The Fin-Ed Centre's new Chairperson, David Kneebone
Saving for a rainy day, planning for retirement and stability of income in the future are some of the key financial challenges facing New Zealanders, and Massey University’s Financial Education (Fin-Ed) Centre is gearing up to provide expertise and guidance to support Kiwis in making sound decisions.
Established in 2011, the Fin-Ed Centre was originally a joint initiative between Westpac New Zealand and Massey University. After almost 10 years, Westpac stepped down from their involvement with the centre at the end of 2020.
Fin-Ed Director Dr Pushpa Wood says she is extremely grateful for the past decade of collaboration with Westpac and their involvement with setting up the centre.
“Thank you to Westpac – the centre looks forward to continuing our work to help New Zealanders become more financially savvy and hopes to continue working with Westpac in the mutual areas of research and education interest in future.”
The Fin-Ed Centre is poised for a new era and will continue with their extensive work around improving financial capability, professionalising the sector through their workforce development programmes, new online education course offerings, research, and consultancy, Dr Wood says.
The centre also has a new Chairperson after long serving Chair, Dame Diana Crossan, who stepped down from the role in March 2021.
The centre is extremely thankful to Dame Diana for the leadership and guidance she has given in her 10 year involvement with the centre, including the past three years as Chairperson, Dr Woods says.
Diana Crossan was New Zealand’s Retirement Commissioner for 10 years where she transformed the role into a broadly influential office, before being appointed Dame Companion of The New Zealand Order of Merit for her work in equal employment opportunities, retirement income and work in several charities.
The Fin-Ed Centre is excited to welcome David Kneebone into the role of Chairperson. He brings with him national and international experience covering both private and public organisations.
Mr Kneebone is returning from six years in Hong Kong as the Board Director and General Manager of the Investor and Financial Education Council and has previously held roles in the Commission for Financial Capability in New Zealand, including Executive Director (2010 -2014).
Dr Wood says the centre is excited to have Mr Kneebone on board and looks forward to working with him in a new era. “Mr Kneebone is a great addition to our board as he brings with him not only great experience, but his passion is working with organisations that have a strong cause-related focus.
“As the centre really starts to develop our workforce programmes and personal financial capability resources, we know that David will be a huge asset in this push,” she says.
Mr Kneebone says he’s looking forward to his new role. “New Zealand deserves an academic centre of excellence focused on financial education and I’m very pleased Massey University continues to support the Fin-Ed Centre.”
The Massey Financial Education and Research (Fin-Ed) Centre works to help New Zealanders become more financially savvy by improving their knowledge, attitudes and behaviour towards money. The Fin-Ed Centre is globally unique for the breadth of its work around financial capability, covering education, research and consultancy. We undertake research and evaluate programmes. We also run courses and professional development programmes for both groups and individuals in personal financial management.
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