Doug Craig
Director
Following more than twenty years’ experience as a senior public service leader in both New Zealand and Australia, Doug established the RDC Group Ltd to deliver consulting services in New Zealand and overseas. He is passionate about creating value and loves working with leaders of organisations to develop high performing teams and strategies to meet difficult challenges. As Managing Director of the RDC Group, Doug leads a multi-disciplinary team of specialist consultants to deliver advice and services to New Zealand Government Ministries and local government clients, with a particular focus on the performance of the public service.
Doug has extensive leadership experience, having held senior roles in large Ministries in New Zealand and Australia. His prior roles include Deputy Commissioner - State Services Commission NZ, Deputy Chief Executive - Ministry of Social Development and Deputy Secretary Policy and Strategy & Deputy Secretary-Housing in the Department of Human Services in the Victorian Public Service. As a Deputy Commissioner within the State Services Commission, he held a key role in the oversight of the performance of chief executives and their agencies, and provided central agency support and advice on matters such as business cases, four year plans and stakeholder management.
He has led the redesign of performance systems and the review of business units within public service departments, successfully implemented large and complex projects and programs, and led organisational wide responses to critical incidents, including organisational failure. This background and experience means that Doug is highly skilled in advising Ministers and Chief Executives on organisational strategy and performance.
Doug holds qualifications in both law and accounting and has practiced law in both in private practice and in government, and has previously been the Chief Legal Adviser of the Ministry of Social Development, leading one of the largest legal teams in government.
Assignments headed by Doug have included the independent review of the culture of the Civil Aviation Authority, which included undertaking a best practice assurance review of the CAA’s policies and practices relating to health and safety, advice and support to Ministers and Chief Executives on the successful delivery of Health Reforms including Machinery of Government advice, the review of governance arrangements of large a number of agencies with regulatory responsibilities, as well as advising on organisational design and change for both central and local government clients.
Doug is also a member of the Public Service Commission’s panel of independent reviewers.
Email: Doug
027 721 1010
David Shanks
Executive Director
David joined the RDC Group following an extensive career in both public and private sector leadership. As Executive Director he is focussed on the opportunity to help government agencies, NGO’s, academic institutions, and others to develop the strategies, systems, and capabilities they need to lead transformative change. Prior to joining RDC he completed two terms as New Zealand’s Chief Censor and Chief Executive of the Classification Office, the Independent Crown Entity tasked with making decisions at the intersection of protecting freedom of speech while also protecting the public from extreme and harmful content.
David previously held senior public service roles including Chief Legal Adviser, State Services Commission, Deputy Chief Executive, Ministry of Social Development and Director of Health, Safety and Security, Ministry of Education. He has led Ministry and Departmental legal teams, been a senior leadership member of central and large operational agencies, and has been responsible for delivery of high-profile public inquiries.
David has a deep understanding of the opportunities and challenges presented by technological and social change to every organisation, having been a director of an innovative tech company as well as leading a regulatory authority operating in the digital environment. He is known for driving an evidence-led approach to policy and system change, and he championed ground-breaking research programmes from the Classification Office to provide insights into these areas. He has been a keynote speaker at international conferences in Europe, Asia, and North America, as well as presenting at significant domestic events such as the Christchurch 2019 TEDx.
David has qualifications in Law (LLM) and Philosophy and is experienced in advising on legal, regulatory and policy issues at the Ministerial level. He has a strong belief in the power of connecting government, community, and academia around complex issues. He has led organisational culture rebuilds in several organisations, always seeking to connect people with the purpose of the organisation they belong to.
Email: David
Mobile: 029 200 6448
Karyn Green
Senior Associate
Karyn brings her significant experience in supporting organisations develop, plan and deliver effective organisational change, service design and human resources delivery to RDC. She has a track record of delivering results across core organisational and people performance dimensions for both public and private sector clients.
Karyn’s stand out skills are her engaging and personable approach, her professionalism, coupled with a deeply held personal commitment to working with people at all levels of organisations to design and deliver better workplaces, better people development strategies and better results through people. She has a strong customer focus, and is highly credible in advising at all levels of decision making, from Boards, Ministers, leadership teams to individual team leaders. Karyn’s calm and sophisticated approach give her ability to credibly engage key stakeholders through change management processes, which makes her a sought-after business change partner and lead.
Karyn’s experience has also equipped her with the skills and capability to easily traverse and perform to a high-level across multiple aspects of people capability and change management, organisational review and design, and strategic people initiatives.
Recent assignments include; strategic service design and change programmes within local government organisation; lead adviser on organisational design and change for a large unit within a government agency; and leading the design and operational advice on the transfer of functions to newly established core government agencies as part of a major government reform process.
Karyn holds a Bachelor of Social Work and a Postgraduate Diploma in Business Administration in Human Resources Management and Services.
Email: Karyn Green
021 514 778
AJ Millward
Senior Associate
After sixteen years working in the New Zealand public service, AJ decided to set up a business doing what she enjoyed most, and joined the RDC Group as a part of our experienced consultancy team. Her senior public service roles span strategy and policy through to business improvement, crisis and change management including agency establishment. AJ has held statutory decision-making roles in Crown Entities and Departments and has spent time in Ministers’ offices. This has provided her with a deep understanding of how all levels of government operate, and nurtured her passion for working closely with stakeholders to get innovative results.
AJ understands how to deliver results in fast-paced and ambiguous environments and enjoys challenging projects. She takes a people-centric view in her work and her design of efficient systems and process that support quality results. A significant part of AJ’s career has involved creating partnerships with the private sector, as well as working with iwi, local government and across central government.
She believes strongly in the need for good governance, and is a member of the Executive Committee of Women on Board, as well as having completed the Company Directors Course.
Email: AJ
027 282 8526
Shelley Yee
Business Manager
Shelley is RDC Group’s business manager responsible for supporting all aspects of the operations of RDC Group. Shelley provides executive support to the Directors and project co-ordination and administrative support for RDC Group’s consulting projects. Shelley has 20+ years experience as an executive assistant at Deputy Chief Executive and Chief Executive level in the public service. Shelley and her husband have also operated a successful technology business.
Outside of work Shelley is active in the community and volunteers her time at Tawa College in the school’s sports administration for hockey and football. She also volunteers for Age Care Concern.
Email Shelley
Mobile: 0274 98 5318