Auditor

Sonia Mazey is Principal of Arcady Hall, adjunct Professor of Public Policy at the University of Canterbury (UC), and former Pro-Vice Chancellor, UC business and Law (2012–20). She is a Board Director of the Asia Pacific Student Accommodation Association (APSAA) and former Chair of the Universities New Zealand Vice Chancellors' Sub-Committee for University Student Pastoral Care (CUSPaC).

​Sonia held senior academic and management positions at Brunel, Cambridge, and Oxford Universities in the UK before moving to Christchurch, New Zealand in 2008. At UC, she was a Lecturer, Academic Manager, and Dean prior to being appointed as Pro-Vice-Chancellor.

Her research interests include European and European Union politics and public policy, and she has published extensively in these fields. More recent publications on New Zealand's public policy include Sonia Mazey and Jeremy Richardson (eds), Policymaking under Pressure: Rethinking the Policy process in Aotearoa New Zealand (Canterbury University Press 2021).

Jane von Dadelszen is an independent director and consultant advising Government agencies and educational organisations in New Zealand and internationally. Until December 2015, she was Deputy Chief Executive, Quality Assurance, at the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) and led the comparative analysis of the NZQF with the European Qualifications Framework and with the Hong Kong Qualifications Framework. She also led tertiary education policy at the Ministry of Education for ten years. She has been a Council Member of the Hong Kong Council for the Accreditation of Academic and Vocational Qualifications (HKCAAVQ) since 2015 and is a member of the HKCAAVQ task force reviewing accreditation criteria and standards. She is a director of the Government Accreditation Council (IANZ) and is a board member of Toi Whakaari National Drama School and English Language Partners. Recent projects include reviews of academic committee arrangements, tertiary education KPIs for Samoa, the Solomon Islands women’s economic empowerment strategy, evidence gaps to address family violence and pharmacy registration qualification requirements. She is a member of the TEQSA expert panel and the Hong Kong UGC 3^rd Cycle audit panel and a member of the Royal Society of New Zealand (MRSNZ) and the Institute of Directors (MInstD).

Dr Jasen Burgess is currently Chief Quality Officer at the International College of Management, Sydney where he a member of the executive management group with responsibility for quality assurance and academic governance and policy at the College. Prior to taking on this role, Dr Burgess was Director, Educational Quality and Integrity at CQUniversity Australia, where he had leadership and team management responsibilities for quality assurance, accreditation processes, regulatory policy and compliance, academic integrity, learning analytics and surveys, and oversight of centralised work integrated learning. Dr Burgess has broad, high-level experience in quality assurance, regulation and strategic management in tertiary education institutions and in regulatory, professional accreditation and external quality assurance bodies operating in the tertiary education sector. This includes roles as Audit Director for the former Australian Universities Quality Agency (AUQA) and as a founding Director, Regulation and Review at the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA). Dr Burgess successfully project managed the CQUniversity and Think Education’s joint re-registration with TEQSA and the Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA) as both a higher education and vocational education and training (VET) provider. Dr Burgess has a PhD in French history from the University of New South Wales, a Bachelor of Arts First Class Honours degree from the University of Sydney, a Master of Business Administration from Deakin University, and is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. In 2022, Dr Burgess was appointed Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (PFHEA) in 2022 in recognition of his effective strategic leadership in supporting high quality student learning.

Mary Jane Kivalu became the inaugural President of the University of Otago Pacific Islands Students Association (UOPISA) from 2018 to 2019, and led a successful campaign to reinstate a Pacific student seat on the Otago University Students Association (OUSA). She also served as the President of the New Zealand Tongan Tertiary Students Association for 4 years, and now sits as its appointed Advisor. Mary Jane is also the Southern Hub Vice President for the newly established Tauira Pasifika (national Pacific students' association) as well as other appointments on committees in the community. She is currently completing her Doctor of Business Administration at the University of Otago, where she completed her BCom and MBA. 

Dione Payne is the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Māori and Pasifika at Te Whare Wānaka o Aoraki (Lincoln University) in Canterbury, New Zealand. Dione’s quality assurance experience includes, programme, campus and organisational auditing in the educational and health sector. She is passionate about supporting the educational aspirations of Māori (and Pasifika) in all forms. Dione is an advocate for Māori land development and productivity by customary owners, utilising customary ethics and principles. Applying a kaupapa led methodology with a key focus on tikanga Māori approaches to utilisation, retention and perpetuation of customary knowledge, including mahinga kai (customary food gathering and harvesting).

Dione lives in Koukourarata, a customary Māori papakainga (homeland) with her husband’s people. Dione continues to maintain her own whānau (family) links to her own papakainga in Aotearoa New Zealand’s North Island, Te Ika a Māui. Dione is a mokopuna (descendant) of many hapū and iwi including: Ngāti Hine ki Waikato, Waikato, Ngāti Maniapoto, Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Te Ātihaunui a Pāpārangi, Te Uri o Hau, Ngāti Whātua, Ngā Puhi, Te Rarawa, Te Aupōuri, Te Whānau a Apanui, Ngāti Awa, Ngāti Toa, Tūhourangi, and Ngāti Rangitihi.

