The face of gambling regulation changes temporarily from today, while Debbie Despard takes up a secondment to the New Zealand Transport Agency to be the Manager of Rail Safety.
The secondment provides Debbie with the opportunity of managing regulatory services in a completely different environment, including the challenge of leading a small regulator influencing the safety behaviour of a large organisation (KiwiRail). This secondment will broaden her experience of leading and managing a regulatory system beyond the gambling system which she knows so well.
In her absence, we introduce as Acting Director Gambling Compliance, Raj Krishnan, who takes up his position later this week. Raj joins us from his role as a Director in the Policy Group at the Department of Internal Affairs, and brings extensive knowledge of gambling regulatory framework and the Gambling Act. We look forward to his contribution in Gambling Compliance including his fresh perspective of the gambling sector.
Raj says he is looking forward to the opportunity and the challenge, and to engaging with the sector and other stakeholders from a perspective other than policy.
We will keep you up-to-date down the track, but we expect that Debbie will return in November, with renewed energy and learnings that will in turn help us to be a better, more responsive regulator.
