NZBS executive management team
Fiona Ritsma - Chief Executive Officer
Fiona joined NZBS in October 2006. She commenced her career in health as a radiotherapy radiographer in Christchurch and spent the 18 years prior to joining NZBS in various management roles at the Auckland District Health Board. She is an active member and past President of the New Zealand Institute of Health Management.
As the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Fiona leads the Executive Team and is accountable to the NZBS Board. She has overall responsibility for organisational performance including delivery of both its Annual and Strategic Plans and represents NZBS on the National Haemophilia Management Group. The Information Services and Marketing functions also report directly to her.
With a strong focus on values and teamwork; the matrix structure of the leadership team sees the National Medical Director, National Technical and Donor Services Managers acting as strategic partners to the CEO, providing critical clinical advice and support to enable achievement of the organisation’s objectives.
Dr Peter Flanagan - National Medical Director
Peter originally trained in Haematology and Transfusion Medicine in the United Kingdom. He worked as a consultant in Transfusion Medicine for the National Blood Service in England for 10 years before moving to New Zealand to take up his current position in 1998. He is actively involved in a number of professional organisations and is the President Elect of the International Society of Blood Transfusion (ISBT), a member of the WHO Expert Advisory Panel on Blood Transfusion Medicine, a member of the drafting group of the European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines Guide to the Preparation, Use and Quality Assurance of Blood Components and also a member of the Editorial Board of Vox Sanguinis.
The NZBS Clinical Services function, which Dr Flanagan leads, plays a key role in ensuring that clinically appropriate blood products are provided to patients in need, wherever and whenever they are required. The clinical function for the organisation is provided by six Transfusion Medicine Specialists located in various centres around New Zealand with support from a number of Medical Officers and six Transfusion Nurse Specialists.
Expert transfusion medicine advice is available at all times and is drawn upon in a wide range of situations, from selection of donors to assisting hospital clinicians to provide treatment for complex or urgent clinical transfusion problems.
John Harrison - Chief Financial Officer
John is a Chartered Accountant and member of the New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants. John has a wealth of experience in varied finance roles ranging from Senior Corporate Finance roles interspersed with periods of self employment. Since 1992 he has worked primarily within the Crown entity sector.
John leads the NZBS Finance function with responsibility for all finance related activities of NZBS as well as the management of procurement related activities. Team members are variously responsible for: invoicing of customers and subsequent credit collection; procurement of general supplies and services with post contract monitoring; insurance management; processing and payment of supplier invoices; product costing and pricing management; treasury and funds management; the annual budgeting process, financial forecasting, monthly financial management reporting, statutory financial reporting and associated audit and regulatory compliance requirements; the financial management information systems with ongoing system and business intelligence development initiatives.
Sue Jensen - National Manager Human Resources
Sue has an extensive history working in the health sector initially as a registered nurse in New Zealand and overseas; and for the past 12 years in a range of Human Resources (HR) management roles, primarily within DHBs. Sue joined the NZBS team in December 2006.
The NZBS HR function is responsible for providing human resource leadership in support of the Vision, Statement of Purpose and Values of NZBS. Sue’s team are focused on helping NZBS evolve as ‘a great place to be’. Working in partnership with members of the executive and senior management teams this includes: attracting, motivating and retaining a highly qualified and diverse workforce; promoting effective leadership and management practices; managing salary and benefits; developing employee recognition programmes; promoting fair and equitable treatment of employees through employee relations services; promoting health and safety inclusive of wellbeing initiatives and facilitating training and development.
Don Mikkelsen - National Manager Operations
Don has had a 30 year career in hospital based laboratories, with a background in Science as a Clinical Biochemist and has held senior management roles within DHB diagnostic laboratories.
The “Operations” function which Don now leads provides all routine business activities for NZBS sites collecting, manufacturing, testing and distributing almost 200,000 blood donations which are dispensed through one of the NZBS or DHB blood banks. Operational functions are divided into Technical and Donor Services areas supported by Information Services, and Logistics teams.
Logistics and Customer Service teams ensure safe and efficient receipt, storage, distribution and transport of products between NZBS sites and external customers. The Information Services team supports ongoing maintenance and introduction of new technical equipment and ensures that vital information about donors and donations is recorded and accessible for safety, monitoring and planning purposes.
Ray Scott - National Manager Technical Services
Ray has a wealth of experience and technical expertise in blood service operations. Having commenced training as a Medical Laboratory Scientist in 1970 (qualifying with specialisation in clinical chemistry, haematology and immunohaematology) Ray’s association with blood services in New Zealand began in 1971. Ray’s role has particular focus on strategic development of technical areas of the NZBS business and in maintaining accurate and responsive collections and production forecasting and planning.
The Technical Services function which Ray leads is responsible for the processing, testing and supply of blood components to meet clinical requirements in hospitals throughout New Zealand. Additionally Technical Services undertakes pre-transfusion testing to match blood components for transfusion to patients and histocompatibility testing to support the various transplant programmes within New Zealand. NZBS also operates Tissue Banks for the provision of bone and skin and a Red Cell Reference Laboratory.
Meredith Smith - National Manager Quality and Regulatory Systems
Meredith originally trained in Australia as a Medical Scientist specialising in haematology and immunohaematology. Before moving to NZBS in 2004, she spent twelve years with the Australian Red Cross Blood Service where she worked in a variety of roles, including three years as Quality Manager.
The NZBS Quality and Regulatory function is responsible for implementing the quality systems required for regulatory compliance. Meredith’s team is located across all main sites and provides the operational teams with support and advice on quality and regulatory issues and conducts audits to verify compliance with requirements.
Olive Utiera - National Manager Donor Services
Olive joined the Blood Transfusion Service as a registered nurse 30 years ago. She has worked in a number of key roles and was an Area Manager prior to moving into her current strategic role. Olive is the organisation's head nurse and represents NZBS on the Nurse Executive New Zealand (NENZ) committee group.
The Donor Services function which Olive leads is responsible for recruiting and retaining new and existing donors and performing all blood collection activities.
A key responsibility for Olive and her team is to provide the strategic direction for the Donor Services function, to incorporate best practice methods and to ensure Donor Service staff receives the training and support required to provide a consistent, high standard, customer driven service. The Professional Development Unit which she also leads is tasked with supporting the development of nurses and donor technicians in Donor Services.
