This webinar is for ALGIM Council / CCO members only.
New Zealand local government is facing one of the most significant periods of change in its history. Water reform, the head start program, changes to planning legislation, community demands for online services and pressure to deliver more with constrained budgets are all converging at the same time. While these reforms may appear separate, they share a common dependency: the ability to capture, connect, govern and use data effectively.
This webinar explores why leading councils are increasingly treating data as a strategic asset rather than simply an operational by-product. Participants will gain practical insights into how a modern data foundation can improve organisational efficiency, enable automation, support evidence-based decision making, and create more personalised and responsive community services.
The session will demonstrate how connected and trusted data can help councils reduce duplication, break down information silos, improve compliance and reporting, strengthen security and privacy controls, and prepare for responsible AI adoption. It will also examine the role data plays in supporting future shared services models and potential council mergers, where access to trusted information becomes critical to successful transformation.
Join Spark | Qrious and New Plymouth District Council for this webinar where we will discuss how local government can create the data foundations and platforms to enable automation and AI use case delivery and to best serve the needs of the community. Hayden Leith, Qrious Head of Advisory and AI will discuss how to put these foundations in place and Angela Jowitt, Puke Ariki and Community Libraries Manager from New Plymouth District Council will share how they have used data to build an AI Analyst enabling staff to ask plan English questions from 14 Million transactions spanning 2018 to today.
Designed for elected members, executives, senior leaders, community and services teams and digital decision makers, this session focuses on outcomes rather than technology. Attendees will leave with a clear understanding of how treating data as a strategic asset can help their council become more efficient, more resilient, and better equipped to deliver the services and community outcomes that New Zealanders increasingly expect.
About the Presenters:
Hayden Leith
Head of Advisory and AI
Qrious
Hayden is the Director of Advisory and AI at Spark|Qrious, Spark’s data and AI consulting business. He helps organisations across Aotearoa turn data and AI ambition into practical strategies, stronger capabilities and measurable business value.
Drawing on extensive experience in New Zealand and internationally, Hayden specialises in data and AI strategy, programme design, business case development and enterprise AI enablement. He works with senior leaders to translate ambition into practical roadmaps, investment priorities and delivery programmes that build organisational capability and accelerate responsible AI adoption across Aotearoa.
Angela Jowitt
Tumuaki Whare Pukapuka - Puke Ariki Manager Libraries
New Plymouth District Council
Angela has a background as a Digital Library Specialist and now manages the Puke Ariki and Community Libraries. She is contributing to this project to bring better insights to Libraries through data and digital initiatives. NPDC's library network spans seven branches from Puke Ariki to the New Plymouth Mobile Library. With a focus on making operational data accessible and actionable, she has championed the adoption of AI-powered analytics to support evidence-based collection and service decisions.
Andrew Terwiel
Data Engineer
New Plymouth District Council
Andrew Terwiel is a Data Engineer with New Plymouth District Council's Data & GIS team. Passionate about solving complex data challenges, he helps design and maintain the systems, integrations, and data pipelines that underpin reporting, analytics, and business intelligence across Council. Andrew enjoys turning data into practical outcomes and works collaboratively with colleagues to ensure information is accurate, accessible, and supports better decisions for the community.
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