Meet our Newest Trustees
In May 2026, ConneXu welcomed Andrew Sheed and Larissa Davies to our Board of Trustees, bringing two distinct and complementary perspectives to our governance team.
A few months into their time with ConneXu, we'd like to introduce them to our wider community and share a little more about the experience, perspectives and passion they bring to our Board.
While Andrew and Larissa come from very different professional backgrounds, both bring strong strategic capability, extensive experience working with organisations through change, and a shared desire to contribute to an organisation making a meaningful difference in the lives of disabled people and their whanau.
Meet Andrew Sheed
For Larissa Davies, joining the ConneXu Board also represents something of a homecoming.
Having grown up in Te Awamutu and now living locally again, Larissa was drawn to the opportunity to contribute her experience to an organisation making a tangible difference within her community.
Larissa is a strategic advisor with extensive experience in organisational transformation, digital capability, human-centred design and service development.
Earlier in her career, she spent a decade with Accenture, where she established and led its human-centred design and innovation capability in New Zealand. Her work has involved supporting leadership teams across government, community and commercial organisations to navigate complex change, shape strategy and design services around the needs of the people and communities who use them.
After a career spanning more than 40 years with ANZ, Andrew Sheed brings significant commercial, financial and leadership experience to the ConneXu Board.
Andrew held a number of senior executive positions during his banking career, most recently as General Manager Corporate New Zealand, leading ANZ's property finance and large commercial business teams across the country. His experience also includes commercial property, finance, risk governance, organisational change and leading large teams.
Since retiring from ANZ, Andrew has begun building a small portfolio of governance roles and saw joining ConneXu as an opportunity to use his experience in a very different environment.
Meet Larissa Davies
She has also worked alongside Māori and Pacific communities and whānau, reinforcing her interest in culturally responsive, whanau-centred approaches to service design.
Larissa says ConneXu's commitment to supporting disabled people and their whānau to live life their way strongly resonates with her. She is particularly interested in approaches that enable greater choice and control for disabled people while recognising the important role of whānau, communities and natural supports.
Alongside her professional experience, Larissa brings community governance experience, including five years as Treasurer of her local Playcentre.
Her strategic and systems perspective, combined with experience in digital transformation and designing services around people's real needs, will add another valuable dimension to the ConneXu Board.
Strengthening our governance for the future
The appointments of Andrew and Larissa add two distinct but complementary perspectives to an already diverse Board.
Their experience across commercial leadership, finance, risk, strategy, digital transformation, service design and community governance will support the Board as it provides oversight and strategic leadership for ConneXu's next chapter.
We warmly welcome Andrew and Larissa to ConneXu and look forward to the contribution they will make to our organisation, the People We Partner With, their whanau and our wider communities.