Two new Distinguished Fellows

The HRNZ Board are delighted to announce the appointment of two leading HR professionals to the prestigious accreditation of Distinguished Fellow of HRNZ (DistFHRNZ).

Distinguished Fellow is the highest level of professional accreditation available. It is bestowed on people who have contributed a lifetime of dedication and excellence in the field of human resources management (HR) in New Zealand.

The new Fellows join the 10 existing Distinguished Fellows – Alan Christie, Kristen Cooper, Crispin Garden-Webster, Vance Hainsworth, Warwick Harvey, Ross Pearce, Richard Rudman, Geoff Summers, Paul Toulson and Frances Tweedy. Our thanks to these people for their outstanding contribution to the HR industry in New Zealand.

So, with no further ado, congratulations to Kirsten Patterson and Julia Stones.

Kirsten (KP) Patterson is Chief Executive for the Institute of Directors (IoD), where she also chairs the Commercial Committee KP is a qualified lawyer and has extensive governance and leadership experience, and is actively involved in community initiatives.

An HRNZ member since 2001, KP was a member of the HRNZ Grading Panel from 2004 to 2010 and was appointed Chartered Fellow in 2010. KP is a judge of the NZ HR Awards and is a strong advocate and spokesperson for HRNZ.

Kirsten is a Board member of Executive Committee of the Global Network of Director Institutes (GNDI) and former New Zealand Country Head of CAANZ from 2013 to 2017. She has been a tireless advocate for the HR industry for over twenty years, willingly sharing her wealth of knowledge and people management experience.

KP is an active member of Global Women, is a Board Member of the New Zealand Rugby Foundation (which supports seriously injured rugby players), is a Member – Supporters Council for Young Enterprise Trust and is a past Chair of the Board of Trustees of Wellington Homeless Women’s Trust and Hutt City Community Facilities Trust.

Julia Stones is Director of Julia Stones & Associates and former National President of HRNZ. With over 30 years’ experience in HR/ talent management in the UK, Europe, US, and New Zealand. She is a former HRNZ Board Director, former National Vice president of HRNZ and former Auckland Branch President.

An HRNZ member since 2006, Julia’s contribution to the New Zealand HR industry is simply outstanding. Julia was Project Sponsor for, and led, the development and implementation of HRNZ’s Chartered Membership programme.

Julia represented HRNZ as a Director of APFHRM (Asia Pacific Federation of Human Resource Management) and led a workstream to design and implement a competency framework for the Asia Pacific region. She was also a key lead in reviewing APFHRM Constitution

Julia was awarded Chartered Fellow accreditation in 2016, in recognition of her contribution to HRNZ and the wider HR industry in New Zealand. She has also been a regular judge of the NZ HR Awards.