Personal Journey Of Len Cook: A Webinar by Early Career & Student Statisticians Network and History Standing Committee of SSA.
This is the fourth in the series of webinars that focus on the personal journey of older Australian statisticians who have made a difference.
This is the first in the series that focuses on the personal journey of a New Zealand statistician. The interview of Len, for up to 40 minutes, will be conducted by Dennis Trewin, former SSA President and a member of its History Committee. There will then be a Q&A led by Muskaan, the facilitator for the New Zealand branch of the ECSSN.
Bio-Len Cook
After working in Statistics New Zealand in a variety of roles starting in methodology in 1971, He became Government Statistician of New Zealand, from 1992 to 2000. , From 2000 to 2005 He was the National Statistician of the United Kingdom and Registrar-General of England and Wales. Len Cook joined the Department of Statistics after he graduated in Mathematics and Statistics from Otago in 1971.
While working in Statistics NZ in his early years, He became a secretariat member of a Ministerial Task Force on Tax Reform (1981), and then a member of, the NZ Royal Commission on Social Policy (1987-88). In 2008, Len jointly led the preparation of a ten-year development plan for a Pacific statistical system, and for some 5 years after that, he met regularly with Pacific Statisticians overseeing its implementation. Between 2015 and 2018 he was Families Commissioner and Chair of the board of the Superu evaluation agency. He has been a member of the Remuneration Authority until 2021. He has also been involved in medical workforce planning, as well as public sector and university review panels.
Some recent professional roles include Vice-President, of the International Statistics Institute (2005-2009), and President of, the Institute of Public Administration NZ (2009-13). He is an elected Companion of the Royal Society of New Zealand.
His longstanding interests are in the areas of population change and public policy, public administration, retirement provision, imprisonment patterns, official statistics, and the place of science in policy. His interests include fly fishing.
Why Attend?
Learn from Experience: Len’s career path offers invaluable lessons for aspiring statisticians and educators.
Contribute to History: This webinar will be recorded, with a transcript prepared to support the History Standing Committee's efforts in documenting the evolution of statistics education in Australia.
Who Should Attend?
· Early career statisticians
· Students aspiring in statistics and related fields
· Anyone interested in the history and development of statistics education
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