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 Adviser

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.

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.

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.

Diane Lithgow - Learning & Development Specialist

Diane Lithgow has a long involvement with Skills Active, joining the organisation in 2001 as the sole Industry Advisor for the Auckland, Waikato and Bay of Plenty regions for all sectors.  My how times have changed since then! Diane is now primarily working as a Product Developer with particular focus on qualification pathways and resource development.  Prior to joining Skills Active, Diane has a background in Community Recreation working for local government in various different capacities ranging from recreation delivery through to recreation planning and managing community projects.
 

Sue Gemmell - Learning & Development Specialist

Sue has been with Skills Active since 2005, and is based in Wellington.  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.

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