Speakers & Sessions

Conference Day One: Tuesday 5 November
11.15 am-12.00 pm

Keynote Speaker

John Ryan

Auditor General, OAG

John Ryan began his term as Controller and Auditor-General on 2 July 2018.

John graduated from Victoria University of Wellington with a Bachelor of Commerce and Administration. He studied strategic leadership at Oxford University and is a Fellow of the New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants.

He has held senior executive positions in a range of public sector organisations and in the private sector. His experience spans corporate, regulatory and operational management, and assurance.

During his career of more than 40 years, John has led some of the largest programmes of capital works in the public sector, large-scale change management, and significant regulatory reform.

John has also contributed widely to his community. Before his appointment, he was a board member of the Royal New Zealand Ballet, the New Zealand Festival, and the Wellington Jazz Festival.

Session Topic:

From Watchdog to Weathervane – Knowing When the Wind’s Blowing the Wrong Way, and How to Change Direction

Relying solely on whether people’s behaviour is within the rules leads to “ethical fading” – an erosion of ethics that often starts at the top of an organisation and works its way down. The best strategy for a strong pro-integrity culture is to combine compliance instruments to control unethical behaviour with a pro-integrity approach to encouraging ethical behaviour.

Auditor-General John Ryan will talk about how embedding a culture of integrity can help organisations withstand any conditions.