Dr Lester Levy started his working life as a medical doctor and subsequently became a chief executive, entrepreneur and chair of board of directors across a diverse range of industry sectors. He has been appointed to twenty-five boards over the past two and a half decades, fourteen as board chair.
Current work
Lester is the appointed Chair of Auckland Transport, the New Zealand Health Research Council, Tonkin and Taylor, the New Zealand Radiology Group and the Eye Institute. He is the retired Chair of the Auckland, Counties Manukau and Waitemata District Health Boards and is one of five independent advisors on the Ministerial Advisory Group on Health.
He is a Lead Reviewer for the State Service Commission’s Performance Improvement Framework, which is a joint central agency initiative to help public sector senior leaders improve performance of the agencies.
Dr Levy is widely recognised and respected for his leadership knowledge and research and was the foundation Head of the New Zealand Leadership Institute at the University of Auckland, where he is now an Adjunct Professor of Leadership at the University of Auckland’s Graduate School of Management. He is best known for leading a number of very successful organisational performance transformations in both the private and public sector.
Accolades
In the 2013 New Year’s Honours List Dr Levy was appointed as a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to health and education.
Lester's presentation exceeded our expectations and the audience's reaction was overwhelmingly positive. ... keep reading RNZAF
Lester's presentation was both entertaining and thought provoking, something that is not easy to achieve. The audience thoroughly enjoyed the presentation, there was a good balance of humour and sharing of ideas.
Lester picked up on parts in the brief and offered a challenge to current practices. An informative and entertaining presentation.
Lester has the ability to engage people immediately and to hold their attention throughout his presentation. The audience were impressed with his honesty and how he was able to make it lively and relevant to them.
"Dr Levy was very generous with his time and because he had spoken to us prior to the event, he was able to deliver a motivating, relevant and personalised speech. Feedback from participants at the event was very positive and included comments such as "Dr Lester Levy was a wealth of knowledge!"
