Leona van der Heyden - General Manager

Leona returned to Skills Active in January 2008 after 10 years away, and following several years with InfraTrain, the infrastructure ITO. 

Leona manages all new unit standards, qualifications and resource development, and the development of all of Skills Active’s administration functions and the vitally important quality assurance functions.

Steve Cox - Quality Manager

Steve joined Skills Active following time spent consulting to a number of ITOs and NZQA concerning quality matters. He has considerable experience in both ITO and Provider environments, as well as a firm understanding of workplaces, due to his years as an engineer, ICT engineer trainer and technical division management.

Steve is charged with championing all quality-realted matters at Skills Active.

Robyn Hills - Quality Assurance Advisor

Robyn joined Skills Active following time spent consulting to several ITOs and NZQA. 

She brings a wealth of experience from a background of secondary school teaching, and quality assurance roles in the Polytechnic, NZQA and ITO sectors.

Shelley Cooper - Moderator

Shelley joined Skills Active in April 2009 after 9 years working in quality assurance, compliance and coaching roles for the banking sector. During this time she has been an assessor for ETITO and conducted internal moderation within a contact centre environment .

Outside of work she loves anything to do with food and cooking, as well as fabric and design. During her spare time she is learning how to dance and is getting past her fear of deep water by learning to sea kayak.

Stephanie Chilcott - Qualification Developer

Stephanie joined Skills Active at the end of February 2009 as a Qualification Developer.

She has extensive experience in competency-based workplace learning, training and assessment.  She is an accredited Professional Conversation Assessor, and holds assessment design, assessor, and moderation unit standards. She brings unit standard writing capability to Skills Active from projects in a broad base of industries.

Stephanie lives in Masterton with a small flock of sheep aka edible lawnmowers, and her sporting interests are motorsport and cycling for leisure.

Sue Gemmell - Product Development

Sue has been with Skills Active since 2005, and is based in Taupo.  She has an extensive background as a Senior Industry Training Adviser working with Outdoor Recreation workplaces. 

She has a degree in Physical Education and has been a registered teacher; and most of her employment though has been with Outdoor Education providers. Prior to being employed by Skills Active, Sue was the Programme Development Officer at the Sir Edmund Hillary Outdoor Pursuits Centre of NZ. Sue has been an enthusiastic participant in a variety of outdoor activities and holds instructional awards in rock climbing, mountaineering, Outdoor Safety Management, and both downhill and telemark skiing. Her current passion is mountain biking.

Mark Ormsby - Product Development

Mark works in the Product Development Team on Nga Mahi a Te Rehia projects.

He liaises with iwi and industry to develop qualifications, unit standards and resources that are ‘fit for purpose’.

Aoife Barron - Instructional Designer

Aoife came to Skills Active in September last year to join the Product Development team in the role of Instructional Designer.

Aoife has a graphic design background having worked in Ireland and Australia, and was introduced to the world of ITO’s in April 2008 when she accepted a contract with AgITO, the agriculture ITO. Since joining Skills Active, Aoife has been designing the training resource material for our qualifications, and is involved in various other design jobs around the office. Outside work, Aoife enjoys anything to do with art and design, music and film.  

Dhanisha Nath - Quality Co-ordinator

Dhanisha joined Skills Active in November 2006. She provides administration and general office support to the Quality Manager and works with other teams across the organisation. 

Over the years Dhanisha has worked in various roles. Starting off in retail and then working in the Hospitality Industry for 2 years while over in the UK on her OE/working holiday. After her UK stint she worked for New Zealand Food Safety Authority in the Auckland Dairy Certification Unit as an Assurance Officer for 3 years, and then worked for nine months in the Patient Infomation Department at the Wellington Hospital.

During her spare time she likes to keep fit and socialise. 

Skills Active PO Box 2183 Wellington Call us to get moving! Ph 0508 4 SKILLS (0508 475 4557)