Mark Prebble

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Mark Prebble

State Services Commissioner
Incumbent
Assumed office May 2004
Prime Minister	Helen Clark
Preceded by	Michael Wintringham
Succeeded by	Iain Rennie
Deputy Secretary to the Treasury
Secretary of the Department of the Prime Mininster and Cabinet
In office 1998 – 2004
Preceded by	Simon Murdoch

Mark Prebble (born 1951) has been State Services Commissioner and head of New Zealand's public service since 2004. On 25 January 2008, Prebble announced his retirement after 32 years in the Public Service, effective 30 June 2008.

Prebble was born in Auckland, New Zealand, the youngest son of Kenneth Prebble, a one-time Anglican Archdeacon of St Matthew's in Auckland. Prebble's brothers are former Labour Cabinet Minister and ACT Party leader Richard Prebble, and Victoria University Law Professor John Prebble.

Prebble was educated at the University of Auckland, where he graduated with an MA in Economics, and at Victoria University of Wellington, where he earned a doctorate in public policy. Prebble tutored economics at Auckland and Wellington.

Prebble joined the Treasury in 1977, rising to Deputy Secretary of the Department, and acted as Acting Secretary twice. While in non-executive roles at the Treasury, Prebble was an organiser for the Public Service Association, the principal trade union for public servants.

In 1998, Prebble became Secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, succeeding Simon Murdoch, who became New Zealand's High Commissioner to Canberra, and later Chief Executive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. At the time, Labour Opposition leader Helen Clark criticised the appointment, describing Prebble as an "apostle of the New Right". Upon winning the 1999 election, however, Clark reappointed Prebble to the role, and is understood to have worked closely with him.

In 2004, Prebble was appointed State Services Commissioner, as the head of New Zealand's public service, succeeding Michael Wintringham.

Prebble's first wife died in a mountaineering accident on Mount Cook. He has remarried, and has two sons and two daughters.