Change In Leadership At Careerforce

With Careerforce due to transition into Te Pūkenga as a business division of its Work Based Learning (WBL) subsidiary on 1 September, Jane Wenman has announced that she will be finishing her tenure as Chief Executive of Careerforce. Rod Bentham will assume the role of Director of the Careerforce business division of WBL, effective from 1 September.

Jane Wenman first joined Careerforce as its Chief Financial Officer in September 2016, before becoming Chief Executive in December 2018. Reflecting on her tenure, Wenman commented that “it has been an absolute privilege to lead Careerforce through the last 4 years, albeit having to navigate the turmoil created by the Reform of Vocational Education (RoVE) and then Covid-19. My six years with Careerforce have been a career highlight, and I can only hope that my next role will be with an organisation with the same sense of passion and purpose as Careerforce.”

Fiona Pimm, Careerforce Board Chair, paid tribute to Jane’s leadership. “Little did we know back in 2018 when Jane was appointed, just what the next four years had in store for us. Jane has not only demonstrated tremendous leadership through this tumultuous period, but also led the organisation to far superior outcomes.”

Rod Bentham is currently Careerforce’s General Manager of Learning Solutions, and has been with Careerforce since May 2018. He has nearly 25 years experience in vocational education and training, including tenures across both polytechnic and industry training organisations, and ten years leading national qualifications services at NZQA. Pimm further commented, “Rod was a logical replacement for Jane to steer Careerforce through the next phase of its transition. He is well respected both within Careerforce and across the vocational education spectrum, and has a wealth of knowledge and experience to bring to the role.”

Rod Bentham commented “it is a real honour to be given this opportunity to lead Careerforce. It’s also exciting to see the importance being placed on work based learning within Te Pūkenga, and the recognition of learner scale that the transitioned ITOs bring to Te Pūkenga. As we enter the next stage of our transition as part of the Work Based Learning subsidiary, my focus will be on harnessing the collective experience and passion of the Careerforce whānau. As an organisation, ensuring that the outcomes of our employers and learners will continue to be our top priority.”

For all media enquiries please contact Paul Williams, General Manager Marketing, Communications & Insights on 027 600 7395, or at paul.williams@careerforce.org.nz.

Careerforce is the Industry Training Organisation (ITO) for the health, mental health, youth work, disability, social services and cleaning sectors. Careerforce support employers across New Zealand’s health and wellbeing sectors to run workplace training programmes, allowing staff to achieve nationally recognised qualifications on and off the job. For more information please see: www.careerforce.org.nz

© Scoop Media