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Level 2, Findex House
57 Willis Street
Te Aro, Wellington
Aotearoa New Zealand
(04) 569 8301
Carey-Ann Morrison, PhD
Chief Executive
Carey-Ann is a proud mum to a young disabled son. She has a PhD in social and cultural geography and is an Associate at the University of Waikato. She is passionate about values-based research, evaluation, and education that leads to meaningful change in the lives of disabled people and their whānau.
Carey-Ann is a member of the National Enabling Good Lives Leadership Group (NEGL) and sits on other committees, including the Family Leadership Alliance, Wellington Down syndrome Association and the New Zealand Down syndrome Association.
Gary Williams, Ngati Porou
Evaluator
Gary Williams MNZM is Ngati Porou and a disabled person. He has an academic background in Computer Science and in Mathematics and has been a software developer for GNS Sciences.
From 1999, Gary spent 11 years as the Chief Executive Officer of Disabled Persons Assembly. During that time he used his position to influence strategic outcomes for the disability sector such as the creation and implementation of NZ Disability Strategy, the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the passing of the NZ Sign Language Act and the repeal of inimical Acts.
In 2009, Gary and his wife established a bespoke company in Christchurch. Kanohi ki te Kanohi Ltd specialising in disability and Māori.
Most recently he been involved in developing the rationale for creating the Ministry of Disabled People, Enabling Good Lives and co-authoring He Puapua.
In 2014, when he was the Chair of the SAMS’ Board of Trustees, he trained to do Developmental Evaluations so that he could understand that part of SAMS work.
Georgia Tawharu, Ngāti Raukawa ki te Tonga
Evaluator
Georgia is proud to call herself tangata whaikaha Māori (a Māori disabled person). She has a form of dwarfism called achondroplasia and is neurodivergent. Georgia grew up in Feilding and is currently located in Palmerston North. She loves being in nature (specifically by the water), watching sports, and spending time researching her whakapapa and improving her Te Reo Māori. Georgia has experienced the benefits of the Enabling Good Lives approach firsthand and is passionate about utilizing its principles to improve outcomes for other disabled people and their whānau.
Hamish Taverner
Evaluator
Hamish has worked for SAMS since 1997 as an Evaluation team member. He has a range of roles outside of SAMS. These include:
In his spare time, he enjoys attending CJs Hub where he taps into his creative side.
Jaye Lincoln
Care Matters Facilitator
Jaye has a varied background of roles within the social services and disability sectors in Aotearoa, but her primary experience comes from being a whānau member of a disabled person.
She is based in Te Papaoiea with her whānau and is currently on a journey of discovering her own whakapapa, with connection to Ngati Porou and Te Atiawa. Jaye is also involved in whānau community-based mahi in midcentral region.
Jaye is passionate about being part of shifting change leading to positive outcomes in the disability sector in Aotearoa and believes that individuals should have access to knowledge and information leading to making informed choices to live their great life.
Kendall Reeves-Parmenter
Evaluation Development Manager
Kendall is a mum of three, including one amazing autistic boy.
Kendall is a firm believer in the profound impact of positive change, understanding that even a single small act can alter the course of someone else's journey.
With a background in Education and transformational initiatives, as well as lived experience with disability, she is passionate about driving social change and inclusivity, especially for disabled individuals and their whānau.
Lianne Clarke
Evaluator, Care Matters Facilitator
Lianne is a teacher, a mum and keenly interested in ensuring all people have access to the information they need to make choices in their lives.
Lianne has worked for SAMS for over 23 years, but her primary experience comes from being a family member of people who access services. Lianne lives in Auckland.
Lisa Willey
Evaluator
Lisa is originally from Yorkshire, lives in Palmerston North and is now a New Zealand citizen. Lisa is a parent of three and her youngest child has a disability. Her previous employment has been in education and disability support, working in partnership with disabled people and their whānau.
An eternal optimist, Lisa continues to work for systemic change and advocates to embed the Enabling Good Lives principles into the support services offered to disabled people.
As an avid reader Lisa is fond of a quote and this one sums up nicely the path that led her to SAMS...
