Ziena Jalil has built a career connecting worlds - diplomacy and business, New Zealand and Asia, strategy and execution - in service of leadership that creates impact at scale.

As Deputy Chief Executive – Strategy and Executive Operations at Hato Hone St John, she leads strategy, legal, advocacy, fundraising and international engagement for one of New Zealand's most trusted organisations, with 12,000 people serving more than one million New Zealanders every year.

Previously, as Deputy Chief Executive at Te Pūkenga, then New Zealand's largest tertiary education provider, she helped lead one of the country's most complex organisational transformations, contributing to the turnaround of an inherited $105 million deficit into a $17 million surplus within two years. Her leadership was recognised with a 2025 global Silver Stevie Award for Female Executive of the Year.

Ziena spent a decade living and working across Asia, including as New Zealand Trade Commissioner to Singapore, and received multiple international awards for strengthening New Zealand's trade and education profile and partnerships across the region. She has also served on the boards of the Natural Hazards Commission, Education New Zealand and other public, private and not-for-profit organisations.

An internationally recognised keynote speaker, moderator and facilitator, Ziena is known for weaving connections between people, ideas and nations — and between the world we have and the world we're capable of building.