Dame Helene Elizabeth Quilter is a retired New Zealand public servant. In 2019, she was appointed a

Companion of the Queen's Service Order The King's Service Order () established by royal warrant (document), royal warrant of Queen regnant, Queen Elizabeth II on 13 March 1975, is used to recognise "valuable voluntary service to the community or meritorious and faithful services to t ...

for services to the State, and in 2023 she was appointed

Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit () is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand, "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have ...

, for services to the public service and the arts.

Career

Quilter was the deputy commissioner at the

State Services Commission The Public Service Commission (PSC; ), called the State Services Commission until 2020, is the central public service department of New Zealand charged with overseeing, managing, and improving the performance of the public sector organisations ...

from 2007 to 2012, where she was responsible for the first five-year strategic plan for the Ministry of Social Development. She worked on improving systems for governance and risk assessments, and led the implementation of the Defence White Paper 2010. Quilter served as the secretary of defence and chief executive of the

Ministry of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and Mi ...

from 2012 to 2019. Whilst in office, she led a reform of the defence capability management system. She was reappointed as deputy public service commissioner, a position she retired from in 2023 after a 45-year career. Quilter was described as "a driver of modernisation and diversity while at the centre of some of New Zealand’s core public service organisations". In her Public Service Commission role she was responsible for achieving greater diversity and a 50/50 gender split for a group of thirty chief executives. She also conducted a review into the workplace culture at

Fire and Emergency New Zealand Fire and Emergency New Zealand is New Zealand's main firefighting and emergency services body. Fire and Emergency was formally established on 1 July 2017, after the New Zealand Fire Service, the National Rural Fire Authority, and 38 rural fi ...

, and supported the public service commissioner through the COVID-19 response. Quilter cites Dame Margaret Bazley as her role model. Quilter has led and served on a number of boards, including the

New Zealand School of Dance The New Zealand School of Dance was established in 1967 and is a tertiary educational institute in New Zealand that teaches Contemporary dance, contemporary dance and ballet. It started as the National School of Ballet, and after contemporary da ...

. In the 1990s, after running out of space at home, she established a significant modern art collection, the Quilter Collection, which was on display for fifteen years at the Govett-Brewster Gallery. The collection included works by

Bill Hammond William Hammond (29 August 1947 – 30 January 2021) was a New Zealand artist who was part of the post-colonial Gothic movement at the end of the 1990s. He lived and worked in Lyttelton. The theme of his works centred around the environment and ...

, Seraphine Pick and Tony de Lautour, among others. Although she retained 30 works from the collection, Quilter later auctioned 47 others in order to fund an interest in 17th- and 18th-century religious art, and New Zealand artist Louise Greig.

Honours and awards

In the

2019 Queen's Birthday Honours The 2019 Queen's Birthday Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded as p ...

, Quilter was appointed a

, for services to the State. Also in 2019, she was named public service category winner at the Wellingtonian of the Year awards. In the 2023 King's Birthday and Coronation Honours, Quilter was made a

, for services to the public service and the arts.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Quilter, Helene Living people Year of birth missing (living people) New Zealand women public servants Companions of the Queen's Service Order Dames Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit New Zealand art collectors