Governance & Management

The NZPsS is governed by an elected Executive consisting of a president, president-elect, six directors and a kaihautū 

The Society is managed by an executive director and supported by staff in the National Office.  The NZPsS Rules (PDF) underpin the governance of the NZPsS. 

Click to view the Past Presidents of the New Zealand Psychological Society

NZPsS Executive

President:   Peter Coleman
President Elect:  Dr Kerry Gibson
Director of Professional Affairs:   Co-optee Tansy Brown
Director of Professional Development & Training:   Iris Fontanilla
Director of Social Issues:   Quentin Abraham
Director of Scientific Affairs:  Dr Jackie Feather
Directors of Bicultural Issues:   Dr Waikaremoana Waitoki
                                                    Dr Erana Cooper
NZPsS Student Representative: Jessica McIvor - details to come
Kaihautū:  Professor Angus Hikairo Macfarlane

Executive Director

Executive Director:   Dr Pamela Hyde

President- Elect:  Dr Kerry Gibson

Kerry is a member of the Institute of Clinical Psychology and the Institute of Counselling Psychology. She has many years of experience in  academic teaching as well as hands-on experience as a clinical supervisor and a practitioner. In addition to her clinical focus , Kerry has strong interests in the fields of community psychology, organisational psychology and health psychology and contributes to these areas through her academic writing and work with community-based organisations. Kerry is a senior lecturer in clinical psychology at the University of Auckland.

Director of Professional Affairs: Co-optee Tansy Brown 

Details to come.

Director of Professional Development and Training:  Iris Fontanilla

Iris is a registered psychologist specialising in health psychology. She currently works in Cardiac Services and New Zealand Heart Lung Transplant Service at Auckland District Health Board and in private practice in Auckland. Iris is an honorary lecturer at the Department of Psychological Medicine, University of Auckland where she is involved in training and supervision of pre-intern health psychology students and health psychology interns. She is a full member of the Society where she holds the Chair of the Institute of Health Psychology. Iris specialises in resilience, stress management, and long-term conditions management.

Director of Social Issues: Quentin Abraham

Quentin is an educational psychologist with 21 years' experience. He has worked previously as a primary school teacher and as a residential social worker.  He held a senior specialist post in Britain for challenging behaviour and offered specialist advice to a team of psychologists and special education workers delivering a service to a large metropolitan city. He completed a diploma in Systemic Family and Systemic Practice in 1997 which included intensive intervention for children, families and the agencies that support them.

Quentin worked for the Ministry of Education in Aotearoa/NZ from 2002 - 2009 providing support for individual children, their families, schools and other agencies. He regularly supervises educational psychologists, RTLBs and specialist teachers.  In the last 3 years he has worked in private practice and recently has been part of the team developing the new educational psychology course at Victoria University. Quentin is a member of the NZPsS Institute of Educational and Developmental Psychology and is also a Te Reo Māori student.

Director of Scientific Affairs: Dr Jackie Feather

Jackie Feather has a BA(Hons) (Otago), PGDip (Couns) (Auck.) and PhD DipClinPsych (Massey). She is a clinical and counselling psychologist with over 30 years' experience working in community, statutory and educational settings. Jackie is currently a senior lecturer on the postgraduate counselling psychology programme at AUT University. Her roles include internship convenor and psychology clinic coordinator. She also maintains a small private practice. Jackie is on the Management Committee of the Institute of Counselling Psychology for the NZPsS and is a founding member of the Executive of Aotearoa New Zealand Association for Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (AnzaCBT).
Her current research interests include collaborative studies with WDHB on the implementation of stepped care, and a theoretical interest in cutting edge CBT, including its use with people experiencing existential crises.
 

                           Directors of Bicultural Issues 

Dr Waikaremoana Waitoki (MSocSc, PGDipPsych(Clin) PhD Waikato

Ko pukemokemoke te maunga, ko Waitoki te marae, ko waihou te awa, ko Ngāti Paoa te iwi. (Hamilton)

Waikaremoana has been a member since 1998. Waikaremoana is the co-convenor of the NSCBI and the Director of Bicultural Issues on the NZPsS Executive. She is completing PhD research focusing on the development of cultural competency training programmes.  She is a clinical psychologist with work and research interests in adult mental health, supervision, child and adolescent mental health, and addictions. Waikaremoana has a blended family. Her family speak Māori, Swedish, German, Spanish, and Portuguese and are actively involved in either kura kaupapa Māori and whare wānanga. She is also a yudansha in kyokushin.

  Dr Erana Cooper  

(Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Hine)
Erana Cooper is a clinical psychologist and lecturer in Kaupapa Māori Psychology at The University of Auckland. Her experience spans the areas of academic, research and professional practice, and she is passionate about advancing Māori development and initiatives. Erana teaches a broad range of material related to Māori perspectives and methods in mental health, clinical psychology, cultural competency and Kaupapa Māori research. Whānau mental health and wellbeing, child maltreatment and whānau violence, and clinical neuropsychology and neurorehabilitation with Māori are key areas of research and clinical interest. She is an active member of the National Standing Committee on Bicultural Issues (NSCBI) of the New Zealand Psychological Society, and also co-ordinates the Tāmaki Makaurau Māori Clinical Psychologists Network.
 

Kaihautū: Professor Angus Hikairo Macfarlane

Angus Hikairo Macfarlane is of the Te Arawa waka and its confederate tribes in the central north island of New Zealand. The thrust of his activities is concerned with the exploration of cultural concepts and strategies that affect positively on professional practice, from which numerous publications have emanated. He has presented papers on culturally responsive educational approaches for improving motivation and learning, throughout the world. In 2003 Dr Macfarlane was awarded the inaugural Research Fellowship by the New Zealand Council for Educational Research. In 2004 his landmark book, Kia hiwa ra! Listen to culture - Māori students' plea to educators, was published. That same year he was a recipient of a Tohu Kairangi award, a citation for academic achievement in Māori education. His next book, Discipline, Democracy and Diversity, was published in August 2007. In December 2010 Dr Macfarlane was presented with the Tohu Pae Tawhiti Award, acknowledging his significant contribution to Māori research over a notable period of time. In 2011 his edited book on Restorative Pedagogies was published. Dr Macfarlane is Professor in Māori Research at the University of Canterbury. 

Executive Director: Dr Pamela Hyde

Pamela joined the Society as its Executive Director in 2007 and is responsible for the management of the organisation. She has a background in education, management and consultancy in the health/education sector. She was national director of stage one and postgraduate rural general practice education for the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners for a number of years and has held positions at the University of Otago and the Central Institute of Technology.

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