the Ministry of Health.  Before the Ministry of Health she was Chief Executive, Te Pou o te Whakaaro Nui for 10 years.  Te Pou (for short) was the national workforce development centre for mental health and addictions.  Robyn’s mental health nursing career spans Bay of Plenty and Waitemata DHBs, Greenlane Hospital and General Management at Taranaki DHB. 

Martin Keogh

Martin is an accomplished health service executive with many years of clinical and management experience in a variety of roles within health care settings. This has enabled him to develop a broad level of knowledge, skill and understanding of the contemporary drivers for health service performance and the need for continuous organisational improvement. Martin was Chief Operating Officer for eight years and then interim Chief Executive for almost a year at Monash Health in Melbourne. Monash Health is one of Australia’s largest and most comprehensive health services providing ‘cradle to grave’ clinical services through its 8 major hospital sites along with over 40 community sites. During his time at Monash, Martin spearheaded operational and strategic delivery of Victoria’s largest mass vaccination and outbreak management supports during COVID; oversaw major capital investments and commissioning of a new Monash Children's Hospital, Australasia's first dedicated cardiac hospital - the Victorian Heart Hospital and one of the largest organisation wide Electronic Medical Record (EMR) implementations. Having originally trained as a registered nurse, Martin practiced in the areas of emergency and cardiology before finally specialising in intensive care nursing. Subsequently, he embarked on a management career. Martin has a proven track record in identifying and implementing improvements to enhance patient safety, access and importantly the patient and employee overall experience. He has a strong interest in patient safety and quality of care initiatives, incorporating evidence-based practice.