Previously a Quality Improvement Manager at Te Wānanga o Aotearoa, Dione directly managed campus and programme quality assurance, involving staff, students, stakeholder groups and managers. As the Operations Manager at Turuki Health, a Māori primary health provider,  Dione was also responsible for and actively managed quality assurance audits with Cornerstone (Primary Health Care), Ministry of Social Development (Family Start, Teen Parenting) and B4Baby quality programmes. As the Academic Director of Kiwa Institute of Education, Dione was directly involved in and passed the NZQA’s External Evaluation Review, and Tertiary Education Commission’s financial audit for ongoing funding.

Luamanuvao Winnie Laban is Assistant Vice Chancellor (Pasifika) at Victoria University of Wellington having previously served as the Member of Parliament for Mana, Minister of Pacific Island Affairs, Minister for the Community and Voluntary Sector, and Associate Minister of Social Development, Economic Development, and Trade. Winnie is a Social Work graduate from Victoria University of Wellington and completed a post-graduate Diploma in Development Studies from Massey University. During the 1990s she coordinated the South Pacific Consumer Protection Programme working in 15 Pacific Island nations, and in 1992 she was bestowed the Samoan chiefly title of Luamanuvao. In 1999 Winnie was elected as the first Pacific Island woman in the New Zealand Parliament and in 2011 she was honoured as a Companion of the Queens Service Order.

In her work as AVC (Pasifika) at Victoria University of Wellington, Winnie is responsible for providing strategic direction and support for Pasifika students and staff across the University. She oversees a team which promotes Pasifika student enrolment, retention and completion, works to increase the numbers of and support for Pasifika staff, and encourages Pasifika research within New Zealand and the Pacific region. Winnie has visited and built relationships with universities and government departments responsible for tertiary education throughout New Zealand and in Papua New Guinea, the Cook Islands, Tonga, and Samoa. She is a current member of the Council of the National University of Samoa.

Luamanuvao Winnie Laban was awarded the Doctor of Letters (honoris causa) National University of Samoa in 2023.

Ceillhe Sperath is an Independent Company Director residing in Auckland. She is of Irish and Maori descent and her iwi affiliation is Ngapuhi.  Ceillhe has a background in Quality & Risk management, Business systems analysis and improvement, Tourism, Event and Project management. She has held a number of governance and executive management roles in New Zealand, and previously served as a Business Excellence Evaluator for the NZ Business Excellence Foundation. She is passionate about Maori and Pacific business and social enterprise development and is an advocate to support particularly young people and women into furthering their goals including higher education opportunities.  Ceillhe has served on the panel for the Cycle 4 audits of the University of Auckland, the University of Waikato, AUT University and Lincoln University.

Emeritus Professor Roger Field is currently an education consultant and was previously Vice-Chancellor of Lincoln University. Roger started his academic career as a lecturer in 1970 and became Professor of Plant Science at Lincoln University in 1986. He became Pro Vice-Chancellor in 1993 and Deputy Vice-Chancellor in 1998. During this time he led many academic quality assurance initiatives on behalf of the University, including three academic audits conducted by NZUAAU (now AQA) and a wide range of internal and external academic reviews. He was a member of CUAP for more than 17 years, the final six years as Chair. Roger was a foundation auditor for the Australian Universities Quality Agency in 2001 and was involved as a panel member in three institutional audits between 2001 and 2004.

As Vice-Chancellor of Lincoln University (2004 - 2012), Roger was heavily involved in the policy setting that supported university quality assurance in New Zealand and took an active interest in academic quality assurance matters at the University. He was chair of NZVCC in 2008 and 2009. Roger has a particular interest in transnational education, which has included substantial work in South East Asia, China, the Middle East, Europe and the Pacific.

Jeanette is a higher education consultant specialising in university quality assurance and governance. She is an Honorary Senior Fellow of the LH Martin Institute at the University of Melbourne, a member of the Governing Council of the University of Divinity in Australia, and former Vice-President Quality Assurance and Professor of Higher Education at Divine Word University in Papua New Guinea. Jeanette’s activities in 2020 include reviews of higher education corporate and academic governance, international development projects, external quality reviews, and online teaching.

Joyce is a higher education consultant working in the areas of quality assurance, governance and international education.  Her current appointments include Chair of the Academic Senate and member of the University Council at Charles Sturt University, Chair of the Academic Board and invited member of the Board of Directors of UTS College, and Chair of the Accreditation Committee of the Optometry Council of Australia and New Zealand.  Over the past couple of years Joyce has led or participated in institutional and program level reviews, audits and accreditation assessments of public universities and private providers in Australia’s eastern states, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea. Previously she contributed to quality assurance, registration and accreditation reviews and audits in Australia, the Pacific and Hong Kong. 

Joyce’s consultancy experience draws on her senior leadership positions as Chair of the Academic Board and later Dean at the University of Technology Sydney, Pro Vice-Chancellor Students at RMIT University as well as a number of interim roles she was invited to take.  These have included President RMIT Vietnam, and Pro Vice-Chancellor Academic and then Provost and Deputy Vice Chancellor Academic at the University of New England.  These formal positions have been complemented by Joyce’s extensive experience as an Honorary Auditor with the Australian Universities Quality Agency from its foundation until the establishment of the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency where she remains on its Register.  Joyce has also served as a Specialist with the Hong Kong Council for Accreditation of Academic and Vocational Qualifications.