Sarah Helm

Executive director, New Zealand Drug Foundation

Sarah Helm (Pākehā, Ngāi Tahu) is executive director of the New Zealand Drug Foundation.
Sarah is an experienced leader and CEO, driven by her own lived experiences and three decades at the forefront of leading change on health, youth, social and environmental issues.
Most recently, she worked for the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet as Strategic Communications Manager for the COVID-19 response.
Sarah has worked for the Alcohol Advisory Council, Health Promotion Agency and NZ AIDS Foundation. She was head of the NZ Association of Adolescent Health & Development (Ara Taiohi) for a number of years
She is based in the Wellington region with her two school-aged sons, but will always be a South Aucklander at heart.