Our board
Collectively Te Pou’s board has the experience, diversity of skills and networks to engage in the strategic thinking needed to assist the organisation’s development.
Julie Nelson
Chair Te Pou board
Joint chief executive, Wise Group
Julie was involved in founding Te Pou and was appointed to the role of chair in March 2011. Julie currently holds the position of joint chief executive of the Wise Group and has an extensive background in the development of community based solutions.
Julie’s experience at a governance level has seen her hold multiple appointments as a director or chair across both the public and private sector. In addition she has worked on numerous national committees.
Julie passionately believes that Te Pou plays a pivotal role in working with the sector to develop a world leading workforce. Julie’s key focus is ensuring the organisation continues to maintain strong collegial relations to meet the needs of current providers and to make available products and services to primary care and community settings.
"Workforce is at the heart of great services and it’s about showing the value that Te Pou adds to the sector's work. We know that Te Pou is held up as a model in other countries and we need New Zealand to appreciate this unique resource", says Julie.
Francis Agnew
Consultant psychiatrist/service clinical director, Pacific Islands Mental Health and Alcohol & Drug Services, Waitemata and Auckland DHBs
Francis is a New Zealand-born Cook Islander, who grew up in Porirua, near Wellington. He attended Victoria University and graduated with an MSc (Hons) majoring in zoology. He spent six years living in the UK and Africa before returning to New Zealand to study medicine, and has worked in the mental health sector for more than 20 years as a clinician.
Francis wants to convey both clinical and Pacific Islands perspectives to the deliberations of the Te Pou board.
"I am inspired by the opportunities that this new and energetic organisation can provide to the sector. I am inspired by the visions and goals of Te Pou to create better services and to make a difference."
Shelley Campbell
Shelley Campbell is currently the CEO of Sir Peter Blake Trust and is responsible for implementing its leadership development and environmental programmes throughout the country. Prior to taking up her role in 2010, Shelley was overseeing the Better Sooner More Convenient health business cases for the Minister of Health’s reforms in Auckland. She is a former Chief Executive of Waikato Primary Health that provided health services to 315,000 people across the central North Island.
Shelley is a member of Cancer Council NZ and Chaired the Minister’s National Bowel Cancer Screening Taskforce. She was a member of the New Zealand delegation to the World Health Assembly in 2008 and has examined health systems in Canada and the UK.
In 2007 Shelley was awarded a Sir Peter Blake emerging leader award and was the first person of Maori descent to ever win the award. She has four children and while working across NZ, lives in Te Awamutu.
Jacqui Graham
Founder, Wise Group
Jacqui Graham is the founder and joint chief executive of the Wise Group, a large innovative provider of services to the third sector. Jacqui has a nursing background, holds a Master of Business Administration and has been involved in developing multiple organisations throughout New Zealand.
Jacqui describes herself as a social entrepreneur who is part of a growing number of entrepreneurs internationally who choose to direct their skills to social good.
Richie Poulton
Research professor, University of Otago
Professor Richie Poulton is Director of the University of Otago’s Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Research Unit which conducts the world-renowned Dunedin longitudinal study, one of the most detailed studies of human health and development ever undertaken.
In 2006, he was made Research Professor and awarded a Personal Chair by the University of Otago. In 2007, he established and became a Co-Director of the National Centre for Lifecourse Research, a research centre based at the University of Otago in Dunedin, but with partners located at universities across New Zealand and internationally.
His major areas of interest and research are developmental psychopathology, gene X environment prediction of complex disorders, and psychosocial determinants of chronic physical disease.
He has published over 150 peer-reviewed scientific papers, with many appearing in leading international journals, and he maintains numerous international research collaborations. He currently serves on many governmental and academic statutory bodies.
In 2004, he was awarded the New Zealand Association of Scientist’s Research Medal and the Health Research Council of New Zealand’s (inaugural) Liley Medal for Excellence in Health Research. In 2010, he was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand and was the joint recipient of the RSNZ Dame Joan Metge Medal for excellence and building relationships in the social science research community.
George Salmond
Public health physician
George is a New Zealand-trained public health physician broadly experienced in geriatric medicine and aged care, public health and health services management. He is, or has been, a public health administrator, researcher and teacher. Currently, he is largely retired but still works part-time as a public health consultant, researcher and advocate.
George worked as a health services researcher and planner in the Department of Health for more than a decade. He was the director-general of health (1986-1991) and professor and foundation director of the university-based Health Services Research Centre in Wellington 1993-1999.
His areas of particular interest are health equity and social justice, the social determinants of health, public health, primary health care, community health development, child health, mental health, aged care and health workforce development.
George is active in a number of third sector organisations, including the Wise Group (Wise, Te Pou and Blueprint trusts), International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW NZ), New Zealand College of Public Health Medicine, and the Public Health Association of New Zealand. He works with a number of non government public health, mental health and primary health care organisations as a mentor and general facilitator.
His latest initiative is to chair the Ian and Elespie Prior Trust and Policy Centre for the Promotion of Health and Wellbeing. George was a long-standing member of the World Health Organization's global advisory panel on Human Resources for Health, and worked with the WHO in its Western Pacific Region as an consultant in health services and health workforce development.
Bruce Sheridan
Business consultant
Bruce is a fellow of the New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants and was chair for several years of one of its national committees. From 1985 to 2006, he was a business partner in KPMG, working with a variety of commercial and community enterprises.
He has been on the boards of charitable trusts running social enterprises and in getting unemployed people back into the workforce. He has also been a director of commercial boards in a range of industries.
Bruce's past roles have included chairing the Export Institute (Waikato Branch) and the Waikato Education Foundation, and he was also vice chair of the Institute of Directors (Waikato Bay of Plenty Branch), of which he is an accredited member.
As the current chair of the Wise Trust Board, Bruce says he has seen the possibilities for Te Pou to make a real difference in mental health and he is excited by being involved with this organisation.
Fran Silvestri
Director, International Initiative for Mental Health Leadership (IIMHL)
Fran has an MBA from the Whitemore School of Economics, in the US, and was the chief executive officer for Monadnock Family Services, also in the US, which fosters mental and emotional health, promotes recovery from mental illness and inspires hope for personal success.
In 1991, Fran was awarded, by the National Institute of Disability and Rehabilitation Research, a two-month fellowship to study the New Zealand health reforms and the movement towards community mental health services in New Zealand. In 1983, he undertook a research sabbatical in Italy and studied the mental health system, and the politics of "Law 160", which saw the end of mental health institutionalisation in that country.
The IIMHL offers support and technical assistance to seven countries, and their provider leaders, by assisting them in adapting to rapid changes in the field, and providing a support network through partnership with other leaders from around the world.
Fran hopes to contribute to Te Pou in several ways: linking Te Pou and its programmes to other international organisations; supporting the development of a robust mental health-designed leadership development programme; and assisting in building a strong board and recruiting senior leaders.
He says the future workforce for the mental health sector will determine whether recovery principles become a reality.
"Te Pou has an opportunity to build a workforce programme that builds capacity and leadership in New Zealand."
