Movers and Shakers – May 2026

NEWS  - eHealthNews editor Rebecca McBeth

Rachael Page

Rachael Page has returned to contracting after stepping down as chief executive of HealthOne and has joined the New Dunedin Outpatients Hospital Digital Programme Team as final preparations are completed ahead of opening later this year. 

Across 12.5 years with HealthOne and ERMS, Page held project, product, programme and general management roles. She oversaw the South Island–wide rollout connecting hospitals, general practice and pharmacy, followed by expansion into hundreds of community health settings. 

The lower North Island is now close to joining the shared electronic health record, while ERMS has been modernised and securely delivers around 80,000 referrals each month. 

Nicola Hart

Nicola Hart is the new chief executive of HealthOne Limited Partnership, the organisation behind both shared electronic health record platform HealthOne and the electronic request management system, ERMS, both of which are co-designed with NZ clinicians. 

With a background including health sector executive leadership and being a registered pharmacist herself, Hart brings a passion for connected, patient centred care to the role.  She is excited to be leading the organisation at a pivotal time for health system transformation and is looking forward to working with more clinicians, enabling them to improve patient outcomes across Aotearoa.

Robyn Whittaker  

Robyn Whittaker has been appointed clinical director at HealthX.
She says the role is about applying a clinical lens to HealthX initiatives and building a clinical community of people to assist with that.

This includes leading a clinical innovation advisory group to assess potential initiatives and ensuring each project has a clinical champion. 

HealthX director Sonny Taite says clinical leadership is paramount to the programme's objectives.

Jakub Jurkiewicz 

Jakub Jurkiewicz brings over 20 years of engineering and transformation experience to his role as chief product and technology officer for Medtech Global. From clinical systems at Orion Health to enterprise transformation at Air New Zealand, ASB Bank, and Medenterprises, he has a track record of building high-performing teams and technology that improves patient outcomes. 

His mission at Medtech Global: AI-powered connected healthcare solutions for primary care providers across New Zealand and Australia. He is also the founder of Tech Waka, Aotearoa's community for technology leaders, and holds a PhD in software engineering.

Becky George

Becky George has stepped into the role of national service portfolio group manager – clinical common and specialised service at Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora.

George brings a wealth of experience to the position, drawing on over two decades of work across clinical and digital domains. In this new capacity, her focus shifts toward the steady work of consolidating and modernising the digital tools our health workforce relies on every day. 

The scope of the portfolio covers all commonly used clinical products i.e. portals as well as the products and applications that enable workflow, communication, documentation, and all speciality service provision. By focusing on stabilising and refining these products, the Portfolio team aims to ensure consistent and reliable support for clinicians in their roles.

Jono O’Sullivan Scott 

Jono O’Sullivan Scott is a doctor with a passion for clinical innovation and health tech. He recently joined Heidi Health as Clinical Specialist, working closely with Heidi's Global chief medical officer and ANZ clinical director across commercial, product and clinical safety, as the company works to double the world's healthcare capacity. 
Outside Heidi, Jono runs Steth to Startup, a project that lifts the lid on how clinicians move into

innovation and entrepreneurship, through interviews with people who've made the leap and honest reflections on his own journey.

Julian Verkaaik

Medical technology innovator Julian Verkaaik is moving to MARS Bioimaging to head up their product and marketing team. Julian joins MARS Bioimaging at a significant stage in their timeline following their recent Series A funding and FDA 510(k) clearance for their proprietary mobile photon counting CT scanner. 

The new role sees Verkaaik return to the medical technology devices field following a three year executive tenure at Streamliners where he led their digital health product team and helped shape HealthPathways to be a globally trusted source of localised guidance. 

Most recently, he helped form and promote the partnership between Heidi Health and Streamliners to bring HealthPathways into AI enhanced clinician workflows.

Brad Porter

HEALWELL AI has appointed Brad Porter to its Board of Directors to strengthen the Company’s commercial and strategic expertise.

Ian McCrae is stepping down from the Board of Directors to focus on other ventures following the successful integration of Orion Health into HEALWELL.

Porter is the chief commercial officer of HEALWELL and chief executive of Orion Health, bringing over 15 years of experience in finance, commercial leadership, and global healthcare technology. 

A chartered accountant by training, he has held senior commercial roles at Fisher & Paykel Healthcare and has led Orion Health, driving innovation in health data platforms and AI-enabled care. At HEALWELL, he oversees group-wide commercial strategy, revenue growth, and go-to-market alignment, with a focus on public sector opportunities and government contracts.

Sonya Smith

Sonya Smith brings a rare combination of clinical expertise, iwi health leadership and frontline community experience to her new role as relationship manager at Noted.

With over 36 years as a nurse and a career spanning hospital management, director of health at Ngāti Porou Oranga, and founder of Hikanui Hauora, Smith understands what health and social services providers need from their systems.

Known for her authentic stakeholder relationships and her ability to bridge te ao Māori and mainstream health systems, she champions technology that genuinely serves communities.

Smith is passionate about ensuring Noted's case management solution reaches providers and works for everyone - from large national organisations to the smallest kaupapa Māori services.

Ian Manovel

Ian Manovel has recently joined NRI as general manager, digital health for Australia and New Zealand. NRI’s Planit business in New Zealand provides end-to-end testing and quality engineering services, including test strategy, automation, performance, assurance and transformation support to improve software quality, reduce risk, and accelerate delivery outcomes.

“Across the region, health systems are under tremendous pressure to increase value so technology is accelerating the convergence of payers and providers” says Manovel.

“This trend enables ‘payviders’ to emerge as data-driven, patient-centric organisations - shifting health, aged and disability care from fragmented, episodic transactions to integrated, outcomes-focused models of care that improve access, efficiency and outcomes at scale while reducing cost to serve by managing populations in their own homes.”

Sophie Walton-Smith

Sophie Walton-Smith has joined the Sense Medical team as an intermediate frontend developer. 

Bringing experience from working across a variety of user-facing SaaS web applications, she is excited to expand the web capabilities of Cortex, Sense Medical's care coordination platform, with a focus on delivering a seamless cross-platform experience with the Cortex iOS app. 

Walton-Smith is looking forward to contributing to Sense Medical's broader mission of driving better patient outcomes through technology built around the needs of the clinicians who rely on it every day.

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