Ella specialises in recruitment across the legal, accounting and finance areas. She is insightful and knowledgeable when it comes to both the skills and attributes a professional needs to succeed, and the nuances inherent in these roles. Ella’s Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Commerce (majoring in Accounting) led to her working as a tax consultant in the financial services industry for a Big Four accounting firm, and as a Barrister and Solicitor of the High Court of New Zealand. Her experience as a solicitor spans the private and public sectors, in practice areas that include commercial, conveyancing, property, trusts, wills, tax and litigation.

Ella likes to work in partnership with her client to find the best possible candidate that the market can offer, while helping shape and develop the candidate’s career to ensure the right fit for both parties. Her recruitment approach balances straight talking with an empathetic ear. She enjoys cutting through complexity and finding practical and timely recruitment solutions.

Developing meaningful connections with people is something Ella prides herself on. She likes to find out a person’s story and what makes them tick – so she is always keen to connect over a coffee.

Areas of specialisation: legal, finance and accounting.

Helen’s diverse portfolio includes executive leadership and policy recruitment within central and local government, senior appointments for professional membership and regulatory bodies, and recruitment across the tertiary sector. She works closely with clients to find candidates who will help their organisations grow and achieve their strategic goals.

After completing her Bachelor of Arts degree, Helen worked in educational bookselling before moving into educational publishing, commissioning many New Zealand academic textbooks that are still in use today. This strong educational focus in her career has given her a sound understanding of the structure and function of tertiary institutions and their relationship with local, national and international communities.

Mindful of the importance of first-rate service and quality, Helen is known for her consistency, attention to detail, and focus on the human side of the process. As she puts it, careful listening and good communication are key, along with flexibility, empathy, and an excellent understanding of a client’s individual and organisational goals.

Areas of specialisation: Public sector, policy, legal, regulatory, not-for-profit, creative industries, tertiary/ITP education
Years in the industry: 12

John works primarily with boards and senior management in both the private and public sectors. As part of the Finance, Accounting and Policy teams, his primary expertise lies in finding high-calibre candidates for financial sector and policy roles. A trusted client advisor, John provides the latest market insights to align recruitment strategy to organisational goals, helping organisations find and assess people who will advance their culture and purpose.

After first serving in the New Zealand Police, and later working with electricity operator M-Co, John began his search and recruitment career in 2004 with ANZ Bank, leading national recruitment across a number of its key business groups. Moving to Australia, he took directorships in search, recruitment and strategic consulting firms, focusing on banking and financial services. He joined JacksonStone in 2016, following his return to New Zealand.

This long experience has given John a nuanced understanding of the challenges in hiring at leadership level in contemporary business. An avowed ‘people person’, he is known for his personal and empathetic touch with candidates, his ability to build long-term relationships (exemplified by repeat business over the years with many clients), and his thorough commitment to delivering an end-to-end search or recruitment service.

Areas of specialisation: Executive search, financial services, policy, commercial markets, operations management (diverse areas)
Years in the industry: 15

John specialises in leading assignments for the recruitment of communications professionals at all levels for the private, not-for-profit and public sectors.

Prior to joining JacksonStone & Partners, John worked for 20 years providing strategic and communications counsel to a range of public and private sector clients, including board chairs, chief executives and senior management – often during times of crisis or change.

John’s media and communications experience, and his experience as a hiring manager, means he has built up deep understanding of the types of people clients are looking for and what it takes to recruit high-quality communications professionals.

John works closely with clients to understand their specific needs, and to build trust and an enduring relationship. His engaging approach puts people at ease and encourages open and honest conversations with candidates.

His experience provides insights that will help you find and appoint high-calibre candidates that meet your needs.

Areas of specialisation: Communications professionals
Years in the industry: 3

Liz specialises in the area of human resources, helping a wide range of clients to build their HR teams. Her expertise covers the fields of talent management, organisational development and leadership, employment and industrial relations, health and safety, learning and development, and remuneration.

Before joining JacksonStone & Partners, Liz spent 12 years managing HR in a progressive agricultural organisation, providing thought leadership and tactical design, and delivering and overseeing initiatives across multiple global locations. Her experience spans diverse industries in the public and private sectors, including professional services and not-for-profit businesses. She is a member of HRINZ.

Liz is strong on respect, honesty, integrity and team spirit. She maintains the view that an organisation’s staff are its strongest asset, and her natural affinity with people means she is quick to understand the needs of both client and candidate. Her insights into the range of contemporary HR functions brings great value to her clients, and she can be relied on for sound, informed advice through the full recruiting cycle, from searches and evaluation to interviewing.

