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About NZDSN
The New Zealand Disability Support Network (NZDSN) is a network of organisations and individuals that provide support services to disabled people
Since its formation in 2010 it has represented and advocated for its members. NZDSN is governed by a board of elected members and serviced by a chief executive and small, high-performance team.
NZDSN takes a pan-disability perspective on the sector.
Our vision
Our vision is an inclusive New Zealand where all disabled people are valued, their human rights are promoted and protected, and they are enabled to maximise their potential as citizens.
Our purpose
Our purpose is to promote, encourage, support and represent members in regard to the provision of high-quality equitable disability services and support for disabled people and families throughout New Zealand to enable good lives.
Our values
- We are committed to work in a manner that upholds the Treaty of Waitangi and its principles
- We are committed to the UNCRPD and its principles
- We are committed to the principle of mana Motuhake (self-determination) of disabled people
- Being a strong advocate for our members and the sector
- Where needed and appropriate, we will lobby to ensure the voice of our members is heard and seek to make a strong impact to ensure our member’s issues are addressed
- We are transparent in all that we do
- We are responsive to the needs of our members and timely in offering advice and support
- We desire a strong partnership with our members, with others in the disability sector and with those who design and implement policy and service purchasing and funding frameworks
- We are committed to unifying our sector so that every disabled person feels they are consistently enabled to enjoy a good life.
Our team
Debbie Hughes
Chief Executive
Bruce Chase
National Member Engagement Lead
Marion Martin
Executive Assistant
Richard Irvine
Communications and Media Adviser
Our board
Samantha Lee
Board Chair
Samantha’s experience in the disability sector started at 6 years of age with the birth of her youngest sister who lives with significant complexity. Being a whānau member of someone with a disability, the sector revealed itself to be a place where Samantha could apply the learnings and knowledge experienced through her personal journey. The much needed change for the way disability services were delivered has been a strong focus for Samantha over the past few years with her being actively involved through many forums.
For the past seven years Samantha has been the Chief Executive for The Supported Life Style Hauraki Trust which is based in Thames on the Coromandel peninsula. She is currently part of the Waikato EGL leadership group as one of the provider representatives. She is also currently the Co-Chair of the Waikato regional provider network.
Samantha identifies as Pasifika/NZ pakeha and lives in Paeroa in the Hauraki district with her husband and two young sons.
Bernadette McEvoy
Totara Farm Trust (South Auckland)
My name is Bernadette McEvoy and have led Totara Farm Trust since 2018. Based in South Auckland, the Trust supports 31 adults with an intellectual disability in a residential environment.
I am passionate about advocacy for the people we all support and the members of NZDSN.
NZDSN has a crucial role in informing Government agencies and Ministerial decision-making. I am persistent, if not relentless, in raising and contributing to addressing the myriad of equity issues the disabled community faces daily. Good decisions at Government level can only come from good information.
Ultimately, my CE role is advocacy for the people we support and their whānau and I am proud to bring those skills to the NZDSN board table.
I am on the Whaikaha CEO Forum and involved in various initiatives related to my role as Auckland representative for the NZDSN.
Catherine Bennett
Community Connections Supported Living Trust
I have been actively involved in the disability sector one way or another for the last 15 years, in both strategic and operational roles. I have a strong belief and commitment to everyone having the right to live their lives how they want, doing what they want, and when. Additionally, my adult son is an autistic person, from whom I have learned a lot about life!
My last role was at Emerge Aotearoa where I was the National Manager Health and Disability Services – a role I immensely enjoyed and learned a lot from. I have, however, spent the last two years as a full-time student at Te Wānanga o Raukawa studying Te Reo Māori in a full immersion environment. I have been incredibly fortunate to be part of this kaupapa, and it has changed so much about me and my worldview. I believe this experience will enrich who I am as a leader going forward.
As the new Chief Executive of Community Connections Supported Living Trust, I am ready to dive back in and do whatever I can to support our sector. I truly believe if we strive to work together as providers, we can make a real difference. NZDSN is pivotal in helping us do that and is something I would be honoured to be part of. With my experience in the sector, my recent study, and my insight as a family member, I think I would bring some useful skills to the table.
Mel Rice – Tumuaki
Te Rarawa, Te Aupōuri, Ngā Puhi
Secretary for Te Aronga Toi Whenua, Tauranga Peka, Māori Women’s Welfare League
Mel is an experienced lead in whānau life and the community sector. Skilled in strategy, activation, stakeholder relationships and analysis. With over 18 years of experience in the community sector across all facets of community health business Mel has been instrumental in leading the transformation of services. As Tumuaki for Mel led Access/Uru Ātea, one of Aotearoa’s leading community health providers to weave Te Ao Māori throughout the business firmly believing that if you get it right for Māori you get it right for everyone. Mel also led the same organisation in their transformation of services with a focus on tāngata whaikaha through whakamana tāngata. Taking the taonga of visions and reimaginings of hauora from what she says are smarter people than herself, and engaging hāpori in implementation.
A natural evaluator of possibilities and realities and a huge fan of disrupting the system for the good of the people, lived experience, alternative routes and seeing a way where others assume there is none, Mel is excited to lead Oko Āio into a future that is waiting to be designed.
