Our team
Every JacksonStone & Partners consultant has a unique set of skills to guide you through the process. Get in touch using their contact details or just drop us an email.
Andrew Watson
Rachelle Russell
Proven expertise
Anastasia Gyson
Exceptional market knowledge
Emma Dewson
Dave Calder
Helen Cox
Kendall Bushby
Liz Ruscoe
Innovative thinking
Mary Kent
Naomi Widener
People first
Nikki Franklin
Simon Boyes
Tracy Szeto
Christian Howatson
A connected agency
Annalee Hoogeveen
Lennon Chee
Lisa Norris
Sam Good
Emily Driver
Sector experts
Sarah Miles
Tuiatekawe Ani Tapuke
Ella Donnelly
Andrew Watson
Managing Partner
Andrew Watson, a founding Director of JacksonStone & Partners, has recently taken on the role of Managing Partner. With his extensive background as a Principal Consultant, Andrew now spearheads the company, providing exceptional leadership and guidance.
Throughout his career, Andrew has been dedicated to offering a comprehensive range of professional consulting and contracting resources to clients. He excels in advising and supporting senior leadership teams, as well as providing operational line management assistance. His expertise has been instrumental in various public sector initiatives, including the establishment of new regulatory entities, the implementation of complex social services policy initiatives, business transformation programs, and large-scale capital infrastructural investment projects.
Andrew’s professional journey began in internal auditing, marketing, and project management, ultimately leading him to the professional services sector. Over the past two decades, he has acquired an extensive knowledge of the consulting market. Andrew has personally overseen more than a thousand assignments across various sectors, including finance, human resources, communications, legal, marketing, and policy.
Known for his unwavering commitment to delivering high-quality experiences for clients and candidates alike, Andrew focuses on providing consistency, efficiency, and transparent, consultative guidance. His warm and personable approach has fostered numerous long-term and successful relationships with contractors and clients. Andrew takes great care in ensuring that the needs and desires of both parties are met, resulting in high-quality placements and productive partnerships.
Areas of specialisation: Professional contracting, transformation projects, management
Years in the industry: 20
Rachelle Russell
General Manager Māori
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
Anastasia Gyson
Principal Consultant
Anastasia works within our Commercial Operations team as a Principal Consultant.
Anastasia’s core strengths are project management and candidate research. She is excellent at aligning the processes and deliverables in large-scale recruitment processes and ensuring a high-quality service is provided to clients. Anastasia is also highly effective at identifying high-calibre candidates for our clients, using traditional avenues and a range of cutting-edge technology and tools that allow her to foster relationships with professionals worldwide.
Anastasia’s Bachelor of Commerce (majoring in Marketing & International Business) led her to work across marketing, within a boutique recruitment firm. She has since made the switch to recruitment, with experience within agency and internal functions spanning across professional services and Big Four recruitment nationally and internationally. Her speciality is in proactive search where she is able to map out top-tier talent for her clients. Anastasia enjoys working alongside her clients and understanding their needs. Her recruitment approach is considered and consultative, with a focus on hard-to-fill vacancies.
Years in industry: 10
Emma Dewson
Research associate
Emma collaborates with consultants, directors and other research associates to deliver JacksonStone’s research services. She develops search lists for executive-level appointments, writes proposals and reports, and builds ongoing professional relationships with candidates.
With a Master’s degree majoring in History from Victoria University of Wellington, Emma has a strong research pedigree, and is an experienced associate with a solid track record in the staffing and recruiting industry. She is equipped for all aspects of executive research and recruitment, from executive search, bid writing and bid strategy to proofreading and presentations.
Matching high-quality candidates to ideal roles where they will thrive and drive success is what motivates Emma in her role. By looking past the traditional role–candidate fit, she ensures clients see a range of superbly talented and well-suited people – even some ‘unexpected’ candidates – so clients have an excellent choice of people to select for their team.
Areas of specialisation: Research, executive headhunting
Years in the industry: 10
Dave Calder
Principal Consultant
Dave specialises in recruiting for a wide range of professional contracting positions across both public and private sectors. His expertise extends to roles such as Programme and Project Management professionals, Business and Process Analysts, Business Efficiency and Innovation roles, and Change/Transition Management experts.
With a background in professional services from the United Kingdom to New Zealand, Dave has gained success through his unwavering commitment to quality. His proactive approach, professionalism, and warm personality have contributed to establishing a positive reputation among clients.
His 26 years of experience in the industry attest to his seasoned understanding of the dynamics and intricacies of professional contracting. Dave brings a wealth of knowledge and a client-centric approach to his role as a principal consultant.
