Ainsley Benefield
Founder & Director
Ainsley founded Hive to bring to life her passion for achieving positive working relationships through communication, feedback and flexibility.
She spent much of her career working as an employment lawyer in Wellington, Dublin, and London. This included time as an in-house lawyer at a global company going through a significant period of HR issues and transformation. When returning to New Zealand, she balanced her role in London remotely with a more hands-on role for Humankind (an HR consultancy) before founding Hive.
This experience has meant Ainsley has worked with a variety of employers across most industries around the world. Her legal background paired with her HR experience means she has a pragmatic, people-focused approach to getting HR and people management issues right. She is also a qualified mediator and specialist in independent reviews and investigations, but has a particular passion for incorporating restorative approaches in workplace conflict.
Fiona Ireland
Business Partner
With over two decades of dedicated experience in human resources, Fiona is a seasoned HR professional with a comprehensive understanding of managing people and fostering inclusive workplace cultures. She has played a pivotal role in shaping company cultures and driving strategic HR initiatives, including establishing Trade Me's first HR function building it from the ground up.
With a focus on employee relations (ER) and resolving complex people issues, Fiona navigates challenges with an open and transparent communication style, coupled with strong influencing skills, enabling her to navigate even the trickiest of situations. From recruitment to remuneration, performance management to culture change and everything in between, she has a wealth of experience across the entire spectrum of HR functions.
Throughout her career, Fiona has remained committed to creating environments where individuals feel valued, respected, and empowered to bring their authentic selves to work each day. Her approach to HR is grounded in a belief in the power of people, championing the support, engagement, and motivation of employees to drive organisational excellence.
As a seasoned leader, Fiona excels in coaching and supporting managers across the organisation, guiding them through challenging situations and providing meaningful HR advice. Her transparent communication style and strong influencing skills drive key initiatives, including remuneration frameworks, succession planning, and performance management strategies.
Harriet Riley
People & Culture Consultant
Harriet Riley has a varied work background, from corporate HR teams to internal communications, change management and recruitment. She’s interested in modern ways of working, organisational development and helping to resolve employment disputes.
Harriet's work across both HR and comms roles in the public and private sector means she is comfortable in working across the full range of people and culture issues, but her real strength is in working alongside stakeholders to find creative solutions and support deliverables.
Harriet is passionate about Human Resources and is actively involved in the HR community. She was a founding member of the not-for-profit programme Summer of Biz which helps tertiary students interested in a career in HR or marketing sharpen their professional skills and gain paid internships in those industries. She has also volunteered time on the Wellington branch committee of HRINZ and mentored students aspiring to HR professions.
Ashika Young
People & Culture Consultant
shika Young has a generalist HR advisory background working across both the public and private sectors. Her passion for HR stems from a desire to help organisations cultivate a positive work culture and achieve their business goals by optimising their most valuable asset – their people.
Ashika’s experience working in small HR teams means she is well versed across the full HR suite having practical hands-on experience including leading change processes, remuneration reviews, recruitment, engagement surveys and employment relations processes. Ashika brings a unique blend of creativity, empathy and analytical skills to every project, allowing her to approach challenges from multiple angles and deliver impactful results.
Ashika is passionate about workplace culture, continuous improvement and diversity, equity and inclusion. Ashika enjoys building relationships with her stakeholders and strives to give them the best possible experience and guidance in any situation.
Louise Amey
Senior People & Culture Consultant
Louise Amey has 10 years of diverse experience in human resources across a range of employers. She has hands-on experience leading HR initiatives including policy design, recruitment, organisational development projects, health and safety reviews, and change processes.
Louise’s previous roles include work in local government, state sector agencies, tech companies and community organisations. Having worked with a variety of leadership teams, Louise can quickly gain a solid understanding of business goals, and provide quality, common sense advice on human resource matters.
Louise has a very practical and efficient approach to her work, and seeks to build strong working relationships to facilitate candid feedback. She enjoys working with clients to find successful outcomes to workplace issues.
Pascale Draper
People & Culture Consultant
Pascale is a seasoned People and Culture consultant, offering services for HR projects and specialist needs on an ad-hoc basis. With extensive experience in roles such as Employment Relations Manager, Remuneration Specialist, and People & Culture Consultant, Pascale brings over 15 years of expertise across Australia, the UK, and New Zealand.
Passionate about empowering people and organisations, Pascale delivers practical HR solutions that help businesses achieve their goals. She holds a Bachelor of Commerce (majoring in HR), a certificate in Organisational Coaching, and is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Laws at Canterbury University. Pascale is also trained and licensed to conduct independent workplace investigations (Private Investigators Licence-PSPLA).
Based in North Canterbury, Pascale is available for face-to-face support to our Christchurch and Canterbury based clients.
Melody Bonnett
Learning & Development Consultant
Meet Melody, a designer with a decade of experience on a mission to make learning not just educational, but beautiful, innovative and enjoyable.
Equipped with a master's degree in Organisational Psychology, Melody's career in Learning & Development (L&D) started informally with teaching and tutoring. In 2014, she formally entered the world of professional L&D with range of roles in numerous large organisations in the Waikato and Wellington. These roles encompassed coordination, facilitation/delivery, advisory, and ultimately led her to her specialisation and passion for digital, graphic and learning design.
Melody's guiding principle in learning is: "what we learn with pleasure, we never forget." She is committed to using her creative flair to design leading-edge content that not only looks fantastic but also provides an exceptional learning experience.
Raewyn Henderson
Team Support
Raewyn has considerable experience in administration and human resources roles across various sectors, including aged care, the private sector and a membership organisation. She has worked in both Australia and the UK, providing her with a broad perspective and diverse skill set.
With a passion for people, teams, and teamwork, Raewyn is committed to a culture of collaboration, mutual respect and environments where individuals can thrive collectively. She firmly believes that a motivated, inclusive and cohesive team is the cornerstone of a successful organisation.
In her free time, Raewyn continues to pursue her passion for teamwork by being involved in community and volunteering activities.
Jaime Gallocher
People & Culture Consultant
Jaime is one of our partners based in Auckland. She runs her own HR consultancy - the People Project, but we come together to support Auckland based clients when they need it.
Jaime has over 10 years experience working in London and Auckland in both leadership and specialist HR roles. She and her team now support SME employers across multiple sectors in Auckland – supporting them to have best practice HR and employee experiences that align both business and people strategies.
Jaime quickly builds strong working relationships with those she works with, meaning she has particular strengths in coaching and supporting leaders to manage their staff. Her clients appreciate her straight talking and pragmatic approach.
Nina Macadam
Senior People & Culture Consultant
Nina is a Senior HR and OD Practitioner with a wealth of experience across organisational design and people change, business partnering and coaching leaders to achieve outcomes and transform organisations. She has partnered with and advised a large number of clients (CEOs, General Managers, Chiefs, Head of Departments and Boards) across a range of private, government and not for profit organisations.
With an ability to become a trusted advisor to key leaders, Nina enjoys partnering with clients to drive and implement transformational change. She has a passion for transforming organisations and building effective, open and trusted relationships at all levels to ensure alignment to strategic direction. She is also an accredited LSI coach and enjoys coaching and mentoring leaders to build their personal effectiveness and self-awareness. Being outcomes focused allows her to look for the best possible solutions for her clients.
Nina thrives on challenge, and brings energy, expertise and enthusiasm to any role or project she is involved in. Her varied background and range of experiences helps her to bring a flexible, resourceful and highly practical approach to her work.
