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Executive team
Amanda Malu | Chief Executive

Amanda Malu is the Chief Executive of Education New Zealand Manapou ki te Ao (ENZ).

Amanda has deep experience in the public sector, education, and marketing, as well as experience across borders and with international education through her past roles. She has held senior leadership roles across education and health sectors.

Prior to ENZ, she was Deputy Chief Executive Service Delivery at ACC, and formerly Chief Executive at Whānau Āwhina Plunket, leading the organisation through extensive change over five years in the role. She has also held senior marketing and communication roles, including at the Tertiary Education Commission and in the vocational education sector.

As ENZ’s Chief Executive, Amanda is responsible for leading ENZ in promoting Aotearoa New Zealand as a study destination and helping our country realise the social, cultural, and economic benefits of international education.

Julia Wootton | Group General Manager, Strategy, Capability & Performance

Julia has 25 years of experience in the New Zealand public sector, where she has held senior leadership roles accountable for planning and performance, enabling services, service delivery operations, transformation programmes, and regulators.

Julia leads the ENZ teams responsible for strategy, governance, accountability and performance, business planning, people and capability, information technology, property, security, risk, data and insights, and finance.

She is passionate about using her understanding of organisational architecture and effective enterprise systems to create settings that enable people to thrive and contribute at their best. Her aim is to ensure ENZ has the right direction, capabilities, and enablers to maximise the impact of its activities and support the international education sector to grow and prosper.

Julia values education and continuous learning and holds a Master of Business Administration and an Executive Master of Public Administration from Te Herenga Waka – Victoria University of Wellington.

Sahinde Pala l Group General Manager, International & Sector Engagement

Sahinde joined ENZ in 2016 after 18 years working for a multinational group of English language schools. With a career dedicated to international education, she brought extensive private sector experience in international marketing, stakeholder engagement and student experience delivery to the organisation.

Sahinde has held a number of roles at ENZ working with education providers, government stakeholders, regional groups, peak bodies, students’ associations and community groups. She was heavily involved in developing the International Student Wellbeing Strategy.

Sahinde is based in our Auckland office and spends her time outside of work standing on the sidelines of sports fields supporting her young boys.

Anna Gestro | Group General Manager, International Marketing, Brand & Scholarships

Anna leads the strategy, delivery, and teams behind ENZ's global marketing, brand, and scholarships — focused on connecting students with opportunity and Aotearoa with the world. Her focus is on elevating Aotearoa's global brand, deepening student connection, and driving growth through impactful storytelling and strategic partnerships.

Her career spans over 20 years across marketing, strategy, and executive leadership in both public and private sectors. She has worked across global brand and commercial programmes for organisations such as Lion, Fonterra, and New Zealand Cricket — blending deep consumer insight with strategic delivery.

Anna’s experience also includes international roles in Singapore and New York, where she’s helped promote New Zealand’s innovation, values, and capability globally.

Anna is also a board member of Basketball New Zealand, where she brings her commercial and strategic expertise to the development of sport. Across both sport and education, she sees a common thread: the power to unlock opportunity, level the playing field, and connect people across borders and backgrounds.

Ed Tuari l Chief Advisor Māori

Ed is of Ngāti Porou and Te Whanau-ā-Apanui descent, and joined Education New Zealand Manapou ki te Ao in 2017. He previously worked in Dubai, United Arab Emirates for 18 years.

As Manukura, Ed develops and leads the Rautaki Māori (ENZ’s Māori Strategy), provides advice regarding cultural capability, and brings a Māori perspective to policy and project development.

A former primary school teacher for 10 years, Ed has experience in providing Māori bi-lingual and immersion learning within the New Zealand primary school sector. He also co-wrote and co-presented the first Māori language television programme for preschoolers for mainstream New Zealand television.

In 2012, Ed was named New Zealander of the Year in the United Arab Emirates by AIG, for his cultural and professional contribution to the New Zealand community in Dubai and throughout the Middle East. Recently Ed was the Kaipupuri-Cultural Advisor of the Aotearoa New Zealand Pavilion, entrusted with Kaitiaki o te mouri for Expo 2020 Dubai.

A graduate of Auckland University of Technology, Ed holds a degree in Māori Development, Language and Culture and a Diploma in Teaching.

