May 2024 – EMPA New Zealand Conference

The EMPA New Zealand Conference Committee is thrilled to announce two keynote speakers for EMPA New Zealand 2024!

Andrew Campbell is Global Director of Strategic Communications for the Octopus Energy Group based in London. He has also been on the frontline of New Zealand’s recent major emergency events. As Chief Press Secretary to Dame Jacinda Ardern and Chris Hipkins he devised the media strategy and led the Government’s communications response through an unprecedented range of domestic crisis including COVID-19, the Whakaari/White Island volcanic eruption, the 2019 Christchurch terrorist attack and resulting ban of semi-automatic firearms and the responses to a range of climate related disasters including the historic 2023 Auckland floods and Cyclone Gabrielle – New Zealand’s most costly weather event.

Mark Trüdinger is the Group Recovery Manager for Northland Civil Defence Emergency Management. With an initial background in communications, he has worked for the last two decades for an organisation that specialises in working with communities who have experienced hardship and trauma after disasters, war, and genocide. His approach to community engagement in the Recovery from 2023’s Cyclone Gabrielle blended traditional approaches from communications and community engagement with collective community practices. As part of this recovery and preparing the Regional Recovery Plan for Northland, he worked with more than 500 people and 100 organisations. The conference program will be released shortly via the website and the EMPA newsletter. Ensure you’re on the mailing list!