Level 2, Wintec House
Cnr Anglesea and Nisbet St.
Hamilton 3204
0800 86 22 84
info@tepūkenga.ac.nz
tepūkenga.ac.nz
17 July 2023
Michael Gunson
By email:
[FYI request #23154 email]
Tēnā koe Michael
Request under the Official Information Act 1982
Thank you for your email of 16 June 2023, requesting the fol owing information from Te Pūkenga –
New Zealand Institute of Skil s and Technology (Te Pūkenga):
I would like to request, under the OIA, details on the Chief of Staff, Ziena Jalil's, employment and
conflicts of interest declaration. Can you please confirm:
1. Is the chief of staff on a full-time contract?
2. Can you share her conflicts of interest declaration. Her biography on the Te Pūkenga website
notes that she operates her own consulting practice, as well as governance roles in the public,
pricate and not-for-profit entities, including the education sector.
3. During the past month, during with a restructure of the organisation has been finalised, it is
clear the chief of staff has been fulfilling many other roles, including as master of ceremonies of
several conferences, public speaking engagements, as well as board committments. Can you
confirm if this staff member took leave during this time to fulfil these committments outside of
her responsiblities at Te Pūkenga, or if she is working on a part-time capacity at Te Pūkenga to
allow her to undertake these other workstreams?
4. Ziena's biography on the Te Pūkenga website notes that she has won several international
awards for her work. Can you provide evidence of these awards?
This letter provides a formal decision on your request under the Official Information Act 1982 (OIA).
The decision
The information you have requested is set out below.
1. Is the chief of staff on a full-time contract?
Ziena Jalil’s permanent role as Pourangi Kaimahi | Chief of Staff with Te Pūkenga is a full-time
position.
2. Can you share her conflicts of interest declaration. Her biography on the Te Pūkenga
website notes that she operates her own consulting practice, as well as governance roles in
the public, pricate [sic] and not-for-profit entities, including the education sector.
Before commencing in the role of Pourangi Kaimahi | Chief of Staff, Ziena operated her own full-
time consultancy practice. In managing the transition to Te Pūkenga, she completed a smal number
of commitments after she commenced the new role. That activity was declared and agreed to as
part of the recruitment process.
Ziena declared interests as part of the recruitment process. Potential conflicts and workload were
carefully considered both by Te Pūkenga and other organisations before we entered into an
employment agreement. Ziena’s current board roles are with Education New Zealand, Toka Tū Ake
EQC, Asia New Zealand Foundation, and DNA and Cancer Society Auckland Northland (which
concludes August 2023).
3. During the past month, during with [sic] a restructure of the organisation has been
finalised, it is clear the chief of staff has been fulfilling many other roles, including as master
of ceremonies of several conferences, public speaking engagements, as well as board
committments[sic]. Can you confirm if this staff member took leave during this time to fulfil
these committments [sic]outside of her responsiblities [sic] at Te Pūkenga, or if she is
working on a part-time capacity at Te Pūkenga to allow her to undertake these other
workstreams?
As was agreed before Ziena commenced work with Te Pūkenga, she takes leave without pay or
annual leave to attend board meetings and selected speaking engagements that occur during the
work week and are not associated with Te Pūkenga. We do not hold records for engagements she
undertakes in her personal time.
4. Ziena's biography on the Te Pūkenga website notes that she has won several international
awards for her work. Can you provide evidence of these awards?
I have set out evidence of Ziena’s awards below
• Campaign Asia Pacific 2020 Women to Watch
https://www.campaignasia.com/article/women-to-watch-2020-ziena-jalil-senateshj/463026
• Public Affairs Asia Gold Standard Award for Country or Trade Promotion (2014 and 2010)
https://publicaffairsasia.com/goldstandard/public-affairs/
• PR Week Asia Pacific Silver Award for Public Affairs Campaign of the Year (2015)
https://prawardsasia.com/archive/2015/
• PR Week Asia Pacific Bronze Award for Public Sector Campaign of the Year (2015)
https://prawardsasia.com/archive/2015/
You have the right to make a complaint to the Ombudsman under section 28(3) of the OIA if you
are not happy with this response. Information about how to do this is available at
www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or by cal ing 0800 802 602.
Ngā mihi
Peter Winder
Tumuaki | Chief Executive
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