“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I -
I took the one less traveled by
And that has made all the difference” Robert Frost
Moemoe Muli’aumaseali’i
Evaluator, Care Matters Facilitator
Moemoe is of Māori and Pasifika descent and as a mother of three including one with additional needs, she is passionate about ensuring whānau know what’s available to them to increase their choices.
She’s a board member of the Brain Injured Children Trust and a full-time support for her son, supporting him with his intensive neuro-developmental therapy program. She's also a part of the Enabling Good Lives Waikato Family Core Group and serves in her church as a youth advisor.
She’s enjoying working with SAMS and Care Matters offering a perspective of a young mother for the Aotearoa that she would like her son to live in now and in the future.
Neum Muli’aumaseali’i
Evaluator, Care Matters Facilitator
Neum is a husband to an amazing wife and father to three beautiful children.
His youngest son has a disability which has driven his passion and led him to work alongside disability organizations and has roles such as the Pasifika representative for Enabling Good Lives Waikato Leadership group.
Neum is a registered Social Worker that has experience in residential care, disability support, and ACC rehabilitation programs.
Pete Wilson
Business Development Manager, Evaluator
Peter Wilson has a lived experience of disability since early childhood and has over 25 years’ experience working in the disability sector.
Over the years, Peter has gained extensive experience in various aspect of the disability sector, such as service development and delivery, project leadership, business management, training and development, workshop presentation and facilitation, planning and evaluation, and policy development and analysis.
Peter is an advocate for creating a society that respects the rights of disabled people and provides the necessary systems and resources for disabled people to have full participation and to live a life with dignity.
Sandi Charles
Evaluator
Sandi brings a strong rights based approach to her role with SAMS and Developmental Evaluation. Sandi’s partner is a disabled person who has many years experience working and advocating in the disability sector.
Sandi’s background has primarily been in the education sector with a background in education psychology and inclusive education. She is a passionate advocate for person centred voice and choice and the Enabling Good Lives principles. Along side her role with SAMS Sandi is also employed as a volunteer coordinator and work skills training team leader in a local retail community garden centre offering a range of work skills training opportunities for young disabled people transitioning from secodary education and fully paid employment for disabled people along side non-disabled colleagues.
Sarah Kinley
Business Advisor
Sarah considers herself a flux tamer – an expert in landing things that sit outside of core business. She brings the core skills of business change, strategy and planning and project management to the SAMS team – all in a person centred way. Sarah has 4 years’ experience working in the disability sector and thrives in environments that support positive change.
Siobhan Vaccarino
Administration and Communications Coordinator, Evaluator
Siobhan has worked in a variety of roles within the disability sector with her most recent being at SAMS and Care Matters as the administrative and communications coordinator. She also works for the New Zealand Down Syndrome Association. Siobhan is based in Te Whanganui-a-Tara with her pug Pinocchio where she completed her communications degree.
Being a whānau member of a disabled person and having lived experience makes her passionate to see change in the disability sector.
Tina Lincoln
Evaluator, Care Matters Facilitator
Tina lives in Palmerston North and has a whānau member with a disability (who relies on others to communicate her desires).
She has 24 years of experience in the disability sector, 17 of which have been with SAMS. Tina believes everyone should be treated equally and her ethics include rights-based foundations. She has facilitated Enabling Good Lives whānau groups around New Zealand for almost a decade and has been involved in both the ‘System Transformation’ co-design process and the 'prototype' co-design process.
She is a Family and Whānau representative for Community Reference Group and was previously a Facilitator for Enabling Good Lives Mid-Central Regional Leadership Group. She has direct experience with the Enabling Good Lives approach in MidCentral.
Ann Wilkinson
Board Member
Anne lives in Hamilton; she is a family member and has four adult children and three grandchildren. Her involvement in the sector began over 35 years ago as a parent. She has a background of working with families and was CEO of Parent-to-Parent New Zealand, when the organisation worked closely with SAMS to form Care Matters.
Anne joined the SAMS Board in 2016 and served as Chair from 2019 until 2021. She strongly believes that developmental evaluation and empowerment through support and knowledge is critical for positive change.
Anne has been involved with Enabling Good Lives since 2011, formally she was a member of the National Leadership Group and is currently a member of the Waikato Leadership Group.
As reflected in the EGL Principles, Anne passionately believes that individuals and their families should have control over their lives; deciding what their good life will look like and how their government funding will be used.
