Cognition

Joe Akari, General Manager, People

Joe Akari joined Cognition with over 15 years experience in senior HR roles in industries ranging from Health to Pulp and Paper. He has also had previous careers as a Forest Ranger and in Sports Management. Joe has previous experience in the education sector having trained as  a primary school teacher in Hamilton and also having been the HR Manager at Auckland University of Technology.

Terry Bates, Chief Operating Officer, Consulting
MA (Hons), MPhil (Hons), Dip Tchg (NZ)

Terry was appointed as an Executive Director in August 2006.  A well known New Zealand educator, Terry has considerable senior leadership experience in secondary schools in Auckland and New Zealand.  Terry was the foundation principal of Southern Cross Campus in Mangere.  Terry has held a number of senior public service roles.  As a Senior Review Officer in the Education Review Office, he was part of the team that wrote the landmark report on South Auckland schooling.  Terry was the Ministry of Education’s Northern Regional Manager during the most rapid expansion and reorganisation of the schools network in the past 30 years.

Wayne Broekhals, General Manager IT

Wayne joined Cognition in 2007, and provides Cognition with companywide direction in all aspects of Information Technology. Wayne has worked in the IT sector for over ten years, and in previous roles he worked on several major global corporate infrastructure projects, as well as working with system integrators managing clients' service delivery and infrastructure.

Ian has been a Multiserve Director since 1993 and a Cognition Director since 2006. He is a Chartered Accountant and Chartered Secretary who has held senior executive positions in a multi-national consumer products organization, a property development and industrial manufacturing conglomerate, and other large manufacturing industries. He is also experienced in public accounting in New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Ian has also lived and worked in London, Sydney and Tokyo

Martin Fowler, General Manager Marketing and Communications
BA

Martin has held senior management roles in marketing, communications and sales in a wide range of product and services companies in New Zealand and Europe.  These include education, broadcasting, advertising, not for profit, healthcare, engineering and data management companies.  Martin has extensive experience managing change in organisations to enable growth domestically and internationally.

Jo Mullins, General Manager Business Development
MA (Hons), Dip Tchg (NZ)

Jo Mullins joined Cognition in 2003 as the Director of Education Operations, and subsequently as Executive Director in 2006, from a school leadership position. A former president of professional principal and deputy principals associations in New Zealand, Jo helped build New Zealand links in international education. She has considerable experience in fostering international co-operation in the field of education reform and development. She led, and then had oversight of, Cognition’s school improvement contracts in Qatar, from 2004, and in Abu Dhabi, from 2007. Jo has expertise in project management and direction as well as direct consultancy and business development. With the growth of Cognition, Jo now leads the Business Development division and retains strong ties with the ongoing offshore contracts through her relationships at the highest government levels.

Sarah Petersen, Chief Financial Officer
BMS (Hons), CA

Sarah is a qualified finance professional with 10 years of consultancy and commercial experience. She has a Bachelor of Management Studies with Honours from Waikato University, majoring in Accountancy and Strategic Management, and is a Chartered Accountant with NZICA.   Prior to joining Cognition, Sarah worked as a tax advisor in one of the Big 4 accountancy firms, before moving to a commercial role in the telecommunications sector where she held a variety of finance management roles.

Mary Sinclair, Executive Trustee – Cognition Institute
Post Grad Dip Ed, Trained Teachers Cert (NZ)

Mary was appointed as an Executive Director in August 2006.  Mary has held a range of teaching and management positions in New Zealand secondary schools and was formerly the Senior Manager for Schools Monitoring and Support in the NZ Ministry of Education. In that role she was responsible for national policy development and the leadership of a diverse range of education change management projects.  Mary is a board member for the International Congress of School Effectiveness and Improvement (ICSEI) and has represented New Zealand on the OECD work on ‘Combating Failure at Schools’ and ‘Innovation for Effective Schools’.

Sally is a well respected educator who has a background in secondary school education, national operational policy development and curriculum leadership. She has been involved in Cognition’s international work since 2005, working previously in Qatar where she has had responsibility in key aspects of the schooling reform programme and then as Project Director in the Abu Dhabi Public Private Partnership Project.  In New Zealand Sally has provided leadership in new senior secondary school design and was seconded from Cognition to the Ministry of Education to provide leadership for strategic and operational services for Gifted and Talented education.  Before joining Cognition, Sally was the Secondary School Principal of the Correspondence School, focusing on school leadership, e learning and school reform.

Dave Tribe, Chief Operating Officer,  Multiserve
BA (Hons) Dip Mgmt (Open)

David Tribe spent 19 years in the UK’s Royal Air Force where he was responsible for a broad range of administrative management functions, eventually rising to the rank of Squadron Leader.  Prior to leaving the Service, David studied and achieved a first class honours degree in Administrative Management from Lincoln University as well as a Professional Diploma in Management from the Open University and was formerly a Fellow of the UK’s Institute of Administrative Management and a Member of the New Zealand Institute of Management.