Ed enjoys engaging in indigenous development initiatives, working towards the preservation and maintenance of tribal culture and heritage, and indigenous networking.
Our Board
Tony Gray | Board Chair

Tony Gray has had a career in education spanning over 37 years across New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Tony is a former Chief Executive of NMIT and Ara Institute of Technology.

He is currently the Chief Executive of Nelson Tasman Hospice Trust. His governance portfolio includes Chair of the Tertiary Accord of New Zealand, where he worked towards establishing a shared online learning platform across member institutes. In 2023, Tony was appointed as a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for his services to education.

Daniel Wilson | Board Member

Daniel Wilson started his career in Auckland as a music teacher. After positions at several schools in Auckland and London, Daniel was appointed to the Leadership team at Manurewa High School in 2007, firstly as Deputy, then Associate Principal.

In 2015, Daniel moved to Nelson to take up the position of Principal at Nayland College. Daniel has extensive knowledge of international education from a secondary perspective, with Nayland College hosting approximately 80 international students from around the globe in 2020. Daniel also has a very good understanding of a range of markets and marketing approaches, having overseen a 40% increase in international numbers since joining Nayland College.

As well as leading Nayland College, Daniel is also the Lead Principal and Governance Chairperson for the Top of the South Trades Academy. He has also acted as a Regional Engagement Lead for the recent National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) review. Over the years Daniel has, and continues to work with various national and regional advisory groups. In his spare time Daniel is an accomplished brass musician, playing trombone in a variety of musical groups around Nelson and serving as President of Nelson City Brass.

Dr Therese Arseneau | Board Member

Dr Therese Arseneau has wide ranging governance experience including as Chair of the Board of ChristchurchNZ, Ara Institute of Canterbury, Regenerate Christchurch and the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra; and as a Director of J Ballantyne Company Ltd, The Open Polytechnic of New Zealand Ltd, Enterprise North Canterbury and the Social Sciences Research Council of Canada.

Therese has over 30 years’ experience in the tertiary education sector, including as a university lecturer in Canada and New Zealand. A specialist in elections and New Zealand politics, she is currently an Adjunct Senior Fellow in Political Science at the University of Canterbury and in 2011 she received a UC Teaching Award for excellence in teaching. Therese holds a DPhil and MPhil from the University of Oxford, which she attended as an international student and Commonwealth Scholar.

Dr Erik Lithander | Board Member

Dr Erik Lithander has had a career in higher education spanning over 20 years across New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Australia. He is a former Pro Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President (International and Outreach) at the Australian National University in Canberra and Director of International Affairs at University College Dublin.

Dr Lithander is currently the Deputy Vice-Chancellor Strategic Engagement at the University of Auckland. Prior to commencing this role in 2021, he was the Pro Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President (Global Engagement) at the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom. Dr Lithander has an internationally focused governance portfolio, with oversight of the Auckland Confucius Institute and previously the North Asia CAPE (Centre for Asia Pacific Excellence). He also is Chair of the Advisory Boards for the New Zealand Centre at Peking University and the New Zealand Centre at the Indian Institute of Technology (Delhi).

Prabha Ravi | Board Member

Prabha Ravi QSM, JP is an experienced governance leader and international education specialist with over 25 years in senior management roles, including International Director at Waiariki Institute of Technology and YMCA Central, and Senior Manager at Education New Zealand Manapou ki te Ao. She has represented New Zealand in more than 47 countries, generating millions in export education earnings and building strong global partnerships.

With nearly 20 years of governance experience across the arts, sports, education, health, community, and public sectors, Prabha serves on several boards, including the Wellington/Wairarapa Lotteries Committee.

She is also the founder and director of Natraj School of Dance, a leading Indian classical dance institution in Wellington for over 25 years, and an award-winning actor. Her contributions to education, arts, governance, and ethnic communities have been recognised with multiple honours, including the Queen’s Service Medal in 2017.

Sara Brownlie | Board Member

Sara Brownlie is a chartered accountant and chartered director with strong risk and financial management and financial planning knowledge. She has worked in the public sector for most of her career in senior financial roles including Department of Internal Affairs, Ministry of Justice and at Treasury where she was also Chief Financial Officer for the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet and for the Public Services Commission. This followed early career at Deloitte and Unilever.

