Ngati Porou, te Whanau a Rakairoa
Emergency Management Group Manager and Group Controller
Ben, the Group Manager and Group Controller for Tairāwhiti Emergency Management, was appointed in September, 2020. He is also an Alternate National Controller with the National Emergency Management Agency.
Born and raised in Te Puia Springs on the East Coast, he has a strong connection to the Tairāwhiti region being of Ngāti Porou descent, affiliated to Te Whānau a Rakairoa hapū. He has led numerous emergency events—both declared and non-declared—spanning severe weather, earthquakes, tsunami, and pandemic response. He has also led the transformation of the regional emergency management function which includes a modern Emergency Coordination Centre, technology systems and products, including many of which have been nationally recognised.
TEMO Group Manager Ben Green with some of the national awards the team has won for its initiatives. Photo: The Black Balloon
"I draw on my extensive experience that includes multi-agency coordination environments, leadership under pressure, and working with teams and partners at local, regional, and national levels," he says. "Our team at TEMO also brings their mix of experience and leadership and are a very capable group of individuals who take pride in the work we do for communities and our region."
With a background in both private and public sectors, Ben’s previous roles include 14 years as Executive HR Manager for a national veterinary company and 24 years as a New Zealand Army Officer, retiring at the rank of Major. His leadership has spanned boardrooms, operational command posts, and field environments, for which he says, "these all come together in this role".
Ben has led multi-agency command operations (civil and military) in New Zealand and overseas and highlights the importance of inter-agency and coalition cooperation. He has significant overseas deployment experience, having been part of three New Zealand Defence Force operational deployments (Bosnia, Bougainville and Afghanistan), including as part of the first NZDF contingent to Afghanistan. For his contribution to Afghanistan mission and operational leadership, he was appointed an Additional Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM) in 2004. "I have had the privilege of leading New Zealanders in the service of our country, and I take immense pride doing the same for our region."
Ben uses his own version of a much-quoted proverb: "He aha nga mea nui o te ao? He tangata, he mahi, he matauranga" - What are the most important things in the world? It is people, industry and knowledge.
Ngati Porou, Te Whanau o Aotaki me Te Whanau a Tuwhakairiora
Emergency Management Advisor (Welfare) and Tairawhiti Welfare Coordination Group Chair
Dallas has devoted her career to caring for others. In a varied working life, she has held all sorts of roles including working with children, supermarket check-out operator, dispatcher for New Zealand Police, and working in non-clinical healthcare roles, Her calling led her to being appointed as the welfare lead in TEMO.
Dallas is one of 16 regional Welfare Coordination Group chairs which comprises a number of agencies responsible for different sub-functions of welfare. Preparation and coordination are crucial for providing welfare services during an emergency. This involves overseeing the planning and maintenance of arrangements to ensure readiness for an effective response before handing over to the recovery team. There are also opportunities for her to be deployed out of the region if required.
Under CDEM, a variety of agencies are responsible for providing welfare services through the process of identifying need and coordinating delivery. “Addressing the actual consequences of an emergency better serves the community with coordination and support at regional and national levels,” says Dallas.
Dallas, born to a Māori (Ngati Porou) mother and an English (Londoner) father in Nelson, moved to Tairāwhiti at a young age and later emigrated to the United Kingdom before returning to Tairāwhiti in early adulthood. “Despite facing challenges due to fitting in, I have always made the most of my experiences. I have gained such diverse experience, working in various roles across multiple agencies while maintaining a passion for helping and caring for people.”
She found herself in the role of COVID coordinator and emergency planner, where she became involved with the Emergency Management team, ultimately becoming hooked on the work. "I am part of a great team; we may be small, but we work well together, work hard, and strive to do the right thing for our community."
Dallas says she feels privileged to work in this space, grateful for her role, and determined to make a positive influence. She is also involved in supporting the national team with the needs assessment sub-function review and hopes a national framework can be developed as a result.
Ngati Porou, Te Whanau a Rakairoa
Emergency Management Advisor – Readiness and Operations
Relationships and the community are at the heart of Marcus Tibble’s in his role that delivers readiness and operations for TEMO. The foundations for his work were set long ago across various careers he has held.
Marcus grew up in Tūranganui a Kiwa before spending nearly 14 years with the New Zealand Army. This was followed by working in maritime security and then with the Australian Border Force at the Nauru processing centre for asylum seekers and refugees prior to starting with TEMO.
As part of readiness, Marcus grows connections with community groups, council staff, partner agencies and organisations ensuring all are ready and able to respond in an emergency.
