Meet The Team

Annette is a family member who was trained in developmental evaluation in 1996 and has worked both as a team member and team leader.  She has experience working for Disability Support Services at the Ministry of Health both as a quality advisor and contract manager.  She has also worked for a large provider offering advocacy services and has more recently been contracted with the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care as an advocate and provided advocacy through the Personal Advocacy and Safeguarding Adults Trust.

Rowanne is a family member who was trained in developmental evaluation in 1997 and has worked both as a team member and team leader.  She has been a Principal Adviser – Disability Support Services, Quality, at the Ministry of Health and been part of government based EGL evaluations both in Christchurch and the Waikato.  She has been a member of the Australasian Evaluation Society since 2006 and similarly the Aotearoa New Zealand Evaluation Association.

Audrey has lived experience of disability and is fluent in New Zealand sign language.  She has worked as a team leader in developmental evaluations since the early 1990s and has in that time conducted 100s of evaluations.  Audrey has been involved in research projects and conducted training for service providers, disabled people and family or whānau, and evaluation team members.  She has also run courses such as Partners Influencing Change and assisted providers to develop and improve services directly.

Hamish was trained as a developmental evaluator in 1996 and has been a team member working on various evaluation teams.  He has been the past national president of People First and is a current local president for Palmerston North.  He also sits on the ASID council in New Zealand (Australasian Society for Intellectual Disability).  Hamish is a core group member representing disabled people for Mana Whaikaha in MidCentral region and is a committee member for the IHC Rangatiki Branch.

Richard directly provides advocacy and EPA support for a disabled person and has an active interest in human rights and EGL principles.  He has provided technical, data, and statistical support both in general and in research projects. 

Neta supports a sibling and has experience as a senior manager in a Pasifika service.  She currently sits on the Health and Disability Ethics Committee with a focus on Pasifika and Māori. 

Yasmin has been working within the disability sector for over 30 years. She has extensive knowledge and experience, particularly in the management of residential and  vocational services and leadership. She has held numerous positions, most recently retiring from her role as Area Manager in a large scale organisation within the disability sector . Yasmin has a keen interest in evaluation and is passionate about empowering those with disabilities and advocating for them.

Tracie is a singer/songwriter and was previously involved with CCS Disability Action as an Advocate, fronting a number of National Campaigns in the early 1990s.
During that time, she was the recipient of the Women’s Suffrage Centennial White Camellia Award for her contribution to people with physical disabilities. Tracie has a lived experience of disability, but this has never been an issue to her. She has two sons (now young men) and is married to her husband Brian. Together they
embarked on a music career, performing extensively and producing a number of recordings.

Tracie has studied both speech therapy and social work.

Emma’s background in social anthropology and adult education, and lived experience of physical disability and neurodiversity, provides natural insight relevant to developmental evaluation. She has experience in the disability sector in direct support and training roles between 2005 and 2024. She completed her honours dissertation research on the lived experiences of people who use motorised wheelchairs, receiving the Richard Kamman Prize in Applied Psychology for this work.

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