Areas of specialisation: Human Resources
Years in the industry: 15

Ko Tararua tōku maunga
Ko Waikawa tōku awa
Ko Ngati Wehi Wehi tōku hapū
Ko Wehiwehi tōku marae
Ko Rachelle Russell ahau, nau mai ki a JacksonStone and Partners

Of Ngāti Raukawa descent, Rachelle is a Māori recruitment specialist, bringing more than 12 years of professional consultancy experience to her role. By discovering her own whakapapa, she helps employers understand and incorporate a Te Ao Māori perspective into their recruitment process.

Her kaupapa is to support organisations to diversify and to find great roles for Māori. She believes the first step when attracting Māori talent is to ensure the process is inclusive, Māori candidates are supported, and manaakitanga is shown. Relationships and connections are also crucial, and Rachelle maintains strong networks across her industry to bring together the right people with the right roles.

Whāia te iti kahurangi
Ki te tuohu koe
Me he maunga teitei.

Areas of specialisation: Senior leadership roles, Māori specialist roles
Years in the industry: 13

Simon provides an end-to-end search process to appoint chief executives, senior leaders and managers in the public sector and local government. He is also part of the team at JacksonStone that recruits government chief executives for the State Services Commission. Simon has made a number of parliamentary appointments, working closely with the Speaker of the House and officers of the Parliamentary Select Committee. Other areas of speciality include strategy, policy and legal.

With two decades in the industry, Simon is well connected in both central and local government. Given that he recruits for key roles and advises senior leaders, he is privy to politically sensitive information, but he is known for his scrupulous confidentiality.

He is an excellent and honest reader of people, which brings confidence and credibility to his work. Along with his networking skills, Simon has a mature understanding of the machinery of local and central government, which helps him achieve the best possible outcome for client and candidate. Appointing high-calibre people into critical roles gives him a sense of contributing in a very real way to New Zealand society.

Areas of specialisation: Senior government roles, strategy, policy, legal
Years in the industry: 24

Simon works with senior leaders, including chief executives and boards, across the public, private and not-for-profit sectors. His assignments have been directed to senior leadership roles – such as general management, programme directors and business heads – in a range of sectors including health, science and research, as well as commercial entities. His focus is on rebuilding relevancy, market position, service delivery and customer-centricity.

Prior to joining JacksonStone, Simon spent many years in high-profile commercial organisations, including AMP Capital Investors. With his experience in senior leadership roles, including governance and strategic/business development, he is well placed to genuinely appreciate and realise the best for his clients.

Simon’s capacity for strategic and client-centric thinking is supported by his market insight and an astute understanding of commercial imperatives across several sectors. His natural inquisitiveness and sound judgement enable him to quickly build trust with a client and assess the nuances of their assignment. He takes pleasure in delivering effective and constructive results, the success of which can be measured by frequent repeat business.

Areas of specialisation: Chief executive, senior management, operational and business services, governance appointments
Years in the industry: 8

Nikki specialises in leading assignments for the recruitment of marketing, communications, stakeholder, customer and member experience professionals. She joined JacksonStone after more than twenty years in senior cross-industry marketing and customer experience roles, largely at general manager level. Her experience is broad and spans brand and reputation management, marketing and communications, stakeholder management, segmentation, market research, customer experience and digital. She knows the industry inside out and has recruited at all levels of a business.

Nikki has strong networks within the governance community across New Zealand. She developed these over more than ten years as part of the Executive Leadership Team of the Institute of Directors (IoD). This experience means she has a good understanding of best practice board composition and competencies. She has strength in championing diversity and bringing diverse and emerging talent to the fore.

Her background in marketing gives Nikki a strong customer focus and a solutions mindset. This, combined with the networks she built at the IoD, means Nikki gets great satisfaction from connecting people in a way that brings value to both parties. Convinced that we perform best when playing to our strengths, she’s motivated by creating a win-win for organisations and candidates, where an individual’s talents are matched to an organisation’s culture, strategy and critical success factors.

Areas of specialisation: Marketing, communications, stakeholder, governance
Years in the industry: Nikki is in her second year of recruitment consultancy

Naomi is a recruiter of high-calibre policy professionals, from entry to mid-level, largely for permanent positions. She finds and assesses individuals for regulatory bodies and public sector policy roles. Naomi is highly motivated by the opportunity to make a difference through local and central government. She joined the JacksonStone team in 2021 and works closely with senior colleagues Simon Boyes and Helen Cox.

Her previous experience in general management and operations helps Naomi understand what it’s like to build a team from the ground up, as well as find the right candidate to fit an existing team. Having assessed an extensive selection of government policy and contracting candidates over the years, she has honed her specialist search skills, knows her way around a great database and is personally well connected.

Naomi brings a mix of pragmatism and strategy to assignments. She is comfortable with the fast-paced candidate short market, builds and maintains strong relationships and is an open and transparent communicator. Known for her genuine and thoughtful engagement, Naomi takes the time to listen, and delivers her absolute best to candidates and clients.

Areas of specialisation: Policy, regulation, search assignments

Years in the industry: 4