Our people
Our Senior Leadership Team
Our Senior Leadership Team is responsible for our leadership, performance and deliverables.
Belinda Moffat - Chief Executive/Registrar
Belinda joined REA as Chief Executive in September 2020. Prior to joining REA she was Chief Executive of the Broadcasting Standards Authority and was previously Director of Enforcement and Investigations at the Financial Markets Authority. As a qualified lawyer, Belinda has broad experience in law and regulation across the public and private sector in New Zealand and overseas. Belinda is a strong advocate for consumer protection and supporting high levels of conduct and integrity across New Zealand industry. Outside work, Belinda is passionate about arts, culture and media and supporting tamariki and rangatahi to reach their potential. Before moving back to her hometown Wellington in 2016, she lived and worked in Auckland, and before that London.
Josh Doherty — Head of Regulatory Services
Josh has 10 years of senior management experience in both strategic and operational roles, mainly in the banking and life insurance industries. Since joining REA in 2016, he has been involved in delivering a number of strategic and operational projects. He enjoys strategy development and implementation, operational planning and delivery, leading people and the continuous improvement in customer experience and business performance.
Victor Eng — Head of Corporate Services
Victor is a chartered accountant with over 25 years' experience in senior finance and management roles in both the public and private sector. He has extensive experience in implementing strategic initiatives.
Andrew Bulled — Head of People and Capability
Andrew joined in August 2021 to lead REA’s People and Capability function. He has more than 20 years' human resource experience working across the public and private sectors both in New Zealand and overseas. He is an experienced people leader who is passionate about building inclusive teams and supporting the achievement of organisational priorities through the delivery of strategy and change. Andrew actively seeks to improve the lives of New Zealanders through the work he performs in his personal and professional life.
Marie Snell — Programme Manager
Marie joined REA in early 2022 and has over nine years of experience in Portfolio Advisory, Project Management and Programme Management, having worked for multiple organisations across the public sector. Marie is passionate about project management and good governance. She currently leads project reporting and ensures that REA has a consistent approach to project management.
Katie Solomon - Head of Engagement, Insights and Education
Prior to joining REA in May 2024, Katie held various senior leadership roles in the private and public sectors in Australia and New Zealand. She has led market research, strategic planning, marketing and communications programmes for over 15 years in the financial and regulatory context. Her previous experience includes delivering a customer engagement and communications strategy that delivered high awareness and understanding of changes to New Zealand’s tax system, and transforming retail business strategy to plans that improved the customer experience. Katie is passionate about Real Estate (her late Mother was an agent), and she is focused on insight-led regulation and bringing the customer-voice into the design of services.
Andrew Tringham - General Counsel
Andrew joined REA as General Counsel in October 2024. He leads REA’s in-house legal team, responsible for the delivery of sound litigation, regulatory, and operational policy advice, and supporting REA’s regulatory services.
Andrew brings extensive experience from the public and private sectors. Most recently, he led the litigation function at Inland Revenue, overseeing Inland Revenue’s criminal prosecutions, civil litigation, and debt litigation.
Andrew is focused on fostering strong stakeholder relationships across the real estate sector, ensuring REA effectively navigates the legal environment and achieves its regulatory goals. He has a focus on supporting the real estate sector to meet their obligations and will work with our teams to ensure we provide timely regulatory guidance and will support our work to improve the timelines in our complaints management.
Our Board
Our Board is responsible for the overall governance of REA. It is appointed by the Minister of Justice and is made up of experienced practitioners from many professional fields, bringing together expertise in law, real estate, risk management and finance. It has up to seven members, at least two of whom are licensees or former licensees.
Our Board members
Denese Bates, KC (Chairperson)
Denese’s three-year term as Chair of the Real Estate Authority began in February 2019. Before that she had been a member of the board since 2014. She is a King’s Counsel who has had a wide-ranging civil practice. She has also had governance roles in a diverse number of private and professional organisations. She is chair of the Melanesian Trust Board and a director of a number of private companies.
Denese has had previous experience with regulatory and disciplinary regimes including as a member of the Commerce Commission and as a member of the Council of New Zealand Law Society. She has also been chair of the New Zealand Law Society Ethics Committee. She was a member of the Insurance & Savings Ombudsman Commission which runs a compulsory disputes resolution scheme for insurance companies and financial advisors.
