New appointments to NZQA Board

Four new members have recently been appointed to the NZQA Board by the Minister of Education.

The board is responsible for setting the strategic direction of NZQA, in consultation with appropriate Ministers. The Board ensures that NZQA carries out its legislative functions and monitors the organisation’s performance.

Samantha Lundon is a Curriculum Advisor for the Ideal Success Academy, a private training establishment in South Auckland. She is of Tainui descent. Ms Lundon is chair of Aotearoa Maori providers of Training, Education and Employment (AMPTEE). She has served on several working groups for NZQA and the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) and is currently on the TEC Maori Reference Group.

Professor Scott Davidson is Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Dean, School of Law, University of Canterbury. He is a former Dean of the University of Waikato law school and a former Director of the University of Hull law school in the UK. Professor Davidson is familiar with course design and delivery in a tertiary context, and qualification quality control processes in the New Zealand tertiary sector.

Alison McAlpine has been principal of Nelson College for Girls since 1990. Alison has been seconded in a variety of Ministry of Education roles, is a former leader of the Ministry of Education Intervention Team and is currently a member of the Secondary Principals of New Zealand Executive Committee. From 2000 to 2003 she was involved with the UNESCO Education Sub-commission for the New Zealand secondary school sector, and was a Hillary Commissioner from 1996 to 2002.

Keith Taylor is a finance expert with 20 years experience at a senior level in Australian and New Zealand companies. Keith is the current Director of the management and financial consulting firm KBT Consulting Limited. His specialties are strategy and finance and he is also a member of the Takeovers Panel and a Commissioner of the Earthquake Commission.

The new appointments follow the retirement of Graeme McNally in October and Margaret Bendall in December.