Rōpū Kaitātaki Kaiwhakahaere
Executive Leadership Team

Catherine Byrne – Pouārahi/Pouroki – Chief Executive/Registrar

Catherine Byrne is the Council's Chief Executive and Registrar. Catherine is responsible for the executive leadership and the regulatory functions of the organisation.

Catherine joined the organisation in February 2019 and has over 30 years' experience in the health sector. Catherine joined the Council from Taranaki District Health Board where she was the Executive Director of Nursing. While there Catherine drove a number of successful projects to shape and support the professionalism of nurses and set standards of care to protect the safety of the public.

Prior to this Catherine has held a variety of leadership, management and clinical roles in Auckland and overseas. Catherine is a highly respected and experienced nursing leader. Her strong leadership and connection to the nursing workforce fosters a practice reality to the setting of professional nursing standards to protect public safety.

Waikura Kamo – Interim Kaiwhakahaere

I te taha o toku papa
On my father’s side

Ko Ngāti Mutunga o Wharekauri Moriori ratou ko Nga Puhi Te Raroa te iwi
My tribal affiliations are Ngāti Mutunga Chatham Islands and Nga Puhi Te Raroa in Hokianga.

I te taha o toku māmā
On my mother’s side

Ko Te Atiawa o Taranaki ratou ko Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa te iwi
My tribal affiliations are Te Atiawa o Taranaki and Ngāti Kahungunu from Wairarapa.

He Kaitohutohu Neehi Māori me Interim Kaiwhakahaere toku tunga mahi kei Te Kaunihera Taphu o Aotearoa au mahi ana 
I work as Nurse Adviser Māori, currently interim Kaiwhakahaere, at the Nursing Council of New Zealand.

Waikura Kamo has been married for 34 years and has 6 tamariki and 3 mokopuna.

Waikura has over 20 years of nursing experience working in primary healthcare, telehealth nursing, and education. She is currently the Interim Kaiwhakahaere at the Nursing Council and her role is to provide Te Ao Māori nursing strategic advice, direction, and guidance to influence the Council’s regulatory strategic work. A key aspect of this position is to provide input to policy that shapes nursing standards to ensure equitable outcomes for Māori.

Waikura has a strong commitment to excellence and a Te Tiriti focus on ethics.

“We are not alone in our struggles, We stand in the light of our ancestors” Moana Jackson

Angela Joseph – Kaiwhakahaere Paerewa Ngaio – Director Professional Standards

Angela (Ngāti Tukorehe) is responsible for providing strategic and policy advice on professional nursing issues and leads the Registrant Quality and Education team.

With more than 30 years’ nursing experience, including as an Emergency Department Charge Nurse leading a team of 80 nurses at MidCentral – Te Whatu Ora, Angela has an acute clinical knowledge of emergent and urgent care requirements, and is well versed in the importance of professional standards.

Prior roles included as ED Associate Charge Nurse and ED Nurse Educator. Angela has contributed to Emergency specialty practice as a member of the College of Emergency Nurses NZ Knowledge and Skills Framework group and the Manaaki Mana Kaikōkiri network which promotes excellence in emergency care for Māori. She was also a project facilitator for Ngā Pou o te Oranga, a cultural framework for whole of hospital service delivery to promote wellbeing for patients, whānau, and staff.

As a member of the Central Region Strategic Trauma Network, Angela has participated in work on nursing and service improvement goals and supported these in practice through role modelling expert practice, driving quality improvement initiatives, facilitating nurses’ professional development, and collaborating across specialist services to optimise patient care delivery.

Angela is collaborative, motivated and likes to problem-solve complex issues. She is driven to improve nursing standards and quality assurance and enjoys working with colleagues to advance practice and service provision.

