I like to make things happen. And if they don't happen, I like to make them happen.
Winston Churchill first said that. I've spent a decidedly varied career — as a lawyer, director, chief executive, government relations specialist and media commentator — putting those words to work.
I've put them to work managing complex relationships, advocating, mentoring and making sound judgment calls.
I chaired the recent independent review of Aoteoroa New Zealand's electoral laws. I often get called on to review organisations and their work and undertook the last independent review of the Banking Ombudsman Scheme.
I now chair the Consumer Advocacy Council which advocates for residential and small business electricity consumers and I chair the board of the Holocaust Centre of New Zealand. In 2023 I was appointed to form and independently chair the Retirement Villages' Residents' Council.
I am an expert delegate for New Zealand to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance.
Putting my analytical and decision-making skills to work, I am a Panel Member of the Human Rights Review Tribunal and served on the expert reference group on family justice reform. I have also advised Toka Tū Ake - EQC on establishing a new dispute resolution service.
I was the executive director of the Arbitrators’ and Mediators’ Institute of New Zealand and the director of ASH NZ.
As somebody who was on the government’s Small Business Advisory Group, I also have a longstanding interest in SMEs.
In late 2021 I was named one of New Zealand's 100 top diverse board-ready directors by the Ministry of Ethnic Affairs and the Super Diversity Institute for Law, Policy and Business.
I established Deborah Hart Consulting to offer my particular skills. Put me to work. Let's make things happen.
To see the National Portrait article about me in the DomPost, click HERE
To see my full CV, click HERE