Areas of specialisation: Professional contracting
Years in the industry: 26
Helen Cox
Principal Consultant
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
Kendall Bushby
Principal Consultant
Kendall specialises in Accounting and Finance recruitment, serving as a trusted partner for clients and candidates alike. Collaborating across public and private sectors, she excels in placing top talent in permanent and contract Senior Finance positions.
Motivated by a passion for people and learning, Kendall embarked into the recruitment industry and discovered a fulfilling career. Known for an approachable yet focused and motivated approach, she consults with clients to understand their needs and helps them find the talent they seek.
With a focus on client partnerships, she ensures that the right match is made between the role and the individual. Kendall derives satisfaction from witnessing candidates’ professional growth, and aligning their career goals with development opportunities. Her professional and warm demeanour and commitment to relationship-building contribute to her success.
Areas of specialisation: Accounting, finance
Years in the industry: 8
Liz Ruscoe
Principal Consultant
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
Mary Kent
Principal Consultant
Mary’s clients include hiring managers at all levels across the public, private and NGO sectors. She places professional contractors into a broad spectrum of disciplines including communications, stakeholder engagement, marketing, business analysis, public policy, project and programme management, change management, planning and human resources. Her speciality is hourly rate and fixed-term contracts of up to 12 months’ duration.
Mary has more than two decades’ experience in recruitment. Her approach was deeply informed early on by a very useful sabbatical spent within the HR management team of one of New Zealand’s largest employers. This experience led her to focus strongly on relationship management throughout the recruitment process: collaborating with clients and candidates to achieve shared goals and rewarding positions, and proposing contractors who add a huge amount of value even on short-term assignments.
She is well regarded for her professionalism and honesty, working efficiently and effectively to facilitate the recruitment process; as one satisfied client explained, she ‘provided exceptional and responsive assistance in every interaction’ and was ‘clear, honest and supportive’ to prioritise the candidate’s fit to the role.
Area of specialisation: Contracting
Years in the industry: 22
Naomi Widener
Principal Consultant
Naomi recruits nationally for a diverse array of job areas within central and local government. Her primary focus involves identifying candidates for permanent or long-term fixed-term roles, spanning from advisor-level positions to senior leadership roles. With practical experience and understanding of both permanent and contracting markets, Naomi possesses valuable insights into the needs and perspectives of clients and candidates.
Operational and people management are a feature of Naomi’s background. This includes successfully establishing and managing her own business in Wellington for a decade. Additionally, she has served as a business administrator in the not-for-profit sector. Naomi joined the JacksonStone team as a candidate manager in the contracting team, and quickly progressed to principal consultant. She brings a comprehensive skill set to her recruiting role and a wide network of talented candidates.
Naomi approaches assignments with a blend of pragmatism and strategy, drawing on her firsthand experience in building teams from scratch and identifying the right candidates to complement existing teams. Whilst at home within the fast-paced candidate short market, she nonetheless builds and maintains strong relationships with clients and candidates alike. Naomi is an open and transparent communicator and 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, project and programme management, operational and business services, infrastructure, climate and environment, education, regulation.
Years in the industry: 4
Nikki Franklin
Principal Consultant
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
Simon Boyes
Principal Consultant
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 assists Te Kawa Mataaho Public Service Commission with senior appointments. Simon has made a number of parliamentary and statutory appointments, and he has recruited numerous chief executives and executive team members for local government city, district and regional councils. Other areas of speciality include strategy, regulatory, 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
Tracy Szeto
Principal Consultant
Tracy is deeply connected within the Wellington market and specialises in recruiting high-level accounting and finance professionals. Her expertise spans executive search, permanent placements, contract work, and consulting assignments.
What sets Tracy apart is her extensive industry experience, sector knowledge, and the quality of her relationships across all levels. Known for her professionalism, integrity, and sincere approach, Tracy is highly respected in her field.
She prides herself on understanding her clients’ needs and assisting candidates in advancing their careers. With eighteen years of experience in recruitment, Tracy has built a loyal following.
Having worked in various sectors, including private enterprise, public practice, and government, both in New Zealand and abroad, Tracy possesses a deep understanding of the Wellington market and the nuances of the Public Sector.
Collaborating with Kendall Bushby, and supported by Lisa Norris and Emily Driver, Tracy is exceptionally well-connected and knowledgeable about the current market dynamics.
Tracy specialises in executive search, senior permanent placements, and professional contracting and consulting within the accounting and finance sector, spanning government, non-profit, and commercial industries.
