Media Statement
Thursday, 4 July, 2013
LINZ Scoops IPANZ Awards
Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) is today celebrating two major achievements, having last night received the IPANZ
2013 ‘Improving Performance through Leadership Excellence’ and ‘New Professional of the Year’ awards.
The ‘New Professional of the Year’ award recognises excellent performance by a new professional within the New Zealand
public sector, and was won by LINZ Data Service (LDS) Manager Jeremy Palmer.
LINZ Chief Executive Peter Mersi described Jeremy as a visionary, whose leadership has previously been recognised at the
Asia Pacific Spatial Excellence Awards and the Australia and New Zealand Internet Awards.
“Jeremy has led LDS to international acclaim and overseen the growth of its customer base to over 5,600 customers –
shepherding it from project mode to business as usual, and enabling it to continually evolve to meet customer needs.
“Jeremy’s passion for open data and customer service has contributed in no small part to the impressive growth in
service uptake. LDS was also a finalist in its category last night.”
The IPANZ award for ‘Improving Performance through Leadership Excellence’ was presented to LINZ for building a
highly-engaged workplace.
“In 2009 we embarked on a journey of cultural change with our people to create a workplace where they felt valued,
empowered and connected to LINZ’s vision. As such, we launched the ‘Our Place - making a great place’ initiative.
“‘Our Place’ is a way for our senior leaders to lead LINZ in a collective and inclusive way; to make it a place where
employees want to stay and grow, and to attract new staff to a productive and nurturing environment.
In 2012 LINZ achieved an employee engagement score of 4.16 out of five – the highest score in the Public Sector, and up
from 3.88 in 2011.
“These awards are an immense endorsement of LINZ’s work and dedication. They demonstrate that LINZ is a place where
staff are actively supported, where passion and drive are rewarded, where innovation and creativity is embraced, and
where the customer is put first.”
ENDS