That could include providing guidance around evacuation plans, delivering presentations to various groups, or providing training opportunities for people.
“Being prepared has to start at home,” he says. “Kanohi ki kanohi , face to face engagement is so important when working with people to really get them engaged. We deliver workshops and presentations to help our community to make more informed decisions in response to any disaster that could eventuate in our region.”
The delivery of essential training ensures things kick into gear when times get tough. During an emergency, Marcus leads the operations function in the Emergency Coordination Centre oversees the plans that coordinate resources and agencies required to support an emergency response. He also maintains the connection to the community civil defence groups to share and gather real time information that can assist strategic decision making at the Emergency Coordination Centre.
The biggest challenges are to bring groups and organisations along the journey. “We promote readiness as a key activity across the Tairawhiti region,” says Marcus. “This was somewhat hampered due to the frequency of severe weather events that have hit our region, however any opportunity to get out and connect with groups and people is our focus.”
Marcus said sometimes it felt there was never enough time in a day to connect with everyone, but the TEMO team were committed to continue “chipping away” at it.
“Without the connections and relationships, we wouldn’t be able to achieve what we have so far,” he says. “We continually strive to improve on what we have, whether that be in the communities, region or our team. We want to leave this space in a better way than when we started to give those who carry the torch once we are gone as much of an advantage as possible.”
Developing genuine connections with people and communities helping them build their own capabilities gives Marcus a lot of satisfaction. Watching the region go from strength to strength makes him continue to do what he loves.
Marcus is a family man with two young children and says he’s lucky to have an understanding partner who helps keep everything balanced.
Emergency Management Advisor, Capability and Readiness
Karl comes from a background of community support. He has been a volunteer fireman at Manutuke for 33 years, the last seven as the officer in charge. “Our family has always contributed to communities in some form,” says Karl. “At 18, I joined my local volunteer fire station to give back to my community, and this has continued to today where I still serve at Manutuke.” Karl is very much involved with FENZ and is an elected board director on the United Fire Brigades Association, representing more than 12,000 volunteers nationwide. “I believe that if you wish to reap the rewards of a community, you also have to contribute.”
Karl presenting a ShakeOut prize at St Mary's School.
As a teen, he started his heavy diesel training with what was then Cook County Council, which morphed into Gisborne District Council in 1990. With a qualification in hand, he moved into corporate operations working with Hitachi, John Deere, Scania, Volvo and Yanmar, working his way through to senior and executive leadership roles.
It was his work with the Fire Brigade that meant he had plenty to do with TEMO during emergencies.
“I liked what was going on here,” says Karl. “The reason I volunteered (to be a fireman) was to be there for the community in time of need. This is just the same. The TEMO team has achieved some amazing stuff, but I feel there is so much more to come. I want to be a part of that and make a difference for our communities.”
During an emergency response, he works alongside key function leads and the controller to plan and deliver an effective response. “As every event and response can be very different, these can sometimes surge from a smaller working team to larger teams over long durations,” he says.
“Having a strong connection in the community aids me in understanding some of the challenges that rural communities across Tairāwhiti face with communication and isolation.”
Over the years, Karl has received a number of awards including the Fire and Emergency Queen’s Service Medal, United Fire Brigades Association Gold Star Medal, and he is a life honorary member of the Manutuke Volunteer Fire Brigade.
A father and grandfather, Karl has lived nearly all his life at Manutuke.
“I feel I am pretty lucky to have the opportunity to work in a small and effective team in Civil Defence and am hoping to bring my lived experiences through to aid the readiness and resilience space for all of our Tairāwhiti communities.”
Public Information lead
Diana Dobson is a globally published journalist and photographer who continues to represent New Zealand media on some of the world’s biggest sporting stages. She has built a career spanning decades, combining her expertise in journalism, photography and media management.
She has served as press attaché for the New Zealand Olympic Committee at three Olympic Games – Rio 2016, Tokyo 2021 and Paris 2024 – working across a wide range of sports including equestrian, canoeing, rowing, swimming, golf and weightlifting, among others. Diana has also held key media roles at Commonwealth Games, Equestrian World Championships and other major equestrian events such as EQUITANA Melbourne and the New Zealand Horse of the Year Show. She has been the Equestrian Sports New Zealand high performance media liaison since 2010.
Her experience extends beyond sport. As communications lead for Tairāwhiti Emergency Management she has coordinated media responses during regional emergencies, ensuring vital information reaches affected communities. She also managed communications for the $23.7 million Tairāwhiti Economic Support Package during COVID-19, liaising with Central Government, stakeholders and the public.