Years in the industry: 18 years
Christian Howatson
Manager, Marketing and IT
Christian manages our Administration Team, in addition to our Marketing and IT functions.
Christian plays a key role at JacksonStone & Partners, often referred to as the go-to for everything operations.
Christian’s focus is on ensuring our consultants are highlighted as expert recruitment and search specialists. He does so by expertly completing client Request for Proposals (RFPs) and countless other corporate proposals. He is also responsible for all of our client advertising; print media and digital.
In addition to looking after our marketing supplier relationships, Christian also manages the bulk of our IT requirements. This includes implementing new software, updating and installing hardware, and managing jacksonstone.co.nz
Areas of specialisation: Management, Operations, Marketing, IT, Executive search
Annalee Hoogeveen
Candidate Manager
Ko Uruao, ko Tākitimu, ko Tairea ngā waka
Ko Motupōhue te maunga
Ko Te Ara a Kewa te tai
Ko Kāi Tahu te iwi
Ko Te Rau Aroha te marae
Ko Annalee tōku ingoa
With a commitment to upholding the principles of Te Ao Māori, Annalee is dedicated to ensuring that both clients and candidates are recognised and celebrated for their cultural identity throughout the recruitment process.
Having navigated both the Māori and corporate world, Annalee brings a unique perspective to candidate management. With a focus on building genuine connections and understanding individual aspirations and needs, she helps to match candidates with clients that align not only with their experience, but their aspirations and cultural values as well.
Outside of the office, Annalee lives in sunny Marlborough with her husband and two boys on a lifestyle block. She continues to study Te Ao Māori through wānanga and various learning institutions.
Years in the industry: 15
Lennon Chee
Candidate Manager
Lennon works with our Contracting team to source and manage candidates in the transformation space.
Lennon strongly believes that picking the right people is crucial for a business to succeed. His time as a recruiter in a startup has given him important firsthand knowledge about how a new employee can really change a business.
During his career in recruitment, Lennon has met many interesting people from different backgrounds. Lennon sees himself as someone who is always learning, and he appreciates how his job lets him be a part of the always-changing world of the recruitment industry.
Areas of specialisation: Professional Contracting, transformation
Years in the industry: 3 years
Lisa Norris
Candidate Manager
Lisa works with our Finance and Accounting team in the strategic sourcing and adept management of candidates.
Her close partnership with our Principal Consultant, Tracy Szeto, has equipped her with a comprehensive understanding of accounting and finance, along with the intricacies of contracting positions spanning public, private, and NGO sectors.
Lisa’s proficiency, attentiveness, and contributions make her a highly valuable asset to JacksonStone & Partners.
Sam Good
Candidate Manager
Sam works with our Contracting and Communications teams to source and manage candidates.
Sam is diligent in all of his work and ensures our Contracting and Communications teams are supported in everything they do. He is personable and collaborative, with a commitment to client and candidate management. Sam is creative and detailed, ensuring he is always across everything happening in his teams and is happy to assist to achieve the best results.
Sam also manages the administration of any multiple-role assignments JacksonStone & Partners is awarded, such as change programs and re-structures. You can trust Sam to be the point of contact for all roles, and ensure that roles are administered timely and consistently.
Emily Driver
Administration Executive
Emily works as an Administration Executive for our Accounting and Finance team.
Emily is a diligent, precise and customer focused team member, which makes her a valuable asset when supporting the Accounting and Finance team.
Emily builds good working relationships amongst internal and external stakeholders of JacksonStone & Partners and is a valued member of our team.
Sarah Miles
Administration Executive
Sarah leads administration for our bustling contracting team.
Sarah works to make sure our leading contracting team can focus on sourcing excellent people for a wide variety of positions. Detail-oriented and results-driven, Sarah makes sure our processes remain robust and professional. She is also a valuable point of contact for our contractors and clients, providing them with exceptional customer service.
With her sharp-eye for detail and good-hearted nature, Sarah is a great asset to JacksonStone & Partners.
Tuiatekawe Ani Tapuke
Intern
Tuia joins JacksonStone & Partners as our TupuToa Intern for the 2023 summer period.
Of Te Ati Awa, Ngāti Raukawa and Ngāti Toa Rangatira iwi, Tuia has strong ties to Te Whanganui-a-Tara and is excited to commence her first internship, close to home, at JacksonStone & Partners.
Proficient in te reo Māori, Tuia is a valuable taonga to our Kaupapa Māori team. She is no stranger to hard mahi, and is pleased to be working with our General Manager, Māori, Rachelle Russell, and her wider Kaupapa Māori team.
Ella Donnelly
Principal consultant
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.