Leadership

Karen Chang joined the Serious Fraud Office as Director and Chief Executive in April 2022.  Prior to this Ms Chang was Head of Enforcement at the Financial Markets Authority (FMA), a role she had held since 2017. She was also Acting General Counsel from November 2021, leading the policy,  governance, corporate legal,  investigations and enforcement functions.

Prior to joining FMA, Ms Chang was a senior Crown prosecutor at Auckland, conducting a range of judge alone and jury trials involving serious criminal offending.  Ms Chang began her career in private practice, specialising in commercial and regulatory litigation, practising in Auckland, Sydney and most recently, in New York.  She remains a registered attorney of the New York State Bar.

Karen holds a Bachelor of Law (Hons) and a Bachelor of Commerce (Hons) in Accounting & Finance, from the University of Auckland.

Kylie joined the SFO in 2017 and has extensive senior operational and legal leadership experience within the agency, including leading frontline teams, managing the SFO’s prosecution function and acting as General Counsel. Before joining the SFO, Kylie spent a decade with the NZ Police in various roles, including as a serious crime detective. Kylie has also worked as a lawyer with Crown Law in their Criminal Group, appearing for the Crown in the appellate courts, and has spent time in private practice acting on commercial transactions. Kylie holds an LLM, LLB (Hons) and BSc from the University of Auckland.

Cam Moore joined the SFO in October 2023. Prior to joining the SFO, Cam was the National Manager of Investigations (Intelligence, Investigations and Enforcement) at NZ Customs. Cam started his career with the NZ Police, where he held the rank of Detective Senior Sergeant in charge of the Auckland Central Criminal Investigations Branch.  He spent five years working for the United Nations as Chief Resident Investigator in Sudan, Uganda and New York with a global work remit investigating large scale fraud and corruption. He was with Immigration NZ for seven years, where he led significant operations as the National Manager of Investigations.

Dan Eaton joined the SFO in November 2023 as Deputy Chief Executive Strategy and Engagement. Prior to this Dan was Director, National Security Policy, with the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. Earlier roles include Director of Defence Policy with the Ministry of Defence, and Director of System Performance (Continuous Improvement) with the Public Service Commission. Before joining the public service, Dan’s career was in journalism in New Zealand and across Asia.

Rose Rehm joined the SFO in January 2015 as Principal Investigating Lawyer and was appointed to the role of Manager Investigations in September 2020. Prior to joining the SFO, Rose worked in private practice in both Auckland and London, where she acted on a variety of commercial, criminal and regulatory matters. Her practice included the conduct of complex civil fraud proceedings in the English Commercial Court and the conduct of corporate corruption investigations for clients with international operations. Rose holds a BA/LLB (Hons) from the University of Auckland.

John Woolford joined the SFO in March 2007 as an investigator. Prior to this John was a Detective for New Zealand Police, where he had spent 11 years. During his SFO career, John has been involved in a wide range of fraud and corruption investigations, including those associated with the finance company collapses of the late 2000s, corruption cases involving public officials and large-scale fraud committed by senior members of private companies.

Shane Mannix is a former NZ Police Detective who worked in the Counties Manukau Police District. In June 2011, as part of the SFO’s response to the Global Financial Crisis, Shane was seconded to work as an investigator at the SFO. In March 2013 Shane accepted a permanent position at the SFO working in the dual role of investigator and electronic forensic investigator. In 2015 Shane completed his Forensic Computer Examiner certification which is offered by the International Association of Computer Investigative Specialists. He was promoted to the Manager of Forensic Services in 2020.

Tim Townsend joined the SFO in August 2021. Prior to this, Tim’s work background has consisted of a combination of public and private sector roles, focused on negotiations and management.  He has held positions as an Operational Manager in MBIE, Chief Crown Negotiator in Canada, and Rio Tinto Rough Diamond Executive in Belgium.  Tim has a BA in Economics from the University of Calgary and is a member of the First Nations Sahtu Mountain Dene in the Canadian Arctic.