Posted on 28 August 2026
Our LearnersBachelor of Business (Marketing) graduate Pam Morrissey thanks her Open Polytechnic qualification for helping her to step into a Chief Executive Officer role recently.
Pam, who lives with her family in Guangzhou, China, co-founded an organisation called Our Village in October 2025, for expat and international parents to access resources and referrals for parenting support across China.
She was a life coach and has now been asked to also step into the role of CEO for the organisation.
“I definitely would not have the confidence, strategy or understanding of how organisations work and therefore how to prioritise without my studies at Open Polytechnic,” Pam explains.
“I also think it's funny that I graduated in May and got promoted to CEO in June.”
Later this year, Our Village will host its second virtual summit. The 2025 summit featured 10 speakers across three days on a range of topics from breastfeeding to sleep, to positive discipline, to managing your energy as a new parent.
This year it has also started doing monthly webinars in a similar vein.
“My first priorities are to define the individual members roles within the team, make the referral system more effective, increase community engagement, and prepare to monetise the summit in October,” Pam says.
Pam always knew that she wanted to work with and help people.
She started out in hospitality, transitioning into retail, administration, before moving to China to teach English for 10 years before pivoting to life coaching.
Pam decided to start her own business called Pam Morrissey Coaching in 2019, using her experience to help teachers manage their stress while working and living abroad.
But Pam knew she needed the business systems and knowledge to handle the sudden influx of customers in the COVID restrictions years.
That's why she enrolled with New Zealand’s leading flexible, online learning provider Open Polytechnic, from China where she had built a life and family.
“I really appreciated being able to use my own business as a case study where possible. Several of the kaiako (course leaders) went out of their way to help me with my understanding and resources, not just to finish assignments but to keep pushing my business to the next level,” Pam says.
Pam prioritised her studies over her coaching business and then pivoted her niche to working with parents after returning from maternity leave.
“This pivot gave me the mission to support expat parents across China and beyond," she explains.
"Being a parent is already challenging, but to do it away from the support and systems we have at home is another level. Open Polytechnic gave me the confidence in my knowledge of how organisations work, and this led to the vision for co-found Our Village, where I've recently been promoted to CEO."
She would recommend others study with Open Polytechnic.
“I feel validated, supported and ready to fly like the white heron that is our graduating animal” Pam says.
“It’s exciting to finally be done and able to do the things I want to do with my business with a clearer understanding of strategy, what will work and won't and why.”
Photo: Pam Morrissey at our Wellington graduation ceremony in 2026.