Our People

Sanchia Yonge, Managing Director

With the retirement of founding Director John Robertson, Sanchia Yonge assumes the role of Managing Director of Kenexa's New Zealand operation. Sanchia has wide-ranging experience in global organizations, leading global teams, developing strong relationships with diverse stakeholders, customers and corporations. Prior to joining Kenexa, Sanchia was instrumental in the international expansion of Great Place to Work® which now produces lists and provides consulting in over 40 countries around the world. Sanchia holds a Masters degree in Business Administration and a Bachelors degree in Political Science from The University of Auckland.

Sanchia is responsible for revenue growth, customer satisfaction and leadership of the New Zealand team. Sanchia is inspired by the potential of people to make a difference in the success of an organization and partners with leaders to support their efforts to build organizations that deliver extraordinary performance.

Leighton Abbot, Senior Consultant

Leighton joined the Kenexa|JRA team in 2003, following his graduation from the University of Auckland with an MCom(Hons) in Management & Employment Relations and a BA in Psychology. Leighton’s Masters thesis investigated the fulfilment of the psychological contract held by employees in a professional services environment, and his related research interests include career theory, organisational psychology, and social psychology.

Within Kenexa|JRA, Leighton’s role involves client management across the local government, energy, transport, and cultural and recreational services industry sectors, as well as ongoing involvement in the Best Workplaces by Kenexa Survey.

Jenni Blake, Senior Project Manager

Jenni joined Kenexa|JRA’s Auckland office in June 2008 as a survey administrator and more recently managed the Best Workplaces by Kenexa programme. Now based in the Melbourne office Jenni’s role focuses on managing and administering survey projects, marketing initiatives and providing support to the Best Workplaces team. Prior to joining Kenexa|JRA Jenni studied at Massey University and worked abroad. From her studies she obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology. On top of her core psychology papers she also studied sociology, social work and human resource management. Professionally Jenni comes from a background of customer service with experience in retail management, and sales and promotions. Jenni is interested in people on all levels from culture and group dynamics to individual personalities.

Catherine Donohue, Consultant - Survey Administration & Support

Catherine joined Kenexa|JRA in June 2007. She specialises in administrating 360 degree feedback surveys for our clients. From coordinating large scale projects to one off participants, Catherine ensures the projects are run effectively and smoothly. By going the extra mile and keeping our clients satisfied, Catherine has helped build long term relationships with clients globally and locally. This coming year, Catherine is excited to be expanding her experience with our 360 clients while contributing to the ongoing development of our 360 tool and support services.

In her spare time Catherine enjoys reading, cooking and making the most of New Zealand’s beautiful great outdoors.

Marina Dzepina, Consultant - Survey Administration & Support

Marina joined Kenexa|JRA in 2011, shortly after landing on the shores of New Zealand. She recently completed her MCom in Organisational Psychology with cum laude. Her Master's thesis investigated the relationship between job characteristics and employee engagement and how personality moderates or mediates this relationship. She also specialised (and registered with the HPCSA) as an independent practice psychometrist, having worked in both the organisational and psycho-legal sectors. She has also previously co-authored a test and presented papers at international conferences. In her spare time, Marina enjoys spending as much time as possible in the great outdoors, participating in adrenalin-packed sports or volunteering.

Stuart Havill, Senior Consultant

Stuart Havill joined Kenexa|JRA as a Senior Consultant in February 2011 and is a member of our Australian team based in Brisbane. He holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Human Resource Management from Victoria University (Wellington) and a Bachelor of Commerce Degree from the University of Canterbury (Christchurch). Stuart has over 5 years experience in project managing and conducting large scale employee surveys, including the design, administration, analysis, reporting and implementation of engagement building initiatives.

Prior to joining Kenexa|JRA, Stuart was a Senior HR Advisor (Organisational Development) for a large and well respected NZ Government Department. Here he was responsible for the development, implementation and delivery of organisational wide strategic HR initiatives, including employee engagement.

