Independent Ministerial Review panel
The Minister appointed an independent Panel to conduct the review. The four Panel members are:
- Debbie Francis (Chair)
- Howard Fancy
- Ed Sims
- Danny Tuato’o
You can read more about the Panel members below. The terms of reference is available here. [PDF, 277 KB]
Debbie Francis (Chair)
Debbie is an independent consultant specialising in strategy development, organisational culture and change management. She was previously head of PwC New Zealand’s Government and People and Change consulting practices where she worked with public and private sector clients on culture and organisational change. She was a lead reviewer for the State Services Commission and undertook many performance improvement reviews of public agencies. She has undertaken similar reviews in a wide variety of private sector companies, from small start-ups to large multinationals.
Debbie has also spent time in a range of executive roles, including as a Chief Executive and even a two-star General Equivalent in the New Zealand Defence Force. In 2018-19, Debbie led an independent review of the culture in the New Zealand Parliamentary Workplace. More recently, she has undertaken a review of culture within New Zealand Police. She lives on a truffle farm in Waipara, has six children, six grandchildren and three cats. Her passions are military history, detective novels, fast cars and growing roses.
Howard Fancy
Howard has extensive experience at the centre of government in the formulation, delivery, and operation of policies. He has led a wide range of major system reforms, and reviews that have redesigned institutional arrangements, capabilities and relationships. He served as the Chief Executive of the Ministries of Commerce, Education, and Environment. He is currently a member of several public sector audit and risk committees.
Howard has extensive experience in stakeholder engagement, including partnering with iwi Māori. He has worked across diverse sectors on agency establishment, system performance improvements, agency reviews, and strategic relationships and positioning agencies for future change and opportunities. He brings a a strong strategic and systems focus.
Howard holds an M Comm (Economics) from the University of Canterbury. He is a member of the Institute of Directors, an Honorary Fellow, School of Government (Victoria University), and is Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit.
Howard lives in Wellington with his family.
Ed Sims
Ed has an extensive background in air navigation service provider and airline management operations. He was CEO of Airways New Zealand (2011 – 207), an executive committee member and then Chair of the global air traffic control governing body CANSO (2012-2017), a member of the Air New Zealand executive team (2006 -2010) and has recently returned from running Canada’s second largest airline WestJet for the last five years.
Ed has held governance roles in the New Zealand tourism sector, has sat on public sector agency audit and risk committees, and is a member of the Business Council of Canada.
Ed brings a depth of knowledge about the challenges of operating in the rapidly evolving, highly competitive aviation sector, and leading organisations that provide and use air navigation system services, and working with aviation regulators and policy agencies in New Zealand and internationally.
Ed holds an MA from Oxford and is a member of the Institute of Strategic Leadership. He lives in Auckland with his family.
Danny Tuato’o
Danny was admitted as a barrister and solicitor of the High Court of New Zealand in 2005. Along with his legal experience, he has significant leadership experience as a business owner in New Zealand, as a director in public and private sectors, and senior manager in law and education.
As a Partner in a Northland provincial law practice, Danny works with a wide range of clients. He holds several governance positions, including being a member of the boards of Fire and Emergency New Zealand and Maritime New Zealand.
Proficient in te reo Māori, Danny understands the cultural dynamic of Te Ao Māori and Crown/Māori relations and can bring cultural competence and diversity of thought to the panel. In addition to his legal qualification, Danny holds an MA in Māori Students from the University of Otago.
Danny lives with his wife and four children in Whangārei. During weekends Danny is actively involved in Kiwi recovery and pest control projects in Northland in a volunteer capacity. He is also a volunteer for the Coastguard New Zealand Board and a trustee for the Wairau Māori Art Gallery.”