One of the key factors that drives Family Planning International and makes it successful are its team of staff.
Sumi Subramaniam, Director of International Development
Sumi is a development and public health management professional with over 10 years of experience in managing and providing technical developmental assistance to various country programmes.
She has a Bachelors Degree in Economics (Honors) from Delhi University, India and a Masters in Health Sciences (International Health Policy and Nutrition) from the Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University in USA.
Her particular interest is in maternal and reproductive health issues in developing countries. In addition to travelling to various countries in her line of work such as Ethiopia, Zambia, South Africa, Nigeria, Bangladesh, and Vietnam, she has studied, lived and worked in India, USA and Mozambique.
Bronwyn Hale, Programme Coordinator
Bronwyn has a Bachelor of Health Science (Midwifery) and practised as a Lead Maternity Carer (LMC) for 10 years before working for Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) as a field midwife, in Afghanistan and Democratic Republic of the Congo.
In recent years, she held the position of Medical Advisor, Women’s Health for MSF, providing technical medical support for new and established sexual and reproductive health programmes within the organization. The various countries implicated in this role included : South Sudan, Nigeria, Congo Brazzaville, Iran, Chechnya and Laos to name a few.
Her passion continues to be that individuals, particularly women have access to sexual and reproductive health services in developing countries and certainly in the geographical backyard of New Zealand. In her leisure time, she continues to maintain and improve her second language of French!
Mette Mikkelsen, Programme Coordinator
A Danish national, Mette holds a Master’s degree in economics with a strong focus on development studies from Copenhagen Business School, and a Bachelor’s degree in economics and cultural studies from the same university.
Prior to joining FPI, Mette was based in New York, where she managed development projects at Human Rights in China, an international NGO. Before that, Mette worked with advocacy issues at the United Nations Foundation and policy development at the Danish Mission to the United Nations in New York.
Mette has also worked on corporate social responsibility at PriceWaterhouseCoopers, and human rights standards reporting at an investment fund focused on developing countries.
Sean Mackesy-Buckley, Research and Project Analyst
Sean has a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science / International Relations (Honours) and a Masters in Public Policy from Victoria University of Wellington.
Having worked as an assistant and lead researcher for the Institute of Policy Studies at Victoria University’s School of Government, as well as having volunteered on the equatorial African island of São Tomé e Príncipe, Sean has a keen interest in social science research and how it can be used to address the development challenges facing small island states.
With Dual US and NZ citizenship, Sean has travelled in the Americas, South East Asia, the Pacific and Africa. Sean enjoys spending his free time surfing the cold waters of Wellington.
Branwen Millar, Project Coordinator
Branwen has a Bachelor of Arts in Politics, Theatre and Development Studies, and a Masters in Scriptwriting from Victoria University of Wellington. A keen interest in human rights, social justice and gender issues was nurtured whilst living in Manila as a school student, California as a university student, and London as an adult - with much global wandering in between.
Branwen has worked in the Schools Programme of Global Focus Aotearoa developing global education resources, and in the theatre and film industry, balancing her dual passions for the arts and the world.
Angela Nielsen, Communications Coordinator
Angela has a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology and Political Studies from the University of Auckland, and a Masters in Development Studies and International Relations from Aalborg University, Denmark.
Having a particular interest in sexual and reproductive health in developing countries, Angela completed an International Health course at Copenhagen University and wrote her Masters’ thesis on maternal mortality in Liberia.
Being half Danish, half Kiwi, Angela’s life has been divided between the two countries. She also taught English for a year in Taiwan and has travelled extensively in both the developed and developing world.