Kate Kim, Consultant - Survey Administration & Support

Kate joined Kenexa|JRA in June 2011 after completing a Post Graduate Diploma in Psychology and a BA in Psychology and Linguistics at The University of Auckland. Apart from her passion for Industrial Work and Organisational Psychology, her psychological background extends to Cognitive Neuroscience, Social Psychology and Clinical Psychology. She also has a strong interest in ancient civilization by taking various archaeology and anthropology papers during her university years.

Kate's role in Kenexa|JRA involves survey administration, quantitative and qualitative analysis as well as liaising with clients during the survey process. In her spare time Kate enjoys horse riding and snowboarding as well as travelling.

Neal Knight-Turvey, Executive Consultant

Neal joined the Kenexa|JRA team in 2006 as its Research Director, and in 2007 became the GM of our Australian operation. Neal brings seven years experience in survey research linking people management practices and employee attitudes with organisational success. At Kenexa|JRA Neal applies his expertise in advanced analytics to the Best Workplaces by Kenexa Survey to help further determine the drivers of 'best workplaces' in New Zealand. Neal is also responsible for providing higher level analyses to individual companies seeking to identify and model the key people management practices that best promote their employees' level of engagement and subsequent business performance.

Prior to joining Kenexa|JRA, Neal was an academic and a senior consultant with a Brisbane-based HR consulting firm. Neal has presented his research to numerous international conferences and his study on the innovative use of employee survey data was nominated for an outstanding research award at the 2005 Annual Academy of Management Meeting in the US.

Neal has a conjoint Masters and PhD in organisational psychology from the University of Queensland.

Chris Lawry, Consultant - Survey Administration & Support

Chris joined the team in December 2010, bringing with him a unique combination of past work experiences, spanning HR, recruitment consulting, IT projects and customer service. Chris has a Bachelor of Management Studies (Hons) from the University of Waikato, with majors in Human Resource Management and Psychology, and won the Management School's Dean's Medal as the top graduating student of his year in 2008. As part of the Kenexa|JRA team, Chris performs a variety of roles, including leading projects in the IT and telecommunications sectors. Outside the office, Chris loves getting into sport, so you’ll find him on the hockey turf, tennis court, or golf course – or the physio table!

Iain McCombe, Development Manager

Iain joined Kenexa|JRA in 2002, after graduating with an MA(Hons) in Organisational Psychology from Massey University and a BCom from The University of Auckland. He is also a certified PRINCE2™ Practitioner. Particular research interests for Iain include the effects of stress in employment (his Masters thesis) and organisational structure and its influence on culture.

Iain provides a valuable contribution to Kenexa|JRA on three main fronts. Firstly, he oversees the development and maintenance of Kenexa|JRA’s world-class online survey application www.survey-online.com to ensure it meets client needs both in terms of functionality and user-friendliness. Secondly, Iain provides training and on-going help desk and technical support to Survey Administrators within our ‘subscriber’ client base. And thirdly, Iain is a key member of our diagnostic team, applying high-level statistical methods skills to assist clients analyse their data for greater insight into the drivers of ‘great workplaces’. In this capacity, he is also heavily involved in the design and implementation of customised surveys.

Eunice Oh, Consultant - Survey Administration & Support

Eunice joined the Kenexa|JRA team in 2010, after obtaining an MSc(Hons) degree from the University of Auckland specialising in Industrial, Work and Organisational Psychology - her Masters thesis investigated fatigue, motivation and performance at work. Eunice achieved distinction during her time at university winning the University of Auckland Masters Scholarship prize in 2009, the Senior Prize in Psychology in 2007, and the New Zealand Aluminium Smelters Prize in Statistics in 2006. Outside of her passion for psychology, statistics, systems and programming, Eunice also loves sports, travelling, reading, music and cooking.

In 2011, Eunice completed a Postgraduate Diploma with a specialisation in Industrial, Work and Organisational Psychology, which allows her to register as an Organisational Psychologist. Her responsibilities at Kenexa|JRA will involve survey administration, quantitative and qualitative analysis, survey software testing, as well as liaising with clients.

