Wellington's public service leadership chessboard

Four of Peter Hughes’ former deputies and several others at the MSD have been appointed to chief executive jobs in Hughes’ time as Public Service Commissioner (Image: MSD Annual Report, 2006-07)

Nikitin Sallee

Tue, 29 Aug 2023

Are the right criteria and the right people considered when New Zealand's public service leadership is appointed? This is the third in a series of articles exploring the state of NZ’s public service, including the career and legacy of public service commissioner Peter Hughes. During his 10 years as chief executive of the Ministry of Social Development (MSD), Peter Hughes was “grooming high-performing deputies for future chief executive roles”, according to a 2011 external review. This has come to pass.In 20...

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