Claire Weinhold
Okuku,New Zealand
Summary
An established professional with over 20 years of experience driving impactful organisational change through expert leadership in governance, risk, and compliance (GRC). Proven expertise in designing and executing complex reviews across diverse sectors including finance, justice, education, and government. Specialises in GovTech adoption and leveraging emerging technologies, particularly AI, for governance optimisation and results-based reform. My core strengths extend to developing robust ethics frameworks, informed by a strong academic background in ethics, ensuring responsible technology deployment and organisational integrity. I employ an interdisciplinary methodology, incorporating economic, legal, psychosocial, and behavioural scaffolds, alongside expertise in qualitative, quantitative analysis, and legislative/regulatory frameworks, to ensure alignment with international best practices.
Overview
2026
2026
years of professional experience
1
1
Certification
Work History
Manager, Governance, Risk and Evaluation
Financial Markets Authority
09.2023 - Current
- Developed and implemented a comprehensive organisational compliance and performance framework, streamlining governance, risk and audit to promote accountability.
- Developing and maintaining appropriate risk registers.
- Led the development of GovTech/AI innovations to automate and optimise performance capture and reporting.
- Established an AI governance framework to ensure the ethical and responsible application of AI within GRC and organisational processes.
- Advised the FMA on emerging trends in financial sector AI use, drafting governance and regulatory frameworks to enable fintech and services innovation in line with relevant legislation.
- Achieved departmental goals by developing and executing strategic plans and performance metrics.
- Streamlined workflows by identifying bottlenecks in existing systems and implementing appropriate solutions.
Programme Evaluator
University of Canterbury
07.2022 - 09.2023
- Designed, managed, and conducted reviews to inform programme performance against tertiary sector regulations.
- Advised on the uptake of adaptive learning technologies across STEM subjects, reviewing against statutory compliance, organisational risk and performance.
- Advocated for integration of evaluation findings into program design, leading to more effective and responsive initiatives.
- Provided strategic programme advice to senior leadership to drive organisational performance.
Research Consultant
Office of the Auditor General
10.2021 - 10.2022
- Conducted baseline performance audit of New Zealand Defence Force against statutory requirements, identifying risk areas and advising on ways to optimise compliance with key legislation.
- Evaluated existing databases for potential issues or inaccuracies, implementing corrective measures as required to maintain data integrity.
Team Lead, Program Evaluation
IBTCI
- Led a strategic evaluation of USAID's Iraq programs on administrative reform and decentralisation, with a focus on programmatic governance, risk, performance and compliance.
- Designed and managed the evaluation in line with local and US government governance and compliance frameworks.
- Prepared reports for US and Iraqi government officials.
- Led cross-functional teams for successful project execution while maintaining strong collaboration among team members.
Manager, Research and Evaluation
Management Systems International
- Designing and managing research and evaluation projects across all USAID initiatives in East Africa, including conflict mitigation, countering violent extremism, education, health and climate change.
- Managing consultants, budget and research output.
- Reporting and providing advice to US government officials and local NGOs.
- Managed budget allocations to prioritize spending on high-impact projects, optimizing resource utilization.
Director, Decentralisation
Management Systems International
- Led significant reforms in governance and democracy, embedding performance measures across USAID's Tarabot programme in Iraq.
- Supported the delivery of administrative reform across all sectors and provinces.
- Managed ministerial and functional team leads, prepared strategic advice for US and Iraqi government officials, and conducted special projects evaluations focusing on women, minorities, and displaced persons.
- Proactively identified potential risks and implemented mitigation strategies to minimize negative impacts on projects or business operations, developing and maintaining relevant governance frameworks and first and second-line risk registers.
- Enhanced team collaboration through regular communication, goal setting, and performance evaluations.
- Strengthened internal controls by reviewing existing policies and procedures, ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements.
Principal evaluation/strategic policy advisor
Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority
- Leading strategic policy projects to establish sustainable work programmes (infrastructure, environment, socio-economic recovery) across government.
- Developing and implementing strategic research and evaluation projects to measure performance, identify key risks and ensure compliance with regulatory and policy priorities.
- Advising cross-government stakeholders and ministers.
- Promoted transparency in policymaking processes by engaging diverse stakeholder groups throughout all stages of planning, development, implementation and evaluation.
Consultant
General Secretariat for Development and Planning
- Designing and conducting an organisational review and evaluation across sectors to inform the Qatar 2020 strategy.
- Advising on opportunities for economic diversification including financial inclusion, education, sport and technological innovation.
- With the Qatar Statistics Authority, developed standards for data governance and compliance with international regulations and frameworks.
- Advising on international regulatory standards to law enforcement to develop anti-money laundering/counter-terrorist financing practices.
- Working with stakeholders across government and civil society.
Senior Advisor - Public Sector Monitoring
Te Puni Kōkiri
- Developed roadmap to drive ministry’s government effectiveness for Māori/Better Public Services workstream.
