Katrina Casey announced as new acting chief executive of New Zealand’s education department

New Zealand’s outgoing state services commissioner Iain Rennie has appointed Katrina Casey as acting education chief to fill a post due to be vacated by his successor.
Rennie is leaving government at the end of June after 30 years as a public servant, eight of which he worked as commissioner.
Last week, prime minister John Key announced education secretary Peter Hughes as new commissioner, who will start his new job on 4 July.
Hughes’s post will temporarily be filled by Casey who has been deputy secretary, Sector Enablement and Support, at the education department for almost four years.
She is responsible for ensuring all support to the sector and operations and programmes provided directly to learners focuses on maximising learner achievement.
Sector Enablement and Support was newly formed in early 2012 to bring together the Ministry’s service delivery functions into one place.
Before her current role, Casey was general manager, community probation services, at the Department of Corrections, where she led 2,500 staff across 220 locations to manage offenders serving community sentences and orders.
Casey joined Corrections as general manager strategic development when it was formed as a new department in 1995. She had previously worked in the Inland Revenue Department and the Ministry of Works and Development.
She holds a Bachelor of Science from Canterbury University and a Masters in Regional and Resource Planning with distinction from Otago University, also previously worked in the Inland Revenue Department and the Ministry of Works and Development.
The recruitment process for a permanent education secretary will start in due course.
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