Christine Grice
Chair Te Pou Board
Partner, Harkness, Henry & Co

Christine is an experienced company director with a particular interest and knowledge of legal and social issues affecting the not for profit sector boards. She presents national seminars for the Institute of Directors on aspects of governance for not for profit sector boards, chairing the board, Crown Company Monitoring Advisory Unit (CCMAU) board members and small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

Currently, Christine chairs the New Zealand Law Society Continuing Education Board and is a board member of the Statutory Council of Legal Education. She is immediate past president of the New Zealand Law Society.

Christine's areas of legal specialisation are in commercial dispute resolution and corporate governance, and she has had extensive experience advising in the health sector, particularly in the area of mental health.

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."

Dave Davies
Chief executive Waitemata DHB 

Dave was born in Wales and came to New Zealand in the mid-1980s, initially gaining psychiatric nursing employment before joining what was then the Auckland Area Health Board as a regional training manager for mental health services in 1990. Along the way he completed a Bachelor of Arts in Social Sciences from Massey University, including a strong focus on anthropology, which he has also built into his philosophy on psychiatry.

Dave has been in funding roles with the Regional Health Authority, the Transitional Health Authority, Health Funding Authority and with the Northern District Health Board Support Agency. Prior to his appointment to CE in November 2006, Dave was general manager of Waitemata DHB's mental health services.

Richie Poulton
Research professor, Otago University

After completing his Postgraduate Diploma in Clinical Psychology and Master's Degree in Science from the University of Otago, Richie was awarded a PhD in Psychology from the University of New South Wales, Sydney.

Since 2000, he has been director of the University of Otago's Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Research Unit, which conducts the Dunedin longitudinal study, one of the most detailed studies of human health and development ever undertaken.

His major areas of interest and research are developmental psychopathology, gene X environment prediction of complex disorders, and psychosocial determinants of chronic physical disease.

Richie has published well over 100 peer-reviewed scientific papers, with many appearing in leading international journals, and he maintains numerous international research collaborations.

In 2004, Richie 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 2006, he was made research professor and awarded a personal chair by the University of Otago.

Richie is a current board member of the HRC, and serves on many other governmental and academic statutory bodies.

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 working 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 include, primary health care, community health development, mental health, aged care and health workforce development.

George is active in a number of third sector organisations, including Porirua Healthlinks, Health Care Aotearoa, WISE and Blueprint Trusts, International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, Australasian Faculty of Public Health Medicine, Clinical Leaders Association of New Zealand and the Public Health Association of New Zealand. He is currently working with a number of third sector mental health and primary care organisations as an advisor/assessor/evaluator/researcher and general facilitator and mentor.

George was a long-standing member of the World Health Organisation's global advisory panel on Human Resources for Health, and occasionally works for the WHO in its Western Pacific Region as an adviser/consultant in health services and health workforce development.

From 2001-2006, he was a member of the Advisory Committee to the minister of health on the health workforce and chaired the committee's Medical Reference Group.

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 an advisory partner in KPMG, an organisation that provides financial, business and taxation advice to a variety of commercial and community enterprises.

Bruce 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 eight 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."