Management team
Tracy Hatton
Tracy is joint managing director of ResOrgs, a specialist research, consulting, and training group based in Christchurch.Tracy carries out a broad range of risk and resilience projects, including crisis preparedness plans and exercises, business continuity programme design, emergency management training and development, capability assessments, and after-action reviews, along with research into a broad range of risk and resilience issues. She has published a range of articles on resilience topics both in academic publications and as short user guides. Tracy has an MBA and PhD focused on Disaster Recovery.
Jon Mitchell
Jon has 20 years of experience in emergency management in New Zealand, the UK, SE Asia, and USA. He specialises in local, regional, state/provincial, and national-level multi-agency emergency management leadership, planning, intelligence recovery management and capability development. Jon was a CDEM Group planner, manager, and alternate CDEM Group Controller, Canterbury CDEM Group 2002 to 2012 and a Programme Manager for CDEM Controller Development Programme 2013 to 2018. Later, Jon was the Programme Manager for Project AF8, South Island Alpine Fault Earthquake Response Planning Project and was an international emergency management consultant from 2012 to 2018.
David Parsons
David brings to the programme over 45 years of experience in emergency management. His career spans emergency services, lifeline agencies, national policy and extensive emergency management training experience. David has comprehensive experience working in Incident Management Teams at local government, lead agency and corporate sectors. David has qualifications in emergency management and education. One of the more challenging adventures David has been involved in was deploying a task force of hundreds of Australian water industry staff to support Christchurch in 2009. In 2023 David was awarded the National Emergency Services Medal for his service to the sector.
Administration team
ResOrgs provides the administrative support for the RRANZ programme.
Ann Brown
Ann has joined us for a year while Emma is on maternity leave.
With a background in design research, Ann brings a strong mix of skills spanning co-design, insight generation, and systems thinking. Ann holds a Master's in Design for Sustainable Development and a PhD in Non-Profit Management from the University of Canterbury, completed with the support of ResOrgs.
Emma Scott
(currently on parental leave)
With a background in project management and workplace training, Emma ensures the smooth running of the RRANZ training courses.
Lucy Gawn
Louise Home-Dewar
Course facilitators
Sally McKay
Sally is a disaster recovery specialist with over 27 years of experience in managing recovery operations across the Pacific, New Zealand, Australia, and Asia. She also has experience in designing and implementing relocation housing options for displaced people to address future risks. Sally has received a Churchill Fellowship for Disaster Recovery and has been recognised with several awards. She is committed to social justice principles, and her skills have been utilised to develop ‘community led’ and ‘strengths based’ recovery approaches. Along with being a presenter in the RRANZ Leadership programme, Sally delivers recovery training courses in Australia and coaches international students undertaking research for a Humanitarian Diplomacy course.
Maureen Mooney
Maureen, a clinical psychologist trained in New Zealand and France, has 20 years’ experience in humanitarian psychosocial programming and disaster response. Her research and field work focuses on how families and communities, cope effectively with adversity, and how we can promote contexts where people thrive. She facilitates training both in NZ and internationally on self-care of responders, working with communities, and supporting populations living through crises.
Christine Owen
Christine is an organisational behaviour and learning researcher with over 25 years’ experience in investigating decision-making, teamwork, coordination organisational culture, and change in safety-critical environments. She has worked in the domains of aviation, emergency medicine, public safety, and fire and emergency services. Christine specialises in translating research into evidence-informed practice and improving organisational performance.
Michele Poole
However nimble emergency managers are, we will always struggle to keep pace with the public’s need for information in a crisis. Michele has been part of the evolving practice of public information management for over 25 years, acting as Public Information Manager in floods, fires, earthquakes, storms, and manmade hazards. She has deployed to several of NZ’s most significant emergency responses, including the Christchurch and Kaikoura earthquakes, the wreck of the Rena, Cyclone Fehi, and the Pigeon Valley fires. During the 2020 COVID response, Michele swapped her purple vest for the red of a Response Manager, gaining a new perspective on the relationship between Control and PIM. She is a member of NZEMAT, the NZ Emergency Management Assistance Team, and Maritime NZ’s National Oil Spill Response Team.
Jamie Ruwhiu
Jamie is currently the Public Health Emergency Manager - Te Waipounamu for Health New Zealand. He was previously the Programme Manager of the Whānau & Emergency Response Team at Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu, preparing Ngāi Tahu whānui, the 18 Papatipu Rūnanga, and the office of Te Whare o Te Waipounamu to respond to emergencies and build overall resilience. He has worked for his iwi immediately after the March Terror Attacks in 2019, with the Emergency Response Team and has been involved in many events. Jamie has worked in various roles in education, event management and hospitality for over 20 years.