Susan Freeman-Greene

“We only ever have impact with or through people, so building teams and working towards an aspirational long-term vision is really important to me.”

With a professional career as a lawyer and mediator, belief in the power of community, and 20 years in leadership roles – twelve as a Chief Executive, Susan Freeman-Greene could easily have run as a candidate for council herself.

But right now, she is happiest where she is, working hard for the membership body and the councils, to leverage the opportunity that is local democracy.

Susan joined LGNZ in October 2020. She was drawn in by the opportunity for local government to achieve greater impact and the ability to do great things for communities in the face of some turbulent times.

Susan says the role is at the perfect junction of all her life and career experiences to date. She has worked within many sectors and with many diverse groups of people, in cities, towns and rural communities both here and internationally. It’s led her to become pretty comfortable operating in a range of settings and adapting to change.

She would love to see more participation in local government and for people to value its role more than they do today. She knows intimately of the enormous commitment and mahi done behind the scenes by passionate, committed, smart and caring people who put in the hard yards, day-in, day-out.

And while more is needed to ensure people understand this work, she is proud of the environment that has been created to push firmly into this positive space for the betterment of communities.