Our leadership team

The Regional Wayfinder role is responsible for providing rangatiratanga leadership to multiple locally-based Commissioning teams across the relevant region in order to ensure that locality teams are able to support their local communities and whānau in the pursuit of Pae Ora.

Chiquita has held a variety of nursing leadership roles and has been Chief Executive of the MidCentral district’s Primary Health Organisation, THINK Hauora since 2013. Chiquita is passionate about whanau and community led solutions and has strongly advocated a pro-equity approach to health service delivery.

Biography coming soon.

Tanya leads the Community & Public Health team who promote Health in All Policies, to support healthy environments. This involves developing policies to support communities and whānau to make living a healthy lifestyle the easy choice. She works with public health specialists, councils, government agencies, and community and NGO organisations.

Tanya is of Cook Islands Māori (Aitutaki) and Samoan (Siusega) descent. She has considerable experience in the health sector and in the Pasifika community and has worked for Canterbury DHB since February 2003 in a variety of roles but most recently as the Manager of the Policy Team and Health Protection Team (Environment). Tanya holds a number of governance roles across the health sector particularly focused on Pasifika and Public Health and is a public health consultant to the Ministry of Health in the Cook Islands.

Becky works closely with the Directors of Nursing and other nursing leaders across the Canterbury health system. As EDON she holds several portfolios including Care Capacity Demand Management, Infection Prevention & Control Nursing, Nursing Workforce Development, and Corporate Quality and Patient Safety teams. Becky is also the Canterbury Executive Lead for Manawa Governance which includes simulation, research and education as well as for Te Papa Hauora (Health Precinct) Advisory Council.

Becky is a Registered Comprehensive Nurse and has worked in nursing since 1982, completing both a Postgraduate Diploma in Leadership and Management as well as a Masters in Health Science. She has previously been a Nurse Manager for Workforce Development, working with the EDON and Directors of Nursing for the past 15 years. Becky is a member of Nurse Executives of New Zealand, and the College of Nurses Aotearoa.

Prior to becoming Executive Director, Planning, Funding and Decision Support, Greg was General Manager, Specialist Mental Health Services, responsible for the provision of specialist mental health services in Waitaha/Canterbury. Greg worked in Canterbury DHB’s Planning and Funding team for 12 years, and has worked in Community and Public Health since 2004. Greg gained a PhD in Population Health and worked in a range of research/academic roles in Western Australia and New Zealand. He started in this role in September 2023.

Richard is an Anaesthetist by training and has occupied Clinical Leadership Roles for 10 years. He is a Fellow of the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists, and completed most of his Anaesthesia training in New Zealand.

The job of the Chief Medical Officer is to work alongside clinical and non-clinical colleagues to ensure that clinical care is safe and of a high quality. This work can range from responding to immediate serious incidents, such as mass casualty events, through to planning for health care in twenty years’ time, by advising on hospital design.

Biography coming soon.

David Green is currently Acting Chief Financial Officer.

Jacqui joined the Canterbury district leadership team in November 2018. She is a qualified occupational therapist, and was previously Chief Health Professions Officer for the Scottish Government.

Her experience spans the public and private healthcare systems in the UK, and includes clinical leadership positions, founding and running of her own business, and advising the World Health Organisation. In 2015 Jacqui was made a member of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to healthcare and the health care professions.

Rob Ojala leads the facilities redevelopment for Canterbury and West Coast districts. Rob is an Emergency Physician by training and has worked in Canterbury for the past 20 years following completion of his specialist training in Melbourne. He has been clinical lead for facilities redevelopment for Canterbury district for 10 years prior to his current role. During this time he has overseen the delivery of the Burwood Hospital redevelopment and extensive change on the Christchurch Hospital campus with a new Outpatients Building being constructed, and Waipapa the acute services facility. During 2022 his focus is on the redevelopment of the remainder of Christchurch Hospital, redevelopments and new facilities for specialist mental health services on the Hillmorton campus along with a number of other facilities projects.

Rob also continues his clinical practice as an Emergency Physician at Christchurch Hospital’s Emergency Department.

Norma held the position of the Director of Midwifery within a transalpine role for Canterbury and the West Coast DHBs for four years, after moving from her previous 17 year national role with the College of Midwives into the DHB system and the operational space of a large tertiary facility that provides referral services for much of the South Island. At the same time Norma had responsibility for sustaining community units at Lincoln/Selwyn, Rangiora and Ashburton, as well as responsibility for the remote rural maternity systems in the Chathams, Kaikoura and the West Coast and how to sustain care closer to home.

Since 2017, Norma has, with colleagues, driven the development of a Maternity Strategy for both Canterbury and the West Coast. The same pillars have been used for the districts but two very different strategies have emerged following hui in both districts. The solutions can often have the same overlying framework, but locally applied solutions which make sense to the local community are what make the difference within such frameworks.

Within her role, Norma sits on various multi-disciplinary groups that link to community and public health work, as well as Christchurch Campus and Greymouth Campus work.

Norma is a Registered Midwife and has worked in hospital and community settings since 1990, where māmā and their pēpi have always been at the centre of her work.

Pauline is responsible for promoting clinician-lead and management-enabled delivery of safe, effective and efficient healthcare at Christchurch Hospital as well as Lincoln Maternity Unit and the Rangiora Health Hub.

Pauline has a clinical background in Nursing and Midwifery, a Master’s Degree in Public Management, and a postgraduate qualification in Health Economics. Prior to beginning her current role in February 2011, Pauline was General Manager of Christchurch Women’s and Children’s Hospital.

Biography coming soon.

Rachel joined the former Canterbury DHB in 2005 and managed the provision of support services through contractors for a number of years before leading the transition projects that created the districts’ WellFood business and Environmental Services. She is also actively involved in developing our support workforce. In 2011 she joined the Transalpine team to manage the West Coast district contracted services. Rachel will continue with her responsibilities of the operational and contract management of services to all sites and providing leadership of the WellFood Service.

Rachel has spent more than 20 years in facilities management in both the education and healthcare sectors in the UK and NZ working with both private and public organisations including the NHS and has had short stints in Switzerland and Japan. She has been involved in significant change projects over the years with some large multi-nationals; including work with Bethlem Royal Hospital & Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust in London, and The Royal Ballet School.

Biography coming soon.