GEN is led by a voluntary board which is made up of individuals from across the public sector. It is responsible for developing the network and running its activities. If you are interested in becoming a GEN Board Member you can read about what will be expected of you here.
The members of the 2026 GEN board are:
Natalia Fareti
Chair
Land Information New Zealand Toitū Te Whenua
Natalia Fareti is Director Policy at Toitū Te Whenua, Land Information New Zealand. Her career has been about keeping economic, strategic and policy advice simple to understand and practical to implement. She has worked as an economist in the private sector, and in economic development, policy, strategy and management roles across Local Government New Zealand, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, and the Reserve Bank of New Zealand. She has undertaken a professional economic empowerment fellowship in the USA and is a 2024/25 McCain Global Leader. Natalia is also a board member of the Wellington Pasifika Business Network, and Y Greater Wellington.
“Being a Board member has been rewarding in several ways – from designing and launching our GEN mentoring program, to working alongside a great Board and broadening my governance skillset.”
Joanne Leung
Treasurer
Ministry of Transport Te Manatū Waka
As the Chief Economist at Te Manatū Waka, Joanne’s work involves leading the Economics team to support policy teams throughout the policy development lifecycle and related research programme. Joanne has extensive experience in the public sector, with expertise in cost benefit analysis, appraisal, evaluation and non-market valuation methodologies. She enjoys fostering greater use of evidence and analytics in policy decisions. Joanne also co-leads GEN’s Introduction to Cost Benefit Analysis course. Joanne is one of GEN’s original Board members and has taken on a variety of roles. She continues on in her role as she believes in GEN’s mission of excellent government policy for Aotearoa New Zealand especially as it pertains to training and sharing knowledge.
“Economics applies to nearly every aspect of our lives, from how we budget our time and money to understanding global trends such as inflation and technological change. By fostering a shared understanding of economic tools and principles, we can strengthen the analytical quality of public policy advice.”
Ewan Delany
Department of Conservation Te Papa Atawhai (Wellington)
Ewan is currently Chief Advisor at the Department of Conservation, following previous policy leadership roles at MBIE, MoE, MoT and MfE. With an academic background in environmental economics, his career has centred around environment and climate change policy and advisory roles in national government, local government and consultancy – with significant detours into research and innovation policy.
“I am particularly interested in promoting the incorporation of environmental values into public policy, and the role of economic incentives in driving environment and innovation outcomes.”
Bryce Hartell
New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (Wellington)
Bryce is a Lead Investment Advisor at the NZ Transport Agency. He has worked in a variety of economic, policy, and analytical roles across a range of government organisations.
Bryce began his career working in tertiary education, and joined GEN to continue his passion for economics education.
Victoria Hodgson
Book Club Coordinator
Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment Hīkina Whakatutuki
Victoria is a Senior Policy Advisor (Tourism) at MBIE. Her focus is leading complex advice in an international context using economic, wellbeing and sustainability frameworks. She has worked across immigration, international trade, and economic development, including roles in Economics and Climate Change with MFAT’s foreign offices. While Victoria’s background and education is in languages, international relations, and public policy, she has been inspired by GEN to return to education and is currently studying part-time towards a degree in economics. Victoria is the coordinator of the popular GEN Book Club, Wellington.
Max Lin
Financial Markets Authority Te Mana Tātai Hokohoko
Max Lin is a Senior Legal Counsel at the Financial Markets Authority. He has previously worked in several policy and legal roles in organisations that undertake a range of economic analyses, including the Treasury, the Productivity Commission, and MBIE’s Financial Markets team. His tertiary training is in law, philosophy, and international relations, however he has both an ongoing professional and personal interest in economics and believes continuing education can enrich our work (and lives) and make our thinking more robust.
“Many aspects of our lives are intertwined with economics so while it is not a perfect framework, it is very useful to understand and to complement other multidisciplinary approaches. Economics can also be very nuanced and does not necessarily purport to provide you with a single right answer, which is what makes it fascinating.”
Lisa Meehan
Committee Member
AUT (Auckland)
Lisa is the Deputy Director of the NZ Work Research Institute at AUT. She is an applied economist with extensive experience spanning academia, the Organisation of Economic Co-operation Development (OECD), the New Zealand Treasury and Productivity Commission, and economic consulting.
Zaira Najam
Ministry of Housing and Urban Development Te Tūāpoki
Alan Renwick
Training Committee Member
Lincoln University (Christchurch)
Alan is currently Professor of Agricultural Economics at Lincoln University. Before moving to New Zealand at the end of 2015, his work experience included Cambridge University, the Scottish Agricultural College and University College Dublin. His work focuses on agricultural and trade policy analysis, innovation in agrifood systems, and analysis of agrifood value chains. Recently his work has focused on the economics of existing and novel land-uses in New Zealand and technology adoption more generally. Alan is a Board member for GEN as he is keen to strengthen the link between academia and government policy issues.
Grace B. Villamor
Scion (Rotorua)
Grace is a Senior Scientist for Scion’s Research Group for Economy and Society. Her research primarily focuses on understanding human decision-making and behaviour of land managers under different internal and external factors (e.g. climate change, market, and social characteristics such as gender). She has led and managed several projects on managing future risks for the forestry industries. Before that, she was a lead researcher in various natural resources management and climate change adaptation research in developing countries (e.g. West Africa and Southeast Asian countries) and developed countries (e.g. Germany, USA, China) for more than 15 years. She has a wide range of expertise in soft-systems modelling, participatory modelling and scenario building, game simulation, agent-based modelling, participatory action research, land-use change assessment, and decision and gender analysis. She is also an Associated Researcher at the Center for Development Research, University of Bonn.
Diana Voerman-Tam
Reserve Bank of New Zealand – Te Pūtea Matua
Diana is Senior Legal Counsel at the Reserve Bank. She provides legal advice across all of the Reserve Bank’s functions, including the adoption of new legislation and the regulation of financial institutions.
Diana has a background in public sector, private practice, and academic research. She holds Bachelors of Laws and Commerce, and a Master’s in Economics with a focus on the measurement of subjective wellbeing.
“Economic frameworks are a powerful tool to understand how we interact with each other, and why things are the way they are. I’m happy to be part of GEN which supports economic training and education.”
Simon Wakeman
Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment Hīkina Whakatutuki
Simon Wakeman is a Principal Policy Advisor in Innovation Policy at the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE). He has more than 20 years’ experience working as an economist in different roles – as a consultant in Competition Economics, as a professor/researcher in Innovation and Business Strategy at the ESMT in Berlin and the New Zealand Productivity Commission, and as a policy advisor at the Social Investment Agency and MBIE. He studied Economics and Law at Otago and then did a PhD in Economics/Business Administration at UC Berkeley. He has previously served on the Law & Economics Association of New Zealand (LEANZ) committee, first in the late 1990s and then again from 2018-2021.
Non-Board Committee Members
Philip Stevens
Lea Boodee
Secretary
Allanah Robinson
Communications Manager