Dr James Mansell

I've spent twenty years at the intersection of data, technology, and institutional change — mostly inside or alongside New Zealand's state sector, but also internationally with the WHO, in Australia, Chile, and the USA.

As Director of Innovation at the Ministry of Social Development, I set up the first Advanced Analytics team and founded the Investment Approach in Work and Income. This was then lifted to a whole-of-government reform known as Social Investment — reshaping how the state sector invests in citizens based on outcomes, not transactions. I led New Zealand's whole-of-government data sharing initiative, resulting in all social sector data being joined together in the Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI).

Since then I've focused on the deeper challenge: how do organisations and communities share information safely and at high value? I founded the NZ Data Commons movement, completed a four-year PhD in information sharing and institutional economics under a Marsden Scholarship, and now serve as a Trustee of the NZ Data Trust.

While I was away doing the PhD, AI arrived. I've spent the time since working with it closely and building with it myself, to test what's real and what's hype. The hard part isn't the technology. It's seeing what's possible — and then making the case to your board.

2023–present · Volunteer — supporting Māori and Pacific providers

2023–present · Trustee, New Zealand Data Trust — supporting Dame Diane Robertson

2021–present · Independent advice on Social Investment — to the Minister, the board, and the Social Investment Agency

2013–present · Director, Noos Limited — independent advisory practice

2020–23 · Set up the advanced-analytics team, Kāinga Ora

2020–21 · Independent Advisor, Royal Commission into Victoria's Mental Health System

2016–18 · Founder, New Zealand Data Commons

2015–22 · Board Member, Te Pūnaha Matatini — the “Big Data” Centre of Research Excellence

2015–18 · International advisor to Chile and Australia on Social Investment

2015–18 · Inland Revenue — supported the Deputy Chief Executive to introduce advanced analytics

2013 · Appointed member, NZ Data Futures Forum — recommendations adopted nationally; recognised by the UN's Global Pulse

2012 · Special Advisor, New Zealand Treasury — added comprehensive social-sector data into the Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI)

2011–13 · Director of Innovation, MSD — led advice on implementing Social Investment into Work and Income

2009–17 · Independent data-science advisor to Sir Bill English (Minister of Finance, later Prime Minister)

2004–11 · Founder, Social Investment — the Investment Approach, Child, Youth and Family, MSD

2004–08 · Presented on child protection systems to the World Health Organization and the American Humane Association, and widely across Australia and Asia

1996–2004 · Teaching Fellow in Philosophy, University of Otago; Research Fellow, University of Otago Wellington School of Medicine

PhD, information sharing and institutional economics — University of Auckland (Marsden Scholarship, 2025)

BA (Hons), First Class — Philosophy — Victoria University of Wellington

Edmund Hillary Fellow (2017)

Leadership Development Centre Fellowship (2011) — Harvard Kennedy School · Wharton School · Centre for Creative Leadership

Substack → LinkedIn →