Waikato DHB Appoints Director of Communications

Award-winning journalist Mary Anne Gill has been appointed to the newly-created position of Communications Director at Waikato District Health Board.

Mary Anne will take up the role from 19 February, and will work closely with CEO Malcolm Stamp to develop the future shape and direction of the Waikato DHB's Media & Communications services.

The Communications Director will report directly to the Chief Executive and will oversee both the Media & Communications Unit and Visual Communications (Viscom).

Malcolm says Mary Anne’s communication skills and insight as a highly respected journalist will prove invaluable in the role.

“Health affects everyone in the community, and as such our communication needs are comprehensive. To have on board someone with the skills Mary Anne has demonstrated in the pressured environment of the newsroom is a tremendous asset to the organisation.”

Mary Anne has been with the Waikato Times as a reporter since 1994 covering a number of rounds including farming, education, regions and sport. In 2000 she was selected as one of two INL reporters to cover the Sydney Olympics for nine New Zealand daily newspapers and two Sunday newspapers. The following year she was appointed Business Editor and for the last two years has been City Editor covering the newspaper's key civic round.

While at the Times, Mary Anne won three prestigious Qantas Media awards and a clutch of other writing awards.

In the early 1990s she co-founded the Ruapehu Press in Taumarunui and built it from scratch to become the leading community newspaper in the central North Island employing six fulltime staff.

Her previous journalism experience includes working in a two-person branch office in Taumarunui to provide King Country copy to The Daily News in New Plymouth, and as the Wanganui Chronicle's reporter for the central North Island areas of Ohakune, Raetihi and Waiouru.

She comes from a family of journalists. Her older brother Michael Field is in Fairfax NZ’s Auckland bureau and is acknowledged as this country’s expert on Pacific Island affairs. Before that he was New Zealand bureau chief for AFP.  Younger sister Catherine Field is Radio NZ and New Zealand Herald’s Paris correspondent. Before that she filled the same roles in Hong Kong and Berlin.

“I am passionate about good journalism, about reporting the truth and about people’s right to know certain things. That’s not going to change when I join the health board,” she said.

Mary Anne is president at Narrows Golf Club, the first female president in the club’s 75-year history. She plays off a 13 handicap while her son James is New Zealand’s top-ranked amateur golfer.

She has also been involved in a number of community organisations including two terms on the St John’s College Board of Trustees.

ENDS

Date: 15 January 2007