12 February 2008
Lieutenant Colonel Maree Snell is the NZDF’s new Director of Nursing Services (DNS). She was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel by Deputy Chief of Army Brig Phil Gibbons prior to taking up the appointment. LTCOL Snell succeeds LTCOL Gerard Wood who is undertaking a year’s sabbatical.
She is the seventeenth DNS, the first having been appointed as Matron in Chief in 1908. Fellow officers of the Royal New Zealand Nursing Corps, Personnel Branch staff and representatives of regional Directors of Nursing gathered for the promotion. Brig Gibbons praised LTCOL Snell on her efforts within the NZDF to date, sighting her ability to demonstrate Army core values, through leadership and participation.
After being congratulated by Dr (Honorary Colonel) Annette Huntington, Colonel Commandant, RNZNC, LTCOL Snell spoke about the importance of the support she had received from fellow Corps members and the extended health service and wider military community.