Sara now provides specialist strategic financial and project/programme advisory services through her company Fargher Woods Ltd. Sara is a board member with Catalyst.net and is the Crown appointed Deputy Chair and Chair of the Finance and Audit Committee of the Research Education Advanced Network New Zealand (REANNZ). She is also an independent member of Enable New Zealand Finance, Risk and Audit Committee, and holds a similar role with the Upper Hutt City Council's Risk and Assurance Committee.
Corporate publications
Download Education New Zealand’s Statement of Intent and Annual Report and the International Education Strategy 2022-2030.

ENZ is committed to transparent reporting, and our Chief Executive’s expenditure can also be downloaded below.
Previous publications
Chief Executive’s expenditure
Our team
The ENZ team works together to grow awareness of New Zealand as a study destination and to support New Zealand education providers and businesses to take their services and products overseas for enduring social, cultural and economic benefits.

Through development of a world-class international education sector, we contribute to building a thriving and globally connected New Zealand.

We have approximately 100 staff in 18 locations around the world. In New Zealand, we have offices in Wellington and Auckland.

Our values, Ngā Manapou strive to create a culture of Aroha at ENZ; a place where we all value the beliefs and culture of ENZ staff. This culture of Aroha is underpinned by four values: Manaakitanga, Be one, Kaitiakitanga, Be Bold.

ENZ is structured into three business groups:
- Strategy, Capability & Performance
- International & Sector Engagement
- International Marketing, Brand & Scholarships
To get in touch with a member of the team, click here.
Our people
Education New Zealand Manapou ki te Ao is governed by a Board appointed by the Minister of Education.

A Leadership Team leads ENZ’s staff on a mission to take New Zealand’s education experiences to the world, for enduring economic, social and cultural benefits.
Countdown to conference
It’s being held at the Viaduct Events Centre in Auckland on Thursday and Friday, 18-19 August.
We expect to release the programme and open registrations in the coming weeks.
In the meantime, here are some key updates on New Zealand’s international education event of the year:
Help us celebrate 25th anniversary
2016 marks the 25th year of the New Zealand International Education Conference being held. We’d love you to help us celebrate 25 years of international education networking, sharing and capability development. If you’ve been around in the industry for “a while”, we’d love to hear from you.
We want to showcase how our industry has grown and changed over the past 25 years. So if you have some interesting memories, stories, records or recollections, please drop us a line. It would be great to feature your memories as part of our 25th celebrations.

BPO Intelligence comes to the party again

A big thanks to our Platinum Sponsor, BPO Intelligence, who are sponsoring NZIEC for the third consecutive year. We’re grateful for their support of NZIEC – as well as the support they provide to international education providers across the country.
BPO Intelligence offers a wide range of services for international education providers. Check out what they offer at www.bpointelligence.com and be sure to check out their booth at conference.

Official media partner
We’re excited to announce that we’ve partnered with The PIE (Professionals in International Education) as our official media partner for NZIEC 2016. The PIE team will be exhibiting at and reporting from the conference. If you haven’t already, you can sign up for The PIE News here.
Gold and silver sponsors
We’re pleased to announce that Hotcourses and QS World University Rankings will be joining us at NZIEC 2016 as Gold Sponsors.
Southern Cross Travel Insurance will feature at NZIEC as a Silver Sponsor.
Find out more about our sponsors at the conference website and be sure to check out their booths at the conference exhibition hall.