Of Ngā Puhi and Te Rarawa descent and hailing from Te Tai Tokerau, Mel has 18 years of experience in the Home and Community Based Health sector and brings not only a Te Ao Māori view from a business perspective but also a whānau/family and hapori/community perspective.
Mel is a member of the Insights Alliance, and the Māori Women’s Welfare League.
Mel Smith
CCS Disability Action (Christchurch)
Ko Mopanui te maunga e ru nei taku ngakau
Ko Waiputai te awa a mahea nei aku maharahara
No Murihiku ahau
Ko Ōtepoti taku kainga tūturu
Ko Mel Smith tōku ingoa
I have worked in the disability sector within Aotearoa and Australia for the last 25 years. As a born and bred Southlander I started my work in residential homes in Invercargill before moving to Australia to work in Employment related support services with the Deaf community. Upon returning to Aotearoa 15 years ago, I have held a number of roles within CCS Disability Action across the South Island, before having the privilege to represent the organisation and the people we support as Chief Executive.
I have a strong focus on disabled leadership and embedding the principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and Enabling Good Lives in everything we do within CCS Disability Action and I am keen to support this continued focus across the sector. I can see that we have a lot of room for growth still in these areas and I am aware that the people that work within the delivery of disability support services, do so because they want to be of service to our communities.
I have a strong sense that collaboration between providers is the way of the future and I am keen to put my money where my mouth is and play a role in supporting that to happen.
Tony Marsden
SILC Charitable Trust
Kia ora koutou
Ko Taranaki te maunga
Ko Waiwakahio te awa
Ko Tauranga moana te kainga inaianei
Ko Clive Marsden toku papa
Ko Raewyn Jorgensen toku mama
Ko Marsden tōku ingoa whanau
Ko Tony tōku ingoa
Ko Annette tōku wahine
Ko Jacob ā māua tamaiti
He CEO ahau mō SILC
Kia ora, my name is Tony Marsden. Originally from Taranaki, I now live in the beautiful Bay of Plenty with my partner Annette and our 12-year-old son Jacob. I have been CEO of SILC here in Tauranga for nearly six years and before that, I spent three years on the Board of SILC.
Before coming to work in the disability sector, I spent a number of years working in social housing for what was then Housing New Zealand. I held several senior roles including working in the Community Group Housing space so I have a good understanding of the challenges facing provider when it comes to accessing good quility, fit-for-purpose houseing. I am also a Trustee of the Tauranga Community Housing Trust.
I have a wide range of experience in governance and I believe my skills and experience will be benificial to the Board. Housing has become a challenge for many people in our communites but disabled people are even more disadvantaged through poor design and lack of accessiblity to social housing. I believe NZDSN can play a role in advocating for change in this space and I am committed to offering support to this through a role on the Board.
Richard Williams
NZ Health Group
Karen Beard-Greer
Independent Living Charitable Trust
Kia ora koutou,
I am the Chief Executive of Independent Living Charitable Trust, a role I have held for 15 years. Independent Living provides Disability Information and Advisory Services (DIAS) and assistive technology services across both community and government contracting environments. Managing a DIAS collective of 14 organisations across the Auckland region, which encompasses a wide range of services, has shown me firsthand what smaller providers can achieve when they are well connected and supported.
I am in this role because of the people. Every day, I work alongside staff who live with disability and customers who trust us to provide the information, equipment and support that are right for their lives. These relationships have shaped my understanding of the wider disability system and inspired my interest in serving on the NZDSN Board.
My governance experience includes 13 years with Manawanui in Charge and Manawanui Support Limited; nine years on the Board of the New Zealand Federation of Disability Information Centres, including a term as President; two years with the former NGO Council; and 12 years with CREATe Asia, an international assistive technology alliance.
Independent Living has always been an NZDSN member, and that membership has helped shape my thinking. As a small organisation, we share the experiences of many NZDSN members that have yet to fully realise the value NZDSN can offer. I bring this perspective to the Board, helping members, particularly smaller organisations, gain greater value from NZDSN’s knowledge, networks, and advocacy.
Remarkable work is happening throughout the disability sector across Aotearoa, with organisations constantly adapting and innovating despite ongoing change and funding constraints. I am committed to collaboration and practical problem-solving. I see an opportunity to bring more of this knowledge and these community perspectives into NZDSN so that members can draw on one another’s strengths.
A more connected sector is more effective, easier for disabled people and whānau to navigate, and better placed to deliver strong outcomes.
I welcome the opportunity to bring my experience and perspective to the NZDSN Board, represent members, strengthen connections across the sector, and help NZDSN continue to build a strong and influential voice with Disability Support Services, the Government and Ministers.
Ngā mihi nui
Karen Beard-Greer
Chris Davis
Aspire Canterbury
Chris is CEO of Aspire Canterbury, the disability information and advisory service for the Canterbury Region.
Chris has worked in leadership roles in the not-for-profit sector for many years across a range of health, disability, social services, education and development organisations. These roles have been with Aspire Canterbury, Stroke Foundation, Ngai Tahu, Graeme Dingle Foundation and World Vision. Chris is an Elected Executive Member of the New Zealand Federation of Disability Centres, Thrive Aotearoa Charitable Trust Board member, and with his wife, owns two Driving Miss Daisy franchises.
Chris sees the work of the NZDSN as very important in bringing together the voices of people with disabilities, and disability sector organisations, to advocate at a national level to Government.
