Boards are making consequential decisions about AI.

Helen is the founder of Directorly and one of New Zealand’s leading voices at the intersection of governance and artificial intelligence. She works with boards and senior executives to cut through the noise around AI - building genuine capability, not just awareness - so that directors can lead with confidence in a rapidly shifting landscape.

What sets Helen apart is that she doesn’t just advise on AI. She uses it. Across her businesses and board roles, Helen has applied AI to automate operations, sharpen decision-making, and build marketing and customer strategies that perform. Her engagement with AI stretches back to 2017, through substantive work at Vodafone involving digital humans, RPA, and chatbots - well before it became boardroom currency.

She brings that same grounded, practical lens to governance. As a current board director of the Co-operative Bank, Co-operative Life, and Centrix Group, she has also served as Chair of the HR Institute of NZ and Answers Services Ltd, with past directorships spanning The Warehouse Financial Services, Ruralco, and Zeal. She’s sat in the room. She knows what boards actually need.

Her executive career - spanning Air New Zealand, Vodafone, Lotto, Westpac, and American Express — built over 15 years of leadership across customer experience, digital transformation, marketing and operations. That commercial depth is what makes her advice actionable rather than theoretical.

Helen is a graduate of the IoD’s Advanced Director Programme and a mentor in the IoD’s Te Ara Tāwhaki Programme - a commitment that reflects both her standing within the governance community and her belief in developing the next generation of directors. She is BoardPro’s lead speaker across their AI webinar series and runs their AI Masterclass, and is a contributor to governance conversations through BoardRoom magazine and speaking on the podcasts for the IoD and Govern 365.

If your board is navigating AI and wants a trusted, experienced guide, not just another workshop, please get in touch.