Dorothy Adams

Dorothy served as Chief Executive at the Social Investment Agency from its inception in 2015 to 2018 when it became the Social Wellbeing Agency, where she remained as CE until 2021. Prior to this Dorothy worked for Ministry of Social Development (2008-2015) where she held various management roles in research, evaluation and data including establishing InsightsMSD – the Ministry’s data, analytics and evidence hub.

In May 2021, Dorothy joined the OECD, providing advice to member countries on the better use of technology, data and evidence to improve social policy and service delivery. Since returning to New Zealand Dorothy has been working as an independent advisor. Projects have included developing an Indicative Business Case to modernise Stats NZ’s Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI), advising Tātau Tātau o te Wairoa Charitable Trust on improving the wellbeing of Māori in Wairoa using using data, evidence and social investment principles and working with NGOs to discover their ‘magic’ using a Theory of Change approach.

Dorothy has a Master of Public Administration from Monash University and an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington. She is an Enrolled Barrister and Solicitor of the High Court of Wellington.