EA/PA Leadership Summit Aotearoa 2026

Melanie Unstead is one of New Zealand's leading voices on leadership development and executive partnership. As an executive coach, founder of Exec Assist, and experienced leadership facilitator, she has worked alongside leaders and executive assistants across a wide range of organisations to build stronger partnerships, develop leadership capability, and create high-performing teams.

Over the next two days, Melanie will guide delegates through the summit, connecting the key themes, facilitating discussions, and helping translate powerful ideas into practical leadership insights.

Many Executive and Personal Assistants spend their careers striving to become more strategic or influential, believing influence is something that must be earned or granted. But what if you're already influencing outcomes every day without realising it?

In this engaging and practical session, we'll explore The Three Circles of Executive Partnership — Tasks, Operations, and Influence — to uncover how EAs and PAs shape decisions, mitigate risks, strengthen relationships, and drive better outcomes through their judgement, insight, and everyday actions.

Through real-world examples, audience interaction, and personal stories, we'll challenge common assumptions about influence, examine the difference between visible and invisible impact, and discuss how to contribute with confidence without feeling like you're overstepping. Attendees will also learn practical ways to make their thinking, observations, and professional judgement more visible.

You'll leave with a fresh perspective on your role, recognising that influence isn't defined by a title or a seat at the table — it's built through the value you bring, the decisions you shape, and the conversations you choose to have every day.

Artificial intelligence is changing the workplace faster than any technology we've seen before, creating new opportunities for Executive Assistants to elevate their role and increase their impact.

In this engaging and practical session, we'll explore how AI is transforming the way administrative and executive support work gets done. Through real-world examples, stories, and practical use cases, you'll discover how leading EAs are using AI to save time, simplify complex tasks, improve decision support, and create more value for the leaders they support.

This session isn't about becoming a technology expert. It's about understanding where AI can make a meaningful difference in your day-to-day work and how EAs can position themselves for success in an increasingly AI-enabled workplace.

The EA role demands constant adaptation. But resilience isn't just pushing through — sometimes it means questioning the habits you've leaned on, even the ones nobody else notices.

Monique spent years as an Executive Assistant before founding her own business — a path shaped by staying curious about what wasn't working, even when it looked fine from outside.

In this candid session, Monique shares her journey of reinvention and the personal turning point that reshaped how she thinks about pressure, performance, and what genuinely sustains people in demanding roles.

You'll leave with a fresh lens on resilience: less endurance, more curiosity — and permission to question what you've always assumed you needed to cope.

The most influential EAs do more than manage logistics — they build systems, anticipate what's needed, and move priorities forward before anyone has to ask. Valerie knows this from two directions at once: as a Senior Executive Assistant supporting a CEO day to day, and as a business owner running two ventures of her own alongside that role.

In this session, Valerie shares how the same skillset — anticipating problems, building efficient systems, and keeping multiple priorities moving without dropping the ball — shows up whether she's managing an executive's calendar or running a business behind the scenes. She'll unpack what it actually means to "think like an executive" from someone doing it in real time, not in theory.

You'll leave with a practical view of how operational thinking becomes strategic value — and how the discipline you already bring to your EA role can extend further than you think.

Jacqui Gee is Executive Assistant to the Chief Digital Officer and Chief of Staff at NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi, where she supports senior leaders in a fast-paced, high-pressure environment. Alongside her EA career spanning more than 35 years, she is a certified Strength, Nutrition & Menopause Coach and Mental Health Responder.

Passionate about sustainable high performance, Jacqui combines executive support with evidence-based health and wellbeing strategies to help leaders and the people who support them perform at their best without sacrificing their own health.

For many people, success looks like reaching a goal and staying there. But some of the most rewarding opportunities come from having the courage to evolve, take risks, and embrace new challenges.

From dietitian to MasterChef winner, entrepreneur, author, television personality, and farmer, Nadia Lim has built a career defined by growth, reinvention, and a willingness to back herself in unfamiliar territory.

In this inspiring keynote, Nadia shares the lessons she has learned from stepping into the unknown, navigating change, and redefining success at every stage of her journey.

You will leave with practical insights into trusting your instincts, embracing new opportunities, and having the confidence to pursue a path that is uniquely your own.

The best Executive Assistants don't wait for confidence to arrive before stepping into bigger opportunities. They develop the habits, mindset and self-leadership that allow them to perform consistently, even in complex and demanding environments.

Drawing on her work coaching Executive Assistants and leadership teams across New Zealand, Melanie Unstead explores how personal leadership shapes professional success. Discover practical ways to strengthen your confidence, manage self-doubt, stay adaptable through change and take greater ownership of your career.

Working closely with senior leaders requires the ability to communicate openly and constructively, even when conversations become difficult. Whether managing expectations, raising concerns, or addressing competing priorities, the ability to manage up effectively is a critical leadership skill.

In this practical session, explore how to approach challenging conversations with professionalism and confidence while maintaining trust and strong working relationships.

The strongest Executive Assistants don't influence through hierarchy. They influence through trust, judgement, emotional intelligence, and the relationships they build every day. Having supported senior executives across healthcare, emergency services, innovation, and now one of New Zealand's leading aged care organisations, Michelle Lowe has seen first-hand how Executive Assistants help shape executive thinking, strengthen leadership teams, and influence organisational culture without formal authority.

In this session, Michelle shares the lessons she has learned from working alongside CEOs and Boards, navigating complex leadership environments, and understanding the subtle dynamics that sit behind high-performing executive relationships. Discover how to build trust, read the room, communicate with influence, and become the calm, strategic presence executives rely on during both everyday decisions and high-pressure moments.

Because some of the most influential leaders in an organisation are the ones who never need the title to lead.

For much of our careers, we are encouraged to fit a particular mould. To be more polished, more confident, more authoritative, or more like someone else. Yet some of the most successful and influential people are those who have learned to embrace who they are rather than trying to become who they think they should be.

Over a career spanning journalism, television, radio, and some of New Zealand's most recognisable media organisations, Hilary Barry has built a reputation for authenticity, resilience, and an ability to connect with people from all walks of life. Along the way, she has learned that confidence does not come from perfection. It comes from self acceptance, perspective, and having the courage to show up as yourself.

In this inspiring and highly entertaining keynote, Hilary shares stories from her remarkable career and reflects on the lessons she has learned about confidence, criticism, resilience, and staying true to yourself in a world full of expectations.

Because leadership becomes far more powerful when you stop trying to be someone else and start backing who you already are.

No two Executive Assistant and executive partnerships are the same. The most successful relationships are built on understanding not only your leader's needs, but also the unique strengths, perspective and value you bring to the role.

Having progressed from Executive Assistant to a hybrid leadership role spanning executive support, operations, communications and engagement at BNZ, Katie Jones shares why self-awareness has become one of the most important skills in her career. Learn how recognising your strengths, adapting to different leadership styles, and leaning into what makes you uniquely effective can transform the way you support your executive and influence organisational outcomes.

Discover how understanding your value allows you to build stronger partnerships, contribute with greater confidence, and create an impact that extends well beyond your job description.

As the summit draws to a close, take a moment to reflect, reset and refocus. In this energising closing session, we'll guide you through the key insights of the past two days and help you turn inspiration into practical action. Identify your next steps, clarify your priorities and commit to the changes that will elevate your impact. Leave feeling focused, confident and ready to step forward as a trusted, capable and future-ready executive partner.