Vern Walsh JP
Vern has a financial services and governance background. He operates a mortgage broking consultancy and is a registered financial adviser. He had an 18-year career with Westpac Banking Corporation.
For over a decade Vern has jointly operated a governance consultancy and training business, Meeting and Governance Solutions Limited. This company works primarily in the local government, sports, and not for profit sectors.
Vern was previously an elected Councillor for Auckland City Council (1998 - 2007) and a licensing trust member (2001 - 2007) and is a former director of the Auckland Regional Amenities Funding Board, a board he chaired for 10 years before standing down in 2019. Vern has also held governance roles in council-controlled organisations and was a member of the Lottery Environment and Heritage Committee (2002 - 2008).
Vern is a Justice of the Peace and in December 2021 he was appointed Chair of the REA Audit and Risk Committee.
He is a member of the Remuneration Authority.
Latham Lockwood
Latham is a highly experienced real estate professional with over a decade of experience in the industry. He began his career as a salesperson, and has since progressed to become the Training and Development Facilitator for Property Brokers, where he supports all areas of the real estate sector. In addition to his work in real estate, Latham is also deeply involved in governance and community service. He has served on a variety of boards and trusts in local government, non-profits, and community organisations, including chairing the Kind Hearts Trust and co-founding the Manawātu Young Professionals network. He is also a certified TetraMap Facilitator, using this method to enhance team dynamics by valuing diversity and reducing conflict.
Mele Wendt
Mele (Samoan, palagi) has 25 years of governance experience and is a respected leader in the education and not-for-profit sectors. She currently chairs Wellington Community Fund, and is a board member of Te Kura Correspondence School, Toi Mai Workforce Development Council, and Tāwhiri: Festivals and Experiences. In 2019, Mele became a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM) for services to governance, the Pacific community, and women. In 2022, she won the Not-For-Profit Governance Leader Award at the Women in Governance Awards.
Brooke Loader
Brooke Loader (Ngāpuhi) graduated with a Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Arts majoring in Music in 2010 from the University of Auckland. She began practising law in 2011 and her experience has included Māori land law, environmental law and resource management law, Treaty Law, Criminal law and Family law. She has been the principal in her own law firm Loader Law since 2018 practicing in litigation, consumer law, public law, RMA, local government, Waitangi Tribunal and Māori legal issues. She is currently an elected member and Deputy Chairperson of the Henderson-Massey Local Board of the Auckland Council and a member of the Waitakere Licensing Trust.
Caroline Tate
Caroline Tate joined REA in March 2025 and is an experienced lawyer and people leader. She worked in a general legal practice role that included conveyancing, before leading the legal team of Massey University for 13 years. She now works for Juno Legal, a law firm that seconds her into organisations for fixed periods of time to meet resourcing needs. In her governance capacity she has chaired the Board of Te Manawa Museums Trust and is Trustee of Touch Compass Dance Trust, New Zealand's leading professional performing arts organisation for the disabled and non-disabled. Outside of work she mentors people.
Photos coming soon.
Mark Coffey
Mark joined REA in March 2025 and has been working in the real estate profession since 2000. He was the previous owner and manager of Safari Real Estate Ltd trading as Tommy's Hutt Valley for 23 years, before selling the business to Bayleys real estate where Mark continues to work as a salesperson.
Over this time Mark has held previous board positions with REINZ and the NZ Realtors Network where he was the Chairman for several years. Currently he holds a position on the board for Realestate.co.nz. Mark holds AREINZ and MBA qualifications.
Photos coming soon.
Shirley McLeod - Future Director
Shirley McLeod is a management consultant who specialises in leading large and/or complex projects and government initiatives. With over two decades of experience in shaping and executing public policy across the justice, housing, social and community sectors, Shirley continues to help organisations lead transformation and new service delivery. She has significant expertise in enhancing operational efficiency, managing complex and cross-functional programmes, and aligning strategic priorities with operational practicalities. Shirley is a member of the Institute of Directors and the Project Management Institute of New Zealand. She is a mum of two and lives in Wellington.
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