“I do love working in emergency management where clear and timely comms are so vital,” says Diana. “In times of disaster, our communities rely on us to reassure them and lead an efficient and effective response. It is a privilege to be involved with such a great team.”
Through her company, The Black Balloon, Diana provides media management, content creation and photography services across editorial, advertorial and corporate sectors.
“The industry I have spent most of my life in calls for thinking on your feet, manage crises and to be able to quickly turn around accurate and concise content. It’s an adrenalin-filled space – for good and bad. I thrive on it.”
Photo by Libby Law Photography
GDC Principal Scientist
Dr Murry Cave is often the face many people see when their homes and properties are damaged in an emergency. Tumultuous weather and a response become a very busy time for him as he advises, inspects and researches all things land, sea and weather related.
He’s worked with the Ministry of Energy, Ministry of Commerce, as an international energy consultant and been an expert witness at numerous hearings, including forestry compliance and farming prosecutions.
He’s been with Council since 2016 and is a key part of the TEMO team.
"Working with TEMO and in the civil defence space is one of the best ways we can give back to the community,” he says. “Working with TEMO allows me to get out in the community and apply my skills in a very practical way. There is a strong focus on natural hazards in my role at Council, which means I can provide a sound scientific framework for the hazards and risks TEMO has to grapple with daily.”
It also gives him the knowledge and know-how to anticipate what natural hazard events the region is likely to be exposed to and how best to respond when an event occurs.
Before moving to Gisborne, he had management roles in the Ministry of Energy and Ministry of Commerce and was a consultant with Ernst and Young where he worked in the energy and international consulting group.
Dr Cave is an experienced expert witness having appeared in consent hearings related to Gisborne consent compliance issues relating to local forestry and farming prosecutions. He has also been an expert witness before the Environment Court relating to Kuratau River Erosion, Buller Water Conservation Orders, and the Pike River Coal Mine Resource consents. He was an expert witness to the Pike River Royal Commission for the Department of Conservation and others.
At Council he undertook an in-depth investigation into the impacts of forestry woody debris during Cyclone Cook in 2017 and was lead expert for the 2018 Queen’s Birthday Tolaga Bay storms forestry prosecution. He developed the business case for funding the acquisition of LiDAR over the Tairāwhiti region.
He coordinates funding for strategic research within Council and works closely with external agencies, including GNS, various universities, NIWA, EQC, Manaaki Whenua LandCare Research among others. It was in this role that Dr Cave commissioned a study on climate change projections and impacts for Tairāwhiti and Hawke’s Bay. He is a member of the Regional Council Science Managers group, and the Flood Warning Steering group, the Landslides working group and the Natural Hazards Special Interest Group.
Ko Ngati Porou ko Ngapuhi ko Ngati Kahu ki Whangaroa nga Iwi.
Group Recovery Manager
Naomi Whitewood’s world has long been focused on ensuring the community is a better place for those who follow.
“My purpose has always been grounded in service — to whānau, hapu and the communities I am privileged to work alongside,” she says.
Over the past two decades, her career has been shaped by a commitment to ensuring all mokopuna grow up safe, well, supported and connected. “Whether I am leading through recovery, strengthening public services or partnering with iwi and community organisations, my focus remains steadfast: creating environments where people can thrive and where long-term wellbeing is at the heart of every decision.”
In her professional roles — as the current Group Recovery Manager for the Gisborne District Council, regional director across the East Coast for MSD and Kainga Ora, director for Oranga Tamariki and the wider public sector — she has worked across complex, high-pressure environments that demand strong systems leadership, cultural capability and deep community engagement.
“I bring experience in managing large portfolios, leading multi-agency programmes, building high-performing teams and navigating the interface between Crown, iwi, local government and communities. My leadership approach is grounded in manaakitanga, whanaungatanga, and a clear drive for equitable outcomes.”
Relationship-building sits at the centre of everything Naomi does. “I value honest, direct communication; bringing people together around shared purpose; and ensuring that voices of our communities, particularly Māori, are heard and reflected in decision-making. I have been described as a leader with strong cultural values, analytical clarity and the ability to influence across systems while maintaining humility, respect and integrity. These acknowledgements reinforce what matters most to me: that people feel supported, valued, and motivated to make a difference.”
Ultimately, her aspiration is simple — to serve in a way that strengthens Tairāwhiti communities today and creates opportunities for mokopuna tomorrow. “My intention as Recovery Manager is to keep that aspiration front and centre amongst our experiences through significant events so we can propose a system that can mobilise and improve the recovery journey and outcomes for all going forwards.”