Lou Sanson, the head of Antarctica New Zealand has been appointed as the new Chief Executive Officer of the Department of Conservation (DOC).

State Services Commissioner Iain Rennie announced the appointment of Sanson. He said that Sanson will serve as the head for a three year term and will be in charge of rolling out changes at DOC following its restructuring. He will head the department of about 1700 staff located in 99 separate locations around New Zealand.

Sanson would be required to manage around $5 billion in capital assets, including 8.5 million hectares of land and 3.7 million hectares of marine areas. Rennie said that Sanson's has built and maintained effective working relationships with diverse stakeholders and and has been working with a number of organisational structural shifts.

"I consider Mr Sanson to have the intellectual capability, strategic leadership, policy experience, change management skills, and personal qualities to be successful in the role. With a proven commitment to conservation, he possesses the focus to roll out the new business model and required shift in culture and practice, while maintaining delivery of the wide range of DOC services," Rennie said.