- Providing advice to SLT, CE and Minister on linking effectiveness for Māori with the performance of wider government initiatives.
- Report writing, ministerial briefings and cross-government liaison.
Consultant
BearingPoint/KPMG
- Designing and delivering organisational and functional reviews across sectors in Europe, the Middle East and the Former Soviet Union to rationalise administrative functions and promote competitive development in ICT, SMEs, central banking and finance.
Evaluation consultant
Commonwealth Secretariat
- Conducting research and evaluation across the Secretariat’s programmes throughout the Commonwealth, multi-country evaluation, ensuring compliance with relevant governance and risk frameworks.
- Preparing bespoke research and evaluation reports on discrete programmes.
- Preparing the Report to the Commonwealth Heads of Government.
Organisational Development Advisor
Adam Smith International
- Conducted organisational reviews of the three central ministries and advised on structure and development needs.
- Assisted with the establishment of the Office of Interim Prime Minister in a constitutionally fluid context.
Senior Manager, Client Services
ACNielsen
- Preparing technical proposals for public sector evaluations.
- Designing, implementing and managing evaluations for public sector organisations.
- Managing contracts and clients to optimise resource allocation and improve efficiency.
Team Leader, Evaluation
Department of Corrections
- Leading team to manage cross-organisational evaluations of integrated offender management.
- Assessing compliance with legislation, identifying organisational risks and advising on modification and mitigation.
- Contract management.
Research Fellow
University of Bristol
- Part of team evaluating pilot/demonstration projects in burglary reduction and violence against women/family-based violence.
- Applied research techniques to determine effectiveness of crime reduction interventions in line with new legislation.
Education
Ph.D. - Ethics And Population Health
University of Otago
New Zealand01.2023
Master of Bioethics and Health Law -
University of Otago
New Zealand01.2016
Master of Criminology and Criminal Justice -
Loughborough University
United KingdomLLB - Law
University of Otago
BA (Hons) - Philosophy
University of North London
Skills
- Governance, regulatory and performance frameworks
- Risk management and mitigation
- Evaluation and performance audit
- Ethics frameworks
- GovTech implementation and advisory on AI uptake (ML, LLM, agentic AI)
- Strategic and organisational performance
- Policy development and advice
- Strategic advice and thought leadership
- Software: MS Office including Excel; Apple ecosystem
- Statistical analysis - R, SPSS, STATA; qualitative analysis - Atlasti, NVivo
- Programming and data vis: Anaconda environment (eg, Python), R Studio, PowerBI
Affiliations
- Australian Evaluation Society
- American Evaluation Society
- Law and Society Association
Publications
Author of numerous publications in peer-reviewed journals and a book with Palgrave Macmillan (2022)., Presented research findings at international conferences and workshops.
Additional Skills And Training
MS Office Suite, STATA, SPSS, Jamovi, NVivo, Atlas.ti, Experienced in applying gender analysis and community-based participatory research., Extensive experience in conducting research and evaluation in economic development contexts., University of Cambridge Judge Business School – Open Banking and Open Finance (2024), IMF PFM, IMF Central Banking Law (2023), IMFx Financial Inclusion (2024), Fluent in French and German, Some proficiency in Arabic, Te Reo Māori, Thai, Lao, and NZSL
Certification
Certified AI Governance Professional (AIGP) - International Association of Privacy Professionals (2025)
Prince2 Agile - AXELOS (2023)
University of Cambridge Judge Business School – Open Banking and Open Finance (2024)
IMF Public Financial Management
IMF Central Banking Law (2023)
IMFx Financial Inclusion (2024)
Languages
English
Native or Bilingual
French
Professional Working
German
Professional Working
Timeline
Manager, Governance, Risk and Evaluation
Financial Markets Authority
09.2023 - Current
Programme Evaluator
University of Canterbury
07.2022 - 09.2023
Research Consultant
Office of the Auditor General
10.2021 - 10.2022
BA (Hons) - Philosophy
University of North London
Team Lead, Program Evaluation
IBTCI
Manager, Research and Evaluation
Management Systems International
Director, Decentralisation
Management Systems International
Principal evaluation/strategic policy advisor
Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority
Consultant
General Secretariat for Development and Planning
Senior Advisor - Public Sector Monitoring
Te Puni Kōkiri
Consultant
BearingPoint/KPMG
Evaluation consultant
Commonwealth Secretariat
Organisational Development Advisor
Adam Smith International
Senior Manager, Client Services
ACNielsen
Team Leader, Evaluation
Department of Corrections
Research Fellow
University of Bristol
Ph.D. - Ethics And Population Health
University of Otago
Master of Bioethics and Health Law -
University of Otago
Master of Criminology and Criminal Justice -
Loughborough University
LLB - Law
University of Otago
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