Sir Ashley Bloomfield

Sir Ashley Bloomfield KNZM served as the chief executive of the Ministry of Health and the New Zealand's Director-General of Health from 2018 to 2022. He was the public-facing health specialist liaising with the media during the COVID-19 pandemic on behalf of the government, from the first press conference on 27 January 2020. In the 2023 New Year Honours, Bloomfield was appointed a Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to public health.