New Rural Women New Zealand chief executive Marie Fitzpatrick told members at the Canterbury regional conference in Ashburton she is "here to serve".

"I get to be your voice to ministers, and I take that role very seriously.

"It's an honour and an honour I will respect enormously."

Approximately 50 women participated in the conference at the Ashburton Event Centre last Thursday.

This event marked one of Fitzpatrick's initial appearances in her new role, which she assumed on July 1.

Fitzpatrick brings several years of experience in the public sector to the position, including her recent tenure on the leadership team at Fisheries New Zealand and in the Ministry for Primary Industries.

She also co-founded Good Bitches Baking Charitable Trust.

Fitzpatrick enjoys working with and supporting volunteers on the front line and felt the role of chief executive was a perfect fit.

"I like doing good things and making things better for people on a daily basis in the local community.

"When I saw this role, I thought very rarely that you would match a job description perfectly, but I thought, this is me."

Fitzpatrick believes that advocacy is an essential aspect of the role and that her career in the public sector has provided her with the experience to achieve results when lobbying the government on key issues.

"There are ways you can amplify a voice by making sure you are going through the right pathways or make your case in a way that's more powerful."

Fitzpatrick said looking at the Rural Women's New Zealand manifesto was an excellent place to start when deciding which issues are a priority for rural communities.

"Its logical things, like healthcare equity, access to education, resources, community cohesion, inclusion and connection."

Fitzpatrick said that climate change and the current state of the economy meant things were "grim" in rural communities.

"When you put climate change, a challenging economic environment and drought together and layer them up, it makes for a much bigger challenge for people living in rural communities."

In addition to advocacy, Fitzpatrick said she intends to focus on increasing the organisation's membership, which has declined significantly over the last ten years.

"We need to focus on a younger, more diverse membership."

Fitzpatrick said next year's centennial was an exciting opportunity to grow the organisation.

"We want to ensure we are doing everything right so that when new members join, they have a seamless experience and stay for life.

"We want people to stick around, so I'm doing a lot of looking under the hood at the moment.

"We want to lay the groundwork for positive and sustainable growth."

Fitzpatrick said that although other organisations, such as Federated Farmers, had considerable clout, Rural Women's New Zealand had a unique voice in the community and was being listened to.

"We have recently hired a fantastic policy advisor because we need to strengthen in that space.

"We are having all sorts of meetings with ministers, so there has been a shift in that.

"This government really wants to talk about rural communities, so we have a good opportunity to grow some credibility in that space as well."

Fitzpatrick replaced Gabrielle O'Brien as chief executive, who held the position for three years.

By Claire Inkson