Meet the Ministrys new Chief Executive - Ministry of Fisheries

BACKGROUND
2 TheBite APRIL 2008
I was born in Oamaru and lived on a small farm near
Enfield, just inland from Oamaru. My father (like his father
and his father before him) was a saw miller and a farmer.
As a teenager I have fond memories of fishing for trout and
salmon with my grandfather on the Waitaki River where we
also used to go white baiting and surfcasting for kahawai.
After five years at Waitaki Boys High School I went to Otago
University and studied pharmacy. There, I met my now wife
Jan and after four years of studying pharmacy together we
did a short stint in Christchurch before moving to the UK.
We spent seven years in the UK where we did a lot of
travelling and I ended up managing the dispensing and
clinical services for a hospital pharmacy group in Essex. Our
son Jamie was born in Essex, and when he was two years
old we decided it was time to come home in 1995.
When we returned we moved to Wellington and I started at
PHARMAC in 1995. By 1998 I was General Manager, and
later when PHARMAC became a stand alone Crown Entity I
was appointed as Chief Executive Officer. During my time at
PHARMAC I studied health economics at Tromso in Norway
and post graduate clinical pharmacy at Otago. I also studied
management and leadership at Mt Eliza Business School in
Melbourne, at Oxford University in England and last year at
Stanford Business School in California.
One of my main interests outside of work is motorsport. My
son Jamie races in the national Formula Ford Championship.
I also get down to Tairei Mouth occasionally to go fishing off
the coast with family and friends.
Meet the Ministry’s new
Chief Executive
Early January saw Wayne McNee begin as Chief Executive of the
Ministry of Fisheries, after being appointed to the role by the State
Services Commissioner in November last year. In this issue of the BITE,
Wayne tells us about his background and his brief for managing MFish.
VISION
New Zealand’s marine environment and fisheries resources
are highly valued economically, culturally, recreationally and
environmentally. As the incoming Chief Executive, I will be
focusing on the long-term direction of fisheries management.
This includes considering issues such as oceans policy,
the capability of MFish to achieve its goals and balancing
harvesting, long-term sustainability, and conservation of the
marine ecosystem.
MFish will be working to achieve the Government’s goals
for fisheries. We will be implementing aquaculture reform,
reducing the complexity of the regulatory environment,
implementing customary fisheries policies, improving
the quality of recreational fishing and promoting fisheries
contribution to New Zealand’s economic performance. A key
focus will be to improve the relationships and collaborations
with tangata whenua and fisheries stakeholders.
I will be working closely with the other natural resource
sustainability agencies, the Department of Conservation, the
Ministry for the Environment and the Ministry of Agriculture and
Forestry, to investigate opportunities for closer engagement
and collaboration.
I see great opportunity for MFish to have a leadership role in
sustainable development, even more so than it has already.
The world view on sustainability is changing and MFish will
be part of leading that change in New Zealand.
Lastly, if you see me out and about don’t be a stranger, I’m
new to fisheries and am keen to hear your perspective on the
challenges ahead.