Cheryl Goodyer – Kaitohutohu Matua Māori – Principal Advisor Māori

In her Māori leadership role with the Council, Cheryl (Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāti Ranginui) is responsible for overseeing the implementation of our Te Tiriti o Waitangi policy statement and framework. She works alongside Executive Leadership Team colleagues to lead the Council’s commitments, responsibilities and obligations under Te Tiriti o Waitangi. This includes providing strategic and operational advice on key iwi and Māori relationships, critical equity issues for Māori and regulatory matters to improve health outcomes for Māori. 

Previously, Cheryl has worked in the health sector for 30 years, training as a Medical Laboratory Technologist specialising in Anatomic Pathology and holding Mortuary management roles for 10+ years.

More recently, she has held senior management roles with the CCDHB Māori Health Development Group responsible for leading the expansion, and ongoing development, of Whānau Care Services into a multi-disciplinary team, including specialty clinical nurses.  Cheryl also established the Research Advisory Group-Māori and was a long-standing member of the CCDHB Clinical Ethics Advisory Group.

Cheryl is an accomplished Māori health leader with extensive professional and clinical leadership experience. She has worked across multiple services to implement a range of strategic and operational approaches including designing and delivering patient/whānau-focused services; system-wide workforce development for Māori and all staff to support the provision of culturally safe healthcare; and integrating continuous quality improvement and risk management systems to enhance health services for Māori.

Clare Prendergast – Pouroki Tuarua/Kaitohutohu Ture Mātāmua – Deputy Registrar/Senior Legal Advisor

Clare Prendergast manages the legal team and provides general legal advice to the Council. Clare registered as a nurse in 1977 after completing the Wellington Hospital programme. She completed a law degree while continuing to work part time at Wellington Hospital. Clare commenced work as a legal editor for Brookers in 1992 and has worked at the Nursing Council since 1995. She is a contributing author to Health Care and the Law and the Fundamentals of Nursing 3e on the Evolve website. She has managed the Health and Conduct areas since 2012.

Lauren Prosser – Kaiwhakahaere Kaupapahere, Rangahau, me te Mahinga – Director of Policy, Research and Performance

Lauren Prosser is the director of Policy, Research, and Performance, and joined the Council in August 2023. The policy director works collaboratively to build a cohesive team and strengthen sector relationships, ensuring future-focused policy which is evidence-led to meet the challenges of a dynamic health sector and workforce environment.

Formerly a principal advisor and team manager in the Strategy, Policy, and Research group of ACC (Accident Compensation Corporation), Lauren is well versed in leading policy and research teams in complex issues and environments, and skilled in developing stakeholder relationships. She established, and was a member of, ACC’s refreshed Ethics Panel and led cross-functional project teams to harness the use of ACC’s data. For nine years, Lauren was also a chairperson and trustee on the Plimmerton School Board of Trustees.

Lauren understands the issues facing the nursing sector, having previously worked as a Registered Nurse in New Zealand and overseas, including in community and general practice environments.

Martyn Newman-Hall – Kaiwhakahaere Pakihi Iho – Director of Core Business

Martyn provides thought and operational leadership for all contractual and support activities for the Nursing Council. His primary responsibility is to ensure high quality, cost effective delivery of services to the Council and to the other Regulatory Authorities that the Council supports.

Key aspects of the role relate to the technology needed to interact with our nursing community, supplier engagement, contractual relationships and communication with the wider stakeholder community.

Prior to joining the Nursing Council, Martyn has held senior leadership roles in a number of IT companies including EDS, Optimation and Unisys. More recently he has been providing business and IT consultancy services to a wide variety of organisations in the public and private sector.

Nick Davis – Pouroki Tuarua/Kaitohutohu Ture Mātāmua – Deputy Registrar/Senior Legal Advisor

Nick Davis is the Deputy Registrar for the Council and oversees the fitness to practise functions for the Council (including the conduct, competence and health processes). Nick also provides policy and general legal advice to the Council. Nick was admitted as a barrister and solicitor in 2007 and has worked in private legal practice specialising in civil, criminal and family litigation before joining the Nursing Council in 2015. He provides legal advice to the Professional Conduct Committees, Health and Competence Committees as well as the Registrant Quality Committee.