Karen Chang has been appointed to the position of Director and Chief Executive, Serious Fraud Office.
The appointment was announced this week by Deputy Public Service Commissioner, Helene Quilter QSO.
“I’m very pleased to appoint Ms Chang to this important role,” Ms Quilter said.
“Ms Chang is a proven leader in the field of financial crime law enforcement and has worked closely with the SFO on a number of investigations.”
Ms Chang (pictured) is currently Acting General Counsel at the Financial Markets Authority (FMA), a role she has held since 1 November 2021. Prior to this, Ms Chang had been the Head of Enforcement at the FMA since 2017.
Ms Chang leads the policy and governance, corporate legal, investigations and enforcement functions for the FMA. As the Head of Enforcement at the FMA she led a range of complex, high-profile criminal, and civil proceedings, several of which were the first of their kind in New Zealand. These included criminal prosecutions involving investor fraud, insider trading, and Ponzi schemes and civil pecuniary proceedings for breach of capital markets trading misconduct.
As a Senior Crown Prosecutor at Meredith Connell, Ms Chang prosecuted a range of trials involving serious criminal offending including fraud, theft and financial reporting offences on behalf of the FMA and the SFO.
Ms Quilter said Ms Chang has a clear vision for the role of the SFO and how to position it for the future.
Ms Chang holds a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) and a Bachelor of Commerce (Honours) from the University of Auckland.
She has been appointed for four years from 26 April 2022.
