Wahine in Data Ōtautahi

Data Governance and Ethics, Privacy and Security – Speaker Panel

Welcome to 2026 Wahine in Data Ōtautahi, and our first event for the year – Data Governance and Ethics, Privacy and Security – and we have a fantastic panel lined up!

Nicoleta Croitoru

Nicoleta is the Director, Technology and Transformation, Cyber, Privacy and Resilience at Deloitte. She brings a wealth of expertise in designing and delivering technical cybersecurity solutions across a wide range of industries for clients throughout Aotearoa. She is passionate about helping organisations leverage modern technology in ways that safeguard their critical digital assets against cyber threats.

Over the past 15 years, Nicoleta has played a lead role in delivering numerous significant engagements across both the public and private sectors in New Zealand. She is known for providing pragmatic, fit‑for‑purpose cybersecurity solutions that are tailored to each organisation’s needs and aligned to its current level of maturity.

Ana Connor

Ana has over 20 years’ experience working across data quality and data governance in the supermarket and primary sectors, with long tenures at organisations including Foodstuffs and Sanford. Her background spans complex, high-volume environments where accurate, well-governed data is critical to operational performance, supplier management, and customer outcomes.

Ana is currently with Farmlands, where she is leading a product master data initiative alongside the development of practical data governance frameworks and tools. This work is focused on embedding strong data disciplines into everyday ways of working, ensuring governance is sustainable, scalable, and actually used — not just documented.

Amy Cohen

Amy originally studied human factors but is now applying those learnings to data and compliance. Amy worked in the financial services sector for the better part of a decade, in everything from sales to OHS to being a data analyst, and more recently she was a Data Governance Specialist, before becoming a Compliance Risk Specialist and Privacy Officer.

After leaving financial services, Amy moved through to being a Data Governance lead in the agricultural sector. Most recently she has moved into consulting, specialising in Data Governance, AI and Compliance.

Aimee Whitcroft
Aimee is a nationally and internationally known advocate for what she calls #openX – open data, open government, open access, open source and so on. She mixes these with her passion for privacy advocacy and data governance and strategy.

A sought-out speaker, writer and consultant, She’s been involved personally and professionally in these ecosystems for many years, as well as having worked in management consulting, science, communications, technology and foresight. She’s passionate about engaging with people and communities to help build a stronger, kinder, more resilient New Zealand.