Corporate Publications BOPDHB Orientation & Information Booklet | Page 17

Chief Executive
Helen Mason – Chief Executive
Helen started her career in health as a registered nurse and a midwife
before moving into the private health sector and the pharmaceutical
industry. Originally from Zimbabwe, she has also worked in Scotland,
England and Australia.
Helen has held a number of positions at the Bay of Plenty District
Health Board. She started as a Flexi nurse at Tauranga Hospital, before
becoming a Nurse Manager and then a Decision Support Advisor. As
General Manager Planning and Funding she was accountable for leading strategic planning and for
purchasing a wide range of primary and secondary health care services. As Chief Operating Officer,
Helen led the delivery of secondary health services through our hospitals in Tauranga and Whakatāne,
community health centres at Opotiki, Te Kaha and Murupara, mental health inpatient and community
services, and regional community services.
Her professional interests include future care planning, the social determinants of health, vulnerable
populations and quality improvement.
Helen’s M.B.A. is from the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, and her nursing and midwifery
qualifications are from the College of Nursing and Midwifery, Addington Hospital, Durban. She is on the
faculty at Harvard Medical School.
In 2014-15 Helen was awarded the New Zealand Harkness Fellow in Health Care Policy and Practice,
and was an Institute for Healthcare Improvement Fellow in Boston, USA. Helen is married to Max Mason
and has an adult son, Mungo.
11