Department of Conservation Senior Liaison

Stephanie Rowe is the Department of Conservation’s Deputy Director-General Biodiversity, Heritage and Visitors.

Stephanie grew up dreaming of working in conservation. Her time as a scientist at DOC remains one of the formative and exciting parts of her career. Since then, Stephanie has held senior leadership roles at the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development and the Ministry of Primary Industries. She has gained experience leading across strategy, policy, research, intelligence and operations.  

The Biodiversity, Heritage and Visitors group is the center of DOC’s technical and scientific expertise. They set the direction for Aotearoa’s conservation work and look at how we as a nation can achieve our goals. The group leads the implementation of Te Mana o Te Taiao (the Aotearoa New Zealand Biodiversity Strategy) and the Visitor and Heritage Strategy.

Stephanie’s passions are people and system leadership. She enjoys complex challenges, where it takes a diversity of views and approaches to achieve great things.

In her spare time she loves visiting the Marlborough Sounds with her family, walking her dogs in the bush and hills around Wellington, and exploring all that Aotearoa has to offer, from mountains to sea.