Exhibitors
We have an array of exhibitors confirmed for NZIEC 2016:
- ASB Bank
- BPO Intelligence
- Education New Zealand
- Hotcourses
- ICEF
- MBIE Immigration New Zealand
- New Zealand Police
- New Zealand Qualifications Authority
- PTE Academic
- QS World University Rankings
- Schools International Education Business Association (SIEBA)
- The PIE.
Stay tuned
We’ll be releasing the programme and opening registrations for NZIEC in the coming weeks at www.nziec.co.nz. You can also stay tuned via E-News and LinkedIn.
Getting social with Loay Al Shareef
Loay profiles English-language destinations via Snapchat (30-50k views per video), Twitter (80k+ followers) and his YouTube channel Fallimha (600k subscribers).
He came here under ENZ’s Visiting Media Familiarisation Programme, and as part of a broader #yoursummerinNZ English-language campaign in Saudi Arabia.
Heidi Stedman, Communications Lead hosted the visit in her penultimate week at ENZ, with Sahinde Pala, Regional Programme Manager, taking up the reins for the Auckland leg.
Together with Loay and videographer Glen, they visited Auckland, Wellington and Queenstown to meet with Saudi students, sample local food and activities, and profile education options.
Loay's visit, with the #yoursummerinNZ campaign, successfully delivered. Together they generated an extra 13,000 Twitter followers for @nzeducationsa during the three-week campaign, prompted 8,600 tweets, and received more than 3,100 entries in a competition to study English in New Zealand.
English-language providers also reported enrolments coming directly from ENZ’s Twitter account during the campaign.
I met Loay for dinner with six Saudi students on his last night in Auckland,” said Peter Bull, ENZ General Manager - International.
“He talked endlessly about New Zealand, and how impressed he was with the education he'd seen.
“He connected really well with the students, and they reinforced for him how good their own New Zealand experience was.
“Ours was a story he clearly enjoyed telling.”
Above: Loay with Peter Bull
Saying it with socks
Back in May, we reported that Lincoln University had committed to providing international students with a parcel of hand-knitted woolly socks, pineapple lumps and a personal letter ahead of their arrival.
These photos show that those socks have been a big hit!
Lincoln’s International and Student Engagement Director Dee Coleman says that the university receives international students from over 60 countries each year, with some coming unprepared for a New Zealand winter down South. To help them stay warm, Lincoln started the project to provide students with handmade woolly socks.
“When we looked at our source countries, we realised that a lot of our students hail from warm climates and although intrigued by a Kiwi winter, can often come unprepared.”
“Our aim is to keep them warm with some good, old-fashioned Kiwi hospitality, and what better way than with some homespun and hand-knitted South Island woolly socks.”
The socks are hand-knitted by a group of Darfield spinning and knitting enthusiasts, headed up by neighbours Pip Anderson and Ruth Buttle. They have committed to producing up to 40 pairs of hand-knitted socks a year for the university, destined for locations all around the world.
Retired from a life of farming in the district, Ruth still spins her own wool despite no longer having a dedicated flock of black sheep for the purpose. She buys wool, cards it and spins it into double ply wool. It takes a minimum of two hours to spin one ball of wool.
Pip says they are aiming to keep the colours neutral, with splashes of colour so that they look natural and hand made.
Ruth says spinning and knitting are still popular pastimes for rural New Zealand women and that projects like this are an excellent opportunity to get together.
A first for Southland Girls’ High
The national news site Stuff ran a charming story last week about a young Thai student, Kamolsiri (Kate) Damrongmanee, who is the first international prefect to be voted in in the 137-year history of Invercargill’s Southland Girls’ High School.
The story covers her life as a busy Year 13 student and prefect. Kate also talks about her love of the southern city’s cold weather and the community’s warm support.
Agent Activity Fund in Colombia takes off
The event was organised by Colombian agency Go Study, Work and Travel and supported by ENZ’s Colombia team, via their Agent Activity Fund. In this inaugural round of the Fund, Colombian agencies were invited to “let their imaginations fly” in proposing ways to promote New Zealand and increase Colombian student numbers to New Zealand.
Five agencies were awarded NZ$2,000 each, with Go Study, Work and Travel's information session being the first cab off the rank.
As an incentive, all participants at the information session went into the draw to receive two 12-week, English-language scholarships donated by EDENZ and New Zealand Language Centres.
The lucky scholarship winners were announced at the event.
A guest speaker at the session was Colombian blogger Maggi Mora who studied English in New Zealand last summer via an English New Zealand International Education Growth Fund project, and raved about her experiences here.
“This was a clear example of the benefits of different agencies working together,” says Lisa Futschek, ENZ Regional Director Americas and Europe.
“An offshore agent, NZ institutions, a former student and ENZ all working together to promote New Zealand is a powerful thing.”
Javiera Visedo, ENZ Market Development Manager in Colombia, says upcoming projects funded by the Agent Activity Fund will focus on promotional activities using social media.
“It was great to see so many agents interested in partnering with us and submitting projects for consideration.
We would like to increase the fund next year because running it for the first time in 2016 has resulted in great exposure for New Zealand.”

Note: If you’re interested in promoting your region to Colombian agents, then check out the ‘Networking starts at home’ story for an opportunity to meet with Colombian (and other) agents in Wellington on Friday 27 May.