OUR BOARD & TRUSTEES
All of our Board members and Trustees are specialists in their respective fields and continue to give their time to The Hearing House at no cost.
Chris Moore - Chair
Chris has been chair of The Cochlear Implant Foundation of New Zealand since 2020, continuing the mahi of his late father and founder of The Hearing House, Sir Patrick Eisdell Moore (Sir Pat), an eminent New Zealand surgeon and medical researcher.
Sir Pat was a pioneer in cochlear implants and was the first person in the world to perform an eardrum transplant. Sir Pat served as a medical officer in World War II in the28th Māori Battalion.
Chris is chair of the Large Scale Infrastructure Governance Group, overseeing large scale public projects in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland.
He is chair of the College of Law New Zealand and was previously president of the NZ Law Society.
Chris’s career included ten years as a partner at Russell McVeagh. In 1999, he joined Meredith Connell to establish and head its commercial/commercial property practice.
He was also chair of the firm’s board for a number of years. In 2013 he founded the Auckland office of Greenwood Roche, a specialist projects firm.
In 2021he established his own consultancy firm specialising in commercial property and legal advice.
Trustees include:
Dr Ron Goodey
Bill Patterson
Sally Synnott
Richard Webb
Robert Gunn
Dr Diane Winstanley
The Hearing House
Advisory Board - Directors
David Cameron Brown, Chair
David runs his own strategic advisory business, Cameron Brown Corporate Advisory Limited, providing independent advice on commercial strategy, capital raising and investor relations, acquisition, and divestment and merger opportunities to a wide range of public and private enterprises.
Prior to establishing Cameron Brown Corporate Advisory, David was a Partner of Goldman Sachs JBWere and Co-head of Investment Banking at Goldman Sachs JBWere New Zealand.
David has over 30 years’ experience in investment banking and corporate advisory and has advised some of New Zealand’s largest companies and public entities on strategy, capital raisings, NZX listing, investor relations, and asset sales and purchases. David has also held board positions on private and public companies.
David was appointed as Chair of The Hearing House Advisory Board in May 2024.
Professor Suzanne Purdy
Suzanne Purdy (Te Rarawa, NgāiTakoto) is a Professor inthe School of Psychology at the University of Auckland, having previously been Head of School and Head of Discipline of Speech Science within Psychology.
She has broad interests in communication and neuroscience, including auditory processing and electrophysiology, communication difficulties in children and adults and ear and hearing health equity.
She is Principal Investigator with the Centre for Brain Research and Co-Deputy Director of the Eisdell Moore Centre for Hearing and Balance Research.
She is a member of the hearing research team for the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study and is co-investigator on HRC-funded research seeking to reduce inequities in Well Child Tāmariki Ora developmental surveillance.
In 2022, Suzanne was made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit. She has served on The Hearing House AdvisoryBoard since 2018.
Associate Professor Dr David Welch
Dr David Welch originally studied psychology and physiology, and has since developed expertise in longitudinal research, epidemiology, health promotion, and population health.
His current research interests in hearing are around the influences of sound, hearing, and hearing loss on people.
He is involved in research and service provision in adults with cochlear implants, has interests in newborn hearing screening, and is involved in research about environmental noise and the soundscape.
He is based in the Audiology Section of the School of Population Health at the University of Auckland, where he is currently involved in teaching the Master of Audiology programme, mainly in areas related to physiology, neurophysiology, psychology of hearing, hearing screening, and community interventions.
Dr Colin Brown
Dr. Colin Brown is a highly regarded Otolaryngologist-Head and Neck Surgeon (Ear Nose and Throat Surgeon) with a specialisation in ear surgery, hearing implants, and hearing disorders.
With over 25 years of experience as a consultant ear surgeon at Starship Children’s Hospital, he has treated a diverse range of ear diseases, deformities, and deafness in children.
Additionally, Dr. Brown plays a crucial role as a senior surgeon for the Northern Regional Cochlear Implant Programme.
His expertise and dedication have earned him recognition as a peer reviewer for the International Journal of Pediatric Otolaryngology and ACC, New Zealand, and he previously served as the president of the Australian and New Zealand Society of Paediatric Otorhinolaryngology (ANZSPO).
Josh Foreman
Josh Foreman is a cochlear implant user and a Professional Teaching Fellow at The University of Auckland.
With a recently completed Masters of Science in Clinical Exercise Physiology, he excels in helping individuals achieve their fitness goals and rehabilitating clinical patients.
As an enthusiastic mentor, Josh engages with hard of hearing teenagers to discuss their lives and future aspirations.
Driven by a love for challenges, he strives to be the best and is dedicated to making a positive impact in the field of Health and Fitness.
Willa Hand
In 2019, Willa’s youngest son Emerson lost his hearing as a result of illness and is now profoundly deaf aided by Cochlear and now, 5 years later.
Willa is excited to give back the The Hearing House as a Board Member.
Alongside her work in the Deaf community as President of Auckland Parents of Deaf Children, Willa has extensive experience in culture and engagement, process improvement, strategy and member lifecycle, skills she's hoping to put to good use with the team.
Willa is an advocate for NZSL and Deaf Culture and credits the Cochlear and Deaf communities for embracing providing support and encouragement as she learnt to navigate both the hearing and deaf worlds and advocate for her son and others in the community.
Kirimoana Willoughby
Kirimoana Willoughby (Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei, Ngapuhi) is assistant village manager at Eastcliffe retirement village.
She joined The Hearing House Advisory Board in 2022.
Kirimoana has worked in both the private and public health sector for several years, including Counties Manukau Hospital and Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei health insurance scheme for nib NZ where she assisted many of her whānau with the scheme before moving to general practice manager at Ōrākei Health in 2020.
She has also served on the Auckland DHB board as part of its Future Directors programme.