Michelle Palmer recently joined the New Zealand Department of Conservation (DOC) as director, partnerships. Prior to that (from 2014 to October 2018) Michelle led the NZ Government's flagship prevention platform - Healthy Families NZ for the Ministry of Health. Healthy Families NZ is a large scale initiative that is challenging communities to think differently about the underlying causes of poor health and deploys a radically different approach to improving the health of the children, families (wh?nau) and communities in New Zealand. Michelle's ability to join the dots - be innovative and daring in her approach - passionate and vivacious in her cause - has seen her hold high level senior positions in NZ and around the world, from corporate entities to NGOs and in local and central governments. Her ability to unpick complex issues and find solutions at every level is clearly evident in her approach to establishing and implementing the Healthy Families NZ initiative across the country. With DOC, Michelle is leading a team delivering large scale conservation and health/wellbeing outcomes through partnerships - the connection between nature and wellbeing, and urban conservation.