Appendix 5 – New Zealand Standards Approval Board
The New Zealand Standards Approval Board has seven members with a mix of skills and expertise drawn from the technology, science, engineering, design, health, construction, building and gas sectors.
The Board is an independent statutory decision-making body, appointed by the Minister for Commerce and Consumer Affairs, with administration and secretariat support provided by Standards New Zealand. It is not a Crown entity and does not have a governance role.
The Board’s main functions are to:
- approve or decline proposed New Zealand standards, joint New Zealand and Australian standards, chairmanship and membership of standard development committee
- adopt or decline other standards organisations’ standards as New Zealand standards, for example ISO and IEC international standards
- approve or decline modifications to New Zealand standards
- revoke and archive New Zealand standards
- advise the Minister on any matter referred to the Board by the Minister
- advise the Minister on the currency of New Zealand standards, and on priority areas for the development and review of New Zealand standards.
In addition to its statutory functions, the Board engages with key stakeholders including industry bodies to support the value of Standards New Zealand’s products and services.
Board members 2023
Victoria MacLennan – Chair
Victoria MacLennan is a technology entrepreneur and champion of New Zealand digital innovation and growth and has been a ministerial advisor. An experienced CEO, managing director and chair, she has been actively involved in community engagement, supporting start-ups and chairing the charity Digital Future Aotearoa which provide free digital education with a focus on rural, Māori and Pacifica.
Victoria is passionate about growing great companies, raising digital literacy, growing New Zealand’s economy, and brings an equity and inclusion lens championing equality for women. She has won numerous awards including a lifetime achievement award for her contribution to business and technology.
Victoria’s professional vision is to help change the face of the digital industry to collectively embrace manaakitanga, focus on diversity, create new pathways into the workforce, support reskilling and upskilling and help the digital technology industry solve large complex challenges like equity, sustainability and climate change.
Brian Watson – Member
Brian is an experienced business leader having held CEO and other senior leadership roles in New Zealand, Australia and Asia over the last 30 years. His science and management qualifications together with more than 40 years of experience in the science sector (including the global ‘Testing, Inspection and Certification (TIC)’ sector) give him an excellent understanding of the benefits and needs of standardisation.
He is an experienced company director and board chair and graduate director of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and Member of the Institute of Directors in New Zealand who has had extensive Board interactions and held more than 12 directorships in Australia, New Zealand and Singapore.
Brian has a pragmatic and consultative approach which together with his knowledge and experience with science and technology has enabled him to find win-win solutions to complex business challenges and value diversity of thought. He is now a professional consultant, mentor and company director.
Fiona van Petegem – Member
Fiona has spent over 20 years working in manufacturing and product development in New Zealand, China, the Netherlands and Germany both as a design and industrialisation engineer and in areas including lean management, effective process improvement, global product compliance, efficient product development, improved product safety & quality and risk assessment procedures.
Fiona is a mechanical engineer with a B.E (Hons) from Canterbury University and a M.B.A in International Industrial Management from Germany. She has been part of AS/NZS and DIN (Deutsches Institut für Normung, the German Institute for Standardisation) standards committees and works with New Zealand manufacturers and other organisations looking to improve their practices to secure future resilience.
Susan Iversen – Member
Susan Iversen is the ex-director of Karo Data Management and has over 30 years of experience in digital health and data analytics. This included participation in the development of several health information standards. Earlier in her career Susan trained as a civil engineer and worked in roles related to workplace health and safety.
Her board experience includes Age Concern Wellington Region (member and past president) and Hutt Union and Community Health Service and a representative of Healthcare Aotearoa on PHO Services Agreement Amendment Protocol.
Richard Merrifield – Member
Richard is a building consultant based in Mahana, rural Nelson, undertaking project management and consulting work on housing projects. Richard is a Trade Qualified Builder and a Licensed Building Practitioner. He is a former Deputy Chairman of the Building Practitioners Board and a former member of the Plumbers, Gasfitters and Drainlayers Board.
Richard’s previous roles include, Director of the Building Research Association New Zealand and Chairman of the Building Research Advisory Council. He is a Life Member and former Chairman of the New Zealand Certified Builders Association, he was a member of the Construction Strategy Group which has now been disestablished. He was a member of the Minister of Building and Housing Task Force on productivity and the Building Act Review Advisory Group.
Peter Gilbert – Member
Peter Gilbert has over 40 years’ experience in the natural gas and LPG industries. He has been Executive Director of the LPG Association of New Zealand and Executive Officer of the Gas Association of New Zealand. He is also Chair of the Standards New Zealand Gas Sector Board and a member of various Australian/New Zealand standards committees.
He has considerable experience in the regulatory system and the use and development of standards in the energy sector.
Fa’asalele Simona Malo – Member
Fa’asalele Malo is of Samoan heritage and grew up in the community of Cannons Creek in Porirua, Wellington, which fostered his passion for providing culturally appropriate quality architecture.
He is a registered architect with 20 years’ experience practising in Wellington, nationally and in the Pacific including Samoa, Fiji and Vanuatu. He is a co-director and co-owner of Malo Architecture Ltd, an architecture, design, project management, construction, and cultural consultancy based in Wellington, where he lives with his family.
Fa’asalele has public sector, construction and building compliance and quality assurance experience. He sits on a number of boards and leadership teams based locally and abroad, that have an ethnical approach for business, educational and leadership development, including Victoria University of Wellington’s Komiti Pasifika board.