Delia Nolan
Board Member
Delia Nolan is a policy professional with extensive experience in advising decision-makers. She is currently the Lead Advisor to the Chief Commissioner at the Human Rights Commission, Te Kāhui Tika Tangata.
Delia is a strategic thinker and spends much of her time imagining ways to combat discrimination in Aotearoa. Her career in policy supports her desire to improve outcomes for vulnerable communities. Of Ngati Porou descent and with lived experience of a disability, Delia is a strong voice for tāngata whaikaha Māori. In order to be able to articulate that voice, she is currently undertaking her Masters in Indigenous Studies.
In her spare time, she likes riding her motorbike and hanging out with whanau.
Esther Woodbury
Board Member
Dr Esther Woodbury is proud to have joined the SAMS (Standards and Monitoring Services) board in 2021 to support the proud history and kaupapa of the organisation.
Esther is a Pōneke Wellington-based (disabled) disability researcher and human rights expert, currently working as Lead Advisor Disability Rights team at Te Kāhui Tika Tangata Human Rights Commission. Esther has worked in disability across government, tertiary research and the community sector, in research, monitoring, community engagement and advocacy. Her interests are social connection and participation, adequate income and disabled people's access to supports that enable them to be part of their communities.
John Taylor
Board Member
John has been involved in disability support services in New Zealand for over 37 years in a variety of roles including direct service roles, operational management, policy formation, political lobbying, advocacy, governance, organisational development, training, research and consultancy.
He was on the original Enabling Good Life reference group brought together by Minister Tariana Turia that wrote the EGL principles. He remained on the National Leadership Team for Enabling Good Lives for 10 years until mid 2023.
John was the Executive Director of Community Connections - Te Hāpori Āwhina Tāngata. Community Connections is a mid-sized agency that supports over 500 people through supported living and supported employment practices in the lower North Island until mid 2023.
Kylee Black
Board Member
Kylee Black has been actively involved in the disability community since 2006. She has founded programs to promote the inclusion of disabled people in wider life, including the Soul Lounge at Festival One, the Disabled Business Owners and Enterprise Facebook group, a fully inclusive artisan market in Hamilton, and as a mentor. As a public speaker and an advocate in the disability sector, Kylee has been a keynote speaker at numerous events across New Zealand. Kylee has also been an early participant and advocate for EGL in the Waikato.
Kylee now runs Kylee & Co, a business that sells accessibility products to promote education about, and provide work opportunities for, the disabled community. She also works for My Life My Voice, a disability-led organisation, as a Community Capacity Builder in the Waikato.
Kylee lives by four pillars, which is to encourage, empower, educate and equip. Kylee’s goal is to see all people empowered to live the best lives they can.
Louise Moana Were Ngāti Rongowhakaata, Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngāti Tahu-Ngāti Whaoa, Scotland
Board Member
In her work as a Māori evaluator, Louise brings together a Māori worldview, evaluation, and systems thinking.
Louise picked up the tools of evaluation as a young mother in the 90’s navigating systems with her daughter who lived as a fierce young Māori disabled woman.
Louise then completed the Post Graduate Diploma in Social Sector Evaluation Research and has spent more than ten years working in service to communities and kaupapa. Having also completed her Masters thesis exploring how we can action the capacity of aroha for positive change through evaluative leadership, Louise is now on a PhD pathway to collaboratively realise what an evaluation ecosystem can look like with, for and led by disabled people and whānau.
Sir Robert Martin
Board Member
Robert has had a lifetime of advocacy on behalf of disabled people and in particular people with learning disability, both in New Zealand and around the world. Robert spent the majority of his childhood in institutions. This experience has given him a great interest in ensuring that all disabled people get the opportunity to live in the community from birth.
Robert was a long-standing member of the Inclusion International Council and was Chairperson of the Self- Advocacy Taskforce from 1996 to 2008. Through his roles in Inclusion International he was part of negotiating the UNCRPD. I am in my second term as a member on the UNCRPD Committee.
Like to know more about our organisation?
Fill in the form or contact us using the details below.
Level 2, Findex House
57 Willis Street
Te Aro, Wellington
Aotearoa New Zealand
(04) 569 8301