Darren Mitchell

Darren Mitchell has been an employee of Ara Institute of Canterbury for the past 15 years and has spent 10 plus years as part of the senior leadership team. He has recently been appointed Acting CE. In his previous role as Director of Corporate Services and CFO, he had operational oversight of the functions of finance, people, and development, facilities management, registry, ICT, and the project management office.

He currently represents the ITP sector on the Information for Learners project, Tertiary Sector Benchmarking, and Collaborative Procurement of Insurance. Darren is a Board member for WorldSkills New Zealand, a trustee of Otautahi Education Development Trust, and Chair of the Public Sector Consultation Committee of the Chartered Accountants of Australia and New Zealand.

Prior to joining Ara, Darren worked for a national chartered accounting firm providing advisory services to a diverse range of industries and businesses. He specialised in financial information systems and when he left had the position of National IT Director.

Darren holds a Bachelors Degree in Accounting from Otago University and is a Chartered Accountant with Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand.