The HFG team

Healthy Food Guide is owned by Healthy Life Media Limited, a private company owned by publishers Phil Ryan and Kim Mundell. The company is completely independent and is not affiliated with any food company or political organisation.

Phil Ryan, Managing Director (Co-founder)
Phil is an experienced magazine publisher who founded the award-winning NetGuide magazine in NZ and Australia. He was named NZ Publisher of the Year at the 2002 Magazine Publishing Association Awards.

Kim Mundell, Director (Co-founder)
Kim has spent 14 years in magazine and newspaper publishing, including three years as advertising marketing director for the NZ Herald. She was named Marketer of the Year in October 2003 by the Pacific Area Newspaper Publishers Association.

Pip Mehrtens, Commercial Director
Pip has held a variety of management roles including customer services, operations, business development and general management.

Niki Bezzant, Editor
Niki Bezzant is a food writer and the founding editor of Healthy Food Guide magazine. She contributes frequently to local radio and TV, including TV3’s Campbell Live, bFM and Radio NZ National. In 2009 she was awarded the Supreme Editor of the Year Award at the MPA Magazine Awards for her work on Healthy Food Guide. Niki is the author of Eating In: fabulous food for friends and family, published in November 2009, and co-author of Beach House Cook Book.

Gertrud Wagner, Sub-editor
With a long-held interest in the media, Gertrud swapped her career in education for publishing in 2005. After three years working on magazine titles covering celebrities, teens, and weddings, she is happy to now be indulging her passion for health, food, and writing as a member of the HFG team.

Tracy Hanify, Web Content Coordinator
With fanatical attention to detail and a personal mantra that ‘nearly’ just isn’t good enough, Tracy has responsibility for ensuring the HFG website content is up-to-date and answers the needs of users and clients – from advertising to editorial content, and everything in between. She has a strong background in events and the food industry, and also runs her own proofreading business, Final Word.

Rose Carr, Senior Nutritionist
Rose is a registered nutritionist with a BSc and an MSc (Hons) in Human Nutrition. Prior to retraining she had a successful career in marketing ‘fast-moving consumer goods’ – that’s ‘grocery products’ to the rest of us – before making the change to nutrition. Rose has since worked in a private nutrition clinic, lectured at Massey University, and undertaken project work for the New Zealand Nutrition Foundation.

Claire Turnbull, HFG Nutritionist
Claire is the Healthy Food Guide nutritionist and has a private practice as Mission Nutrition. She runs seminars on healthy eating and features regularly on Newstalk ZB, Good Morning and Campbell Live.

Jennie Parker, Art Director
World traveller Jennie spent three years working overseas as a magazine designer on everything from community magazines to top-flight business titles. Returning to NZ, she spent a year-and-a-half freelancing before she secured her dream job at Healthy Food Guide. It was inevitable she ended up on a food title, she says, as she has two chefs in the family and she’s addicted to chocolate brownies.

Kirsty Donovan, Designer
Like most of the team at Healthy Food Guide, Kirsty has a passion for food, and she is thrilled to be part of the HFG design team. With 18 years in the print industry under her belt, she has done everything from designing stationery and brochures to teaching computer graphic design – and even squeezed in swimming teaching in her down-time. The part-time design role suits Kirsty to a tee, enabling her to keep a foot in the industry while being a mother of two.

Carlee Atkin, Advertising Manager (Agency)

Carlee has recently returned from her OE, living in Barcelona and London. She holds a Bachelor of Consumer and Applied Science with a double major in Marketing and Design, and has sales experience spanning from hotels to newspapers. With a passion for food and a love of media, Carlee is thrilled to be a part of the HFG team.

Melissa Massey, Advertising Manager (Direct)
With a background in sales and a lifelong interest in healthy food and magazines, when the opportunity came up to join the Healthy Food Guide sales team, it was an obvious choice for Melissa to come onboard.  Being responsible for direct advertising, Melissa genuinely enjoys helping her customers grow their businesses through the HFG vehicle.

Sarah Glassey, Sales Executive (Events)
Being a lover of healthy food and exercise, Sarah was already an avid reader of Healthy Food Guide magazine and website before she joined the HFG team. She enjoys analysing problems, developing effective solutions and helping her clients achieve their objectives.

Debbie Armour, Office Manager
Debbie has a wealth of experience in customer service, office administration and accounts. She is passionate about making your experience with Healthy Food Guide a positive one.

Dave Smith, Accountant
A fully qualified chartered accountant, Dave has over 13 years' accountancy experience dealing with NZ businesses. He is a keen golfer, with an interest in health and well-being.