Josh Williams

Principal Consultant and GAN New Zealand Country Manager

Josh is a Principal Consultant with Skills Group. A leader in the New Zealand education system over the last 20 years, Josh has been involved in key developments in school-to-work transitions, curriculum, qualifications, assessment and quality assurance issues.

Josh is the former Chief Executive of the Industry Training Federation, leading advocacy for industry training and apprenticeship sector in New Zealand. He was a senior policy manager in the New Zealand Ministry of Education, where he led policy for foundational and vocational education, including workplace training and apprenticeships.  While in the Ministry, he was programme manager for secondary school transition initiatives such as Youth Guarantee, Trades Academies and Gateway.

Josh was one of the architects of New Zealand’s system of Vocational Pathways, an organising framework for transitional and vocational education, both in the schools and vocational education sector. He has formerly also held roles in the New Zealand Qualifications Authority and Office of the Minister of Education.

Josh is a well-known presenter on vocational education issues in New Zealand, and has presented internationally at events organised by OECD, Asian Development Bank, IADB, East Asia Summit, KRIVET, Skills Development Scotland, Association of Polytechnics Indonesia, and the German Foreign Office.