Tess O'Rourke, Consultant – Special Projects

Tess joined the Kenexa|JRA team in 2010 after completing her MA(Hons) in Industrial, Work and Organisational Psychology from the University of Auckland. Her thesis was ergonomically based as she evaluated the use of a copyholder called the ‘Microdesk™' in reducing the risk of pain and discomfort in office workers. Tess spent several years providing behavioural therapy part-time to autistic children while she completed her university studies and developed a passion for understanding and helping others. She also enjoys going to the gym, loves baking and cake decorating and has recently taken up Kung Fu.

Tess finished her studies towards her Registration as an Organisational Psychologist in 2011 at the University of Auckland and is looking forward to registering with the New Zealand Psychologists Board (NZPB) in 2012. Her work at Kenexa|JRA primarily involves looking after the Best Workplaces by Kenexa programme, as well as some survey administration, quantitative and qualitative analysis and liaising with clients during the survey process.

Amy Silvester-Brooks, Senior Project Manager

Amy joined the Kenexa|JRA team in 2007, after four years study at the University of Auckland. Her background is in Psychology, Economics, and Marketing, with a diverse range of other subjects thrown in for good measure – chemistry, physics, pure mathematics, international business, history, and biopsychology to name a few. She has a particular interest in ‘what makes people tick’, as well as love of numbers; both of which come in handy when working at Kenexa|JRA.

Amy’s role in Kenexa|JRA involves survey administration, analysis, and liaising with clients.

D-J Williams, Senior Consultant

D-J comes to Kenexa|JRA with many years of corporate retail experience and has focused over the past ten years on optimising people performance across all levels of an organisation. D-J is passionate about organisations achieving success and sustainability through their people. Attending the University of Auckland out of school, she gained a Bachelor of Commerce and Graduate Diploma with majors in Accounting, Commercial Law and Marketing before settling into her corporate career. As D-J started to specialise in her career, she returned to the University some years later to complete a Post Graduate Diploma in Human Resource Management.

Her working career has been grounded with ExxonMobil and Warehouse Stationery. At ExxonMobil for over 12 years she worked cross functionally from accountancy, to marketing, to a number of roles in retail operations and most recently in human resources. Over the five years D-J spent with Warehouse Stationery she was instrumental in the organisation's successful engagement journey to becoming a 'Best Large Workplace' in 2010. She also impacted a turnaround in retention and performance levels through recruitment practices, onboarding and talent management programmes. Her design and implementation work with their onboarding programme as well as significant change management programmes have earned recognition from peers both internally and externally including being a finalist in HRINZ National Awards for HR Initiative of the Year 2008.

Joanne Winquist, Consultant - Survey Administration & Support

Joanne joined Kenexa|JRA in May 2011, bringing New Zealand-based experience in the use of psychometric assessments for recruitment purposes to the Auckland team. Her MSc (1st Class) and BSc (Hons) in Industrial, Work and Organisational Psychology focused on workplace engagement and employee enjoyment of work. Having recently completed her Post-Graduate Diploma in Applied Psychology, she will celebrate the end of her studies by registering as a Psychologist in 2012. Joanne is particularly interested in the field of positive psychology, loves kayaking, rock-climbing and singing, and gets up early three times a week for sunrise bootcamp.

Joanne's responsibilities at Kenexa|JRA involve consulting with clients, building and administering surveys to ensure the best quality data is gathered, performing quantitative and qualitative analysis of results, and assisting in their interpretation.

Jessica Xu, Consultant – Research & Special Projects

Jessica joined the Kenexa|JRA team in May 2008, after obtaining an MSc (Hons) degree in Industrial, Work and Organisational Psychology and a BSc (Hons) at the University of Auckland. Jessica’s Masters thesis investigated the potential impact of employee citizenship behaviours on workload and stress levels. On top of her passion for psychology, her educational background also extends to statistics, chemistry, ergonomics, linguistics and German. With a multi-cultural background, Jessica is particularly interested in diversity and cultural issues in the workplace, as well as individual differences, employee attitudes and well-being. Jessica is a registered organisational psychologist.

In her role at Kenexa|JRA, Jessica works with a wide range of organisations across the Education, Local Government and State Sector, with responsibilities spanning across client management, project management, instrument design, analysis and solution delivery. Jessica also looks after the research activities within the New Zealand region.