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Meet your team

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NZDr is made up of experienced recruitment professionals who join as Partners, not employees. This means they have a long-term perspective when it comes to their service and focus on relationships and results.  

Our team are all experienced professionals that live and work in New Zealand. We assist with finding the role and location that is right for you, navigating you through the Medical Council registration, linking-in with licensed immigration advisors and providing information for you and your family as you prepare for your New Zealand journey.  

If you would like to understand more about what opportunities could be suitable for you and more about the amazing locations in NZ, contact any of our friendly team below. Together we can make great things happen for the next chapter in your medical career.

Martin King

Director & Licensed Immigration Adviser

Martin is originally from the United Kingdom where he held senior management positions with a publicly listed recruitment business before immigrating to New Zealand in 2006. In New Zealand he joined the team at Pathways to New Zealand a specialist immigration advisory company and has played a key role in their growth to become one of the largest and reputed specialist immigration companies in New Zealand, with 12 Licensed Immigration Advisers combining over 125 years of immigration work experience.

Through his work as an immigration adviser he has represented many doctors and their families with their New Zealand immigration requirements and his role with NZDr now provides the opportunity to combine this with his extensive recruitment experience along with his own personal migration journey to continue supporting doctors on their journey to live and work in New Zealand.

Martin is married to a kiwi, they met in London and her OE ended up lasting 12 years before they moved to New Zealand with their two children in 2006. Initially basing themselves in Hamilton they relocated to Wellington in 2016. Ballet plays a big part of family life with both children in full time training, this tends to dictate the family holidays so they can attend training workshops around the world. When he has the rare quiet moment he does enjoy the benefits of Wellington being at the heart of the New Zealand craft beer industry, his favourite being the very appropriately named Hops En Pointe from Garage Project made for the New Zealand Royal Ballet.

Kate McKendry

Director & Recruitment Consultant

Kate has been working as a Medical Recruiter since 2003, initially based in the UK, and upon relocation to New Zealand working in the Australian and New Zealand medical fields. Kate has been instrumental in the set up and on-going development of NZDr. 

Kate is married to a Kiwi and has first-hand experience relocating between the UK and New Zealand. She has had the opportunity to travel around the country and lived and worked in both the North and South Islands. Today Kate lives in Auckland with her husband and 3 children.  

"New Zealand is a great country to live, work and bring up children. The option of a short commute, full day at 'the office' and home for a swim with the family is here. Depending upon the season, weekends can be spent on the beach, camping, skiing, biking or hiking – if you like the outdoors it is a great location to live." 

Kate has a lot of knowledge and local connections to share and is happy to help with initial advice whilst you decide if New Zealand is for you. Once a decision has been made, Kate can support you through the full process of interviews, appointment and relocation.

Adam Benko

Recruitment Consultant

Adam is originally from the UK. He studied teaching at Liverpool John Moores University, and taught high school maths in the UK before setting off on his OE with his fiancé, Lindsay. It was during this time that he first visited New Zealand, and like many of us, discovered that feeling of belonging here. After finishing their travels Adam and Lindsay decided to make a permanent move back to New Zealand and arrived in September 2015.

Adam decided not to continue with teaching but follow some advice of a close friend who suggested he would be well suited to a career in recruitment.  He secured a role in medical recruitment and has developed a thorough understanding of the New Zealand health care system. For the last 5 years, Adam has purely focused and supported the ED's and Rural hospitals. He has built a strong reputation for himself amongst the EM and Rural medical communities through his honest and hardworking approach to work. He has spent a lot of time building his knowledge and understanding of what is important to these communities so that he is able to fulfil his role by supporting them. He will continue with and build upon this background with NZDr. 

Now permanent residents, Adam and Lindsay live in Auckland with their 1 year old kiwi son, Joszef (named after Adam’s Hungarian Grandad) and their 3 year old blue merle border collie, Everest. Adam enjoys all the outdoor fun NZ has to offer, and he is a keen footballer and golfer. One of Adam’s greatest achievements to date, other than the birth of his son or hiking to Everest Base Camp or SCUBA diving to a depth of 50m, was when he presented to a room full of FACEM’s at last years ACEM conference in Hobart, giving his expert opinion on the EM Locum sector in NZ.

Joanna Nelley

Recruitment Partner

Joanna grew up in rural Northland, New Zealand and has over 20 years’ experience working in Medical Recruitment in the UK, North America, APAC and New Zealand. 

Joanna initially trained as a Registered Nurse in Auckland, then with her passion for people, travel, and adventure she relocated to London. It was here she had her first experience of recruitment with the opportunity to move in-house with her agency and assist others to live and work abroad.  Having found her true calling she successfully helped to establish three global healthcare agencies, specializing in moving medical professionals from Asia Pacific into the UK and North American healthcare systems.   After 6 years and ready for her next challenge she moved into the pharmaceutical industry as a specialist recruiter for some of the world’s leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, leading her to working in Singapore for 3 years.

Joanna returned to Northland, New Zealand in 2019.  Keen to gain an understanding and insight into the New Zealand Public Healthcare system she worked as Recruitment Project Lead for two years helping to establish and improve the recruitment process for her Local District Health Board.   She gained an invaluable insight into the public healthcare system and understands the challenges and unique opportunities for overseas health professionals looking to live and work in New Zealand. 

Her extensive experience and like-minded commitment to providing an excellent standard of service to both her candidates and clients is what led her to join NZ Drs.  She is excited to assist others realise their dream of living and working abroad as she has done and is happy to share connections, provide comparisons, honest advice and support you every step the way. 

Heidi Urlich

Compliance & Support Coordinator

Heidi plays a critical role in supporting the NZDr team and the doctors they engage with, to ensure all their compliance documentation is in order. 

Heidi has a wealth of experience in Nursing and Midwifery recruitment as both an employee and owning her own company; Heidi is well equipped for this very busy, multi-faceted role.

Milena Robinson

Business Support

Milena assists with a wide range of business services including business administration, creating policies, processes and documentation for the team and monthly reporting. She works mostly behind the scenes but also assists the team where needed with medical compliance & logistics coordination.

Milena is originally from France and Portugal but has been living and working in New Zealand for over 10 years. 

Lara King

Recruitment Consultant

Lara was born and grew up in New Zealand and after graduating from University travelled to the UK on her OE. It was in London where she started her career in recruitment and met husband Martin (yes the guy at the top of this page) and her OE ended up lasting 14 years. She moved back to New Zealand in 2006 with Martin and their 2 children intially living in Hamilton and later Wellington. Lara is again back living in London as their children are currently at school there, and Martin visits in holidays.  Lara acts as our recruitment contact and client support in the northern hemisphere

Lara recruits for a wide range of regsistered healthcare professionals to support the New Zealand health system and in particular Psychologists, Midwifes, Occupational Therapists and Registered Nurses.

As well as her recruitment experience Lara has worked in the Immigration sector. She is also happy to share her own personal experiences of relocating across continents, travelling with children and pets, schooling and the education system, and generally life in New Zealand.

Email: lara@nzdr.nz

Phone:

April Ventilacion

Administration

April has assisted with a wide range of support services and is always adapting to ensure the team are receiving the support and key data they require to deliver on their client and candidate needs.