Hon Steven Joyce

Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills & Employment 

1 October 2013       Media Statement       

Tertiary Education Commission board appointments

Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Minister Steven Joyce today announced two appointments to the Tertiary Education Commission board.

Business New Zealand Chief Executive Phil O’Reilly and businesswoman Vanessa Stoddart have been appointed as members of the Tertiary Education Commission.

“Mr O’Reilly and Ms Stoddart bring substantial leadership, governance and business experience to their roles on the Tertiary Education Commission board," Mr Joyce says. 

“Mr O’Reilly also brings strong links to the wider business community through his involvement in Business New Zealand.  These linkages will be invaluable as we continue our drive to ensure the relevance of tertiary education to industry skill needs.

“I would like to thank departing board member, Robin Hapi for his contribution to the Tertiary Education Commission board, which has benefited significantly from his experience and expertise.”

Biographies

Phil O’Reilly

Phil O'Reilly is Chief Executive of Business New Zealand, New Zealand's largest business advocacy group, representing thousands of businesses of all sizes.

Mr O’Reilly and BusinessNZ work with companies, organisations and political and other decision makers, advocating for New Zealand's success through sustainable economic growth. He is Chair of the Board of the Business and Industry Advisory Committee to the OECD and is New Zealand's employer delegate to the International Labour Conference.

Mr O’Reilly chaired the Green Growth Advisory Group, and is Chair or member of several public and private advisory boards in areas as diverse as manufacturing, exports, trade, tax, retirement, research and development, innovation, employment, child poverty, health and safety, skills, government procurement and sustainable business.

Prior to this Mr O’Reilly was Head of Employment Policy and Communication at Westpac Banking Corporation in Sydney. In the 1990s, he was the executive director of the Newspaper Publishers Association and he started his career as an industrial advocate for the Auckland Employers Association. He has an MA in History from the University of Auckland.

Vanessa Stoddart

Vanessa Stoddart is a lawyer by profession and until recently was Air New Zealand’s Group General Manager for People and Technical Operations. She joined Air New Zealand in 2003. Prior to that, Ms Stoddart was chief executive with Carter Holt Harvey Packaging Australia.

Before heading CHH's packaging business, Ms Stoddart was the company's General Manager Performance Management with responsibilities for human resources and prior to that held change management and legal positions. Ms Stoddart graduated from Otago University with both a Bachelor of Commerce & Bachelor of Law (Honours) and went on to complete a postgraduate diploma in professional ethics before attending Insead Business School to undertake their Advance Management Programme. She is also a member of the Australian and New Zealand Institute of Directors.

ENDS

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