The Health Minister, Jonathan Coleman, has announced the new Chair of the Health Research Council of New Zealand (HRC) is Dr Lester Levy (CNZM).
“Dr Levy has a wealth of experience in leadership and management, and will further develop the HRC’s focus of promoting innovation, teamwork and communication in the health research sector,” says HRC Chief Executive, Professor Kathryn McPherson. “I am looking forward to working with Dr Levy and learning from his experience as Chair of the Auckland and Waitemata District Health Boards”, she says.
Dr Levy is currently the Chairman of Auckland Transport and he is also the Independent Chairman of Tonkin & Taylor, as well as being an independent director of the public listed company Orion Health. These entities have combined annual operating revenues of $4.5 billion, assets of $17 billion and staff of 20,000.
Dr Levy also is the Adjunct Professor of Leadership at the University of Auckland Business School, and is the head of the New Zealand Leadership Institute at the University of Auckland. He is best known for leading a number of organisational performance transformations in both the public and private sector.
In the 2013 New Year’s Honours List, Dr Levy was appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (CNZM) for services to health and education.
Dr Levy, a graduate of Medicine and an MBA, had his formative management background in large multi-nationals. He teaches leadership, governance and ethics at the postgraduate level, and his research interests include concepts of leadership, perceptions of leadership, governance as leadership, and the relationship between leadership and management.
Dr Levy is best known for leading a number of organisational performance transformations as a Chief Executive and entrepreneur, in both the public and private sectors. Dr Levy’s three year team as chair and member of the HRC board commences on 1 January 2016.