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 often get called on to review organisations and their work and I am undertaking the independent review of the Banking Ombudsman Scheme. I chaired the recent independent review of Aoteoroa New Zealand's electoral laws.
I chair the board of the Holocaust Centre of New Zealand and the independent chair of the Retirement Villages' Residents' Council. Adding my voice to help bring down grocery prices, I am on the board of the Grocery Action Group. I am the former chair the Consumer Advocacy Council which advocated for residential and small business electricity consumers.
The government appointed me as a New Zealand delegate 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 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.
I was a long-time adviser and then director of a successful photographic business and appointed by the government to be on its Small Business Group to advise on SME issues.
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
