Staff

Jennifer Gill

Chief Executive Officer

In 2004 Jennifer became CEO of our Trust after 10 years as Executive Director of Fulbright NZ. Her career in philanthropy began in 1985 when Sir Roy McKenzie appointed her as the Executive Officer of the Roy McKenzie Foundation. She was a founding member of the Board of the Wellington Regional Community Foundation, the Funding Information Service and of Philanthropy New Zealand, of which she is currently the chair.

 

Syd Beguely

Chief Financial Officer

Syd joined the Trust after eight years consulting to both not-for-profit and “for profit” organisations. Before this he held senior management positions with energy sector companies. He brings depth and breadth of management and financial skills and experience to his Chief Financial Officer role. Syd holds a Bachelor of Commerce Degree from Otago University and a Post Graduate Diploma in Business from Auckland University. He is a CA member of the New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants.

 

Karyn McLeod

Grants Team Manager

Karyn is Grants Team Leader and is responsible for Major Capital Grant applications. Karyn has a passion for philanthropy, which began when working in a residential home for Richmond Fellowship in 1991.
In 1997 Karyn became a Grants Advisor at the Christchurch Community Trust and when she moved to Auckland in 2002 she took up the same role at our Trust.

Moi Becroft

Project Manager, Maori & Pasifika Education Initiative

Before joining the Trust Moi worked for the Department of Internal Affairs for 11 years, doing community development work and coordinating Auckland COGS committees during that time. With Nga Puhi connections through her mother (a Beazley), she grew up in Kaipara’s Port Albert as a fifth generation Albertland settler on her father’s side. Well networked and known within Auckland’s social service sector, Moi has a profoundly deaf daughter, which also connects her to the deaf community.

www.initiative.org.nz

 

Greta Buchanan

Grants Advisor

Greta joined the Trust from Waitakere City Council, where she was responsible for the council’s community grants programmes. With a degree in psychology and anthropology from The University of Auckland , she has also worked in research, marketing and business development. Greta’s background includes project management and research for The University of Auckland Injury Prevention Research Centre and marketing and business development for Britain’s Capio Nightingale Hospitals , which is part of Capio Europe a pan-European healthcare provider.

Kim Calcott

Grants Advisor

Kim has a psychology degree from Otago University and was Business Development Manager with United Way. She also worked for Auckland City Council and has experience in the assessment of funding applications, facilitation and training in the community sector, events promotion, administration and project management.

 

Catherine George

Grants Advisor

Catherine is responsible for assessing Learning, Arts, Culture and Heritage applications. She brings fifteen years' grant-making experience to the Trust. She was previously employed as a funding advisor to the Lottery and Heritage Committee. Catherine trained as a journalist and has extensive community involvement as a volunteer in children’s theatre and in education.

 

 

Cyril Howard

Grants Advisor

Responsible for assessing Marae and Sport and Recreation applications, Cyril brings to the Trust 13 years experience as a grants assessor with the Local Government and Community Branch of the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA). He began his career as a Community Worker in Mt Roskill and also spent three years working as a Gaming and Censorship Compliance officer, auditing gaming machine trusts for DIA. Cyril says sport has always been a passion and his varied sporting career has seen him playing as a NZ Touch representative, an Auckland and North Harbour Maori Rugby representative, an Under 14’s NZ Softball representative and as an Auckland and NZ Maori Rugby League representative. Although he has lived in Auckland most of his life, Cyril, of Nga Puhi descent, still calls the Hokianga home.

Shalini Pillai

Grants Advisor

Shalini has responsibility for assessing refugee and migrant sector grants, as well as Health applications. She joined the Trust after working as an administrative officer and exchange coordinator at Auckland University. Shalini was drawn to grass roots community support work by an interest in energy and rural health, in particular their effects on poverty and development.
Born in Malaysia, she has lived in New Zealand since 1989, but has also been a development worker for the Street Children’s Program in Vietnam, a development instructor in India and underwent development work training at the Institute for International Cooperation and Development, in Michigan, USA.

Marie Ball

Receptionist

Receptionist Marie has been with the Trusts since March 2004 and is the first point of contact for many people, whether on the phone or at the reception desk. As well as reception duties, Marie has an administration role within the grants application process. Before joining the Trusts, she was an administration manager with a property investment company.

Ross Burton

Grants Administrator

Ross is responsible for all issues related to the payment and monitoring of grants once they have received board approval, manages the grants database and is the IT troubleshooter. His background is in administrative and database management, process improvement and project management. Ross has previously worked in central and local government, in the not-for-profit sector and in the private sector. Ross has been with the Trust since 2005.

Annie Easton

Accountant

Annie has worked as an accountant in the private sector for most of her career, although she spent one year working for the Inland Revenue Department as a GST auditor. Her private sector work included three years as an accountant at an outdoor school, which ran conservation courses funded by the Ministry for Youth and Development. Annie has a Diploma of Accounting and is completing a Bachelor of Business part time at AUT, with the intention of becoming a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants.

Chloe Harwood

Community Research and Policy Advisor

A graduate of Canterbury University , Chloe is responsible for policy development, research, the development of evaluation protocols. Chloe has worked for Britain’s National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (Nesta), where she awarded funding to innovative and pioneering learning projects.

 

 

Annie Johnson

Office Administrator

Annie is the Office Administrator for the Maori and Pasifika Education Initiative team. She joined the Trust after seven years as a school office manager. With an extensive background in administration and finance, Annie is now enjoying the exciting challenge of helping launch a new project that has the potential to raise educational achievements for Maori and Pasifika communities across the region. Born in Auckland and of Cook Island descent, Annie lives in West Auckland and is the proud mother of three children and nana to two grandchildren.

Russell Joyce

PR Manager

 

Russell is in charge of all publicity for the Trust, including the website, TrustLine newsletter, press releases and public events. Previously he was Advertising Features Editor at the Sunday Star Times newspaper and a senior sub-editor on the Salisbury Journal, in England, and the Waikato Times, in Hamilton. As well as editing the newspapers' web pages, Russell was a Waikato Times IT columnist and editor of the Technology section.

Anna Palmer

Internal Communications Manager

Anna is responsible for all the information and internal communication needs of the Trust’s staff. She has been with the ASB Community Trust since 2005 and has recently returned after the birth of her now 2 year old twins. Anna has been involved in the information industry for over 20 years and has worked across many sectors, from advertising to law, both in New Zealand and internationally.

 

Marilou Sambajon

Administration Assistant

Marilou is the Administration Assistant supporting the grants team. Before joining the Trust in January 2007 she was Assistant Manager at Student Job Search Auckland. She holds a degree in commerce and administration from Victoria University  and has also worked as a forensic administrator in the Institute of Environmental Science and Research’s Wellington office.

Matthew Stratton

Investment Administrator

Matt manages the day-to-day relationship with the trust's external investment managers, custodian and advisor. Before joining the Trust in Jan 2001 he spent five years as an investment analyst at Sovereign Funds Management, responsible for all NZ asset classes. Prior to that he was the Operations Manager at Citigroup.
Matt began his career with a NZ-based funds management company in 1985. He has since worked for fund management companies based in Sydney and London . He holds a Diploma in Business Finance and a New Zealand Stock Exchange Diploma.