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Alan Bickers named Distinguished Fellow of Institute of Directors
Prominent director and former Tauranga City Council chief executive Alan Bickers has been made a Distinguished Fellow of the Institute of Directors New Zealand (IoD).
Distinguished Fellowships are the highest accolade awarded by the IoD and recognise directors who have made an outstanding and sustained contribution to governance, business and their community.
Chairwoman of the IoD Bay of Plenty committee Jana Rangooni said Bickers had significantly influenced professional governance across Aotearoa New Zealand.
"The IoD is delighted to honour Alan Bickers with a Distinguished Fellowship," she said.
"He has had a positive and enduring impact on many different sectors, with directorships in leading governing bodies including not-for-profits, Crown Entities, government boards, private companies and NZX-listed companies."
Bickers has been involved in community groups and public organisations since the late 1970s, and led Tauranga City Council from 1986 to 1995.
He has served on the boards of Standards New Zealand, Pacific Health Ltd (now the Bay of Plenty District Health Board) and was a director of Trustpower Ltd and chairman of Trustpower Insurance Ltd.
Bickers has chaired the Building Practitioners board, the Plumbers, Gasfitters and Drainlayers board, and the Transit New Zealand board. He has also chaired the boards of The Elms Foundation, Bethlehem Tertiary Institute and Destination Rotorua.
During his career, Bickers developed best-practice guidelines for governance of health providers, regional tourism organisations, economic development organisations, sporting bodies and not-for-profit bodies. He also established processes for reviewing board and directors' performance and managing their relationship with their chief executive.
He is director of the Building Research Association of New Zealand (Branz), Branz Ltd and Branz Pty (Australia) Ltd. Bickers is also a Distinguished Fellow of Engineering New Zealand.
A Justice of the Peace, in 2015 he received the Insignia of a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to the community.
Bickers will formally be conferred Distinguished Fellow status at the IoD Bay of Plenty branch AGM on February 23.
TECT Park wins international recognition
TECT Park has been voted as a top 10 winner in the Green Flag International People's Choice Award.
The awards see Green Flag Award-winning parks from around the world entered into a people's choice contest, and the top park from each nation claims a coveted spot in the top 10.
Western Bay of Plenty Mayor Garry Webber said the award was well deserved.
"TECT Park has only been in existence 11 years and in that time it's won award after award. Now it sits among the world's most loved Green Flag award-winning parks. I'm thrilled to see the park and the management team's hard work recognised."
Tauranga City Council Commission chairwoman Anne Tolley said TECT Park's latest recognition was simply outstanding.
"This shows what three committed organisations, a great management team and the people of the Western Bay can achieve, and that's to create a superb recreational resource and place it firmly on the world map. Congratulations go to everyone involved."
TECT chairman Bill Holland said the park was the flagship park not only of the region, but of our country and the world, and it was fantastic to see it recognised with this award.
"To win the People's Choice Award for New Zealand is an astounding achievement, one that goes to show the level of time, work and funding that has gone into making it what it is today – a place everyone can come to enjoy nature and get active."
TECT Park manager Bill Wheeler the park was doing well to even feature on this kind of list and "that's all down to the support of the users from all over the Bay".
The top 10 status puts TECT Park on an international stage among parks from North America, Australia and Europe.
Cassandra Crowley wins in Women of Influence awards
Te Arawa Management Limited chief executive Cassandra Crowley has been named winner of the board and management category in the latest Women of Influence Awards.
Cassandra Crowley works to support the aspirations of Māori, Pasifika, youth, migrant, and refugee women.
She is chair of Taranaki District Health Board, deputy chair of Waka Kotahi (NZ Transport Agency), chair of KLC, voluntary chair of Nisa, member of the (interim) Health NZ Board, and a director of Aratu Forests, Skills Consulting Group, Ngati Manawa Developments and Western Institute of Technology.
She also works to support employee diversity and promote opportunities for women in all organisations she's involved with.
A media statement said Crowley has grown Te Arawa's balance sheet from $24m to over $107 million in under four years. This included purchasing an iconic Bay of Plenty business in receivership: Maketū Pies.
"In its first year under Crowley's guidance, it turned over a small profit, but more significantly 40 staff kept their jobs, representing 13 per cent of the town's households.
"At Aratu Forests, the company also launched an initiative to restore native ecosystems that were not suited to logging, improve practices and setting new environmental standards on the east coast, at the same time increasing its use of Māori-owned businesses."
Jointly presented by Westpac NZ and Stuff, the awards celebrate high-achieving wāhine who are making a difference to the lives of New Zealanders.
Fonterra, NZX and EEX enter GDT partnership for future growth
Fonterra has agreed a strategic partnership with New Zealand's Exchange (NZX) and the European Energy Exchange (EEX) to each take ownership stakes in Global Dairy Trade (GDT) alongside the Co-op.
Subject to the approval of boards, clearance from European or any other relevant competition law authorities, and finalisation of transaction documentation, the partnership is expected to be completed mid-2022, with Fonterra, NZX and EEX each holding an equal one-third (33.33 per cent) shareholding in the global dairy auction platform.
Fonterra chief executive Miles Hurrell said the move to a broader ownership structure marks the next step in the evolution of GDT.
Hurrell said it will further enhance the standing of GDT as an independent, neutral, and transparent price discovery platform, giving it a presence in prominent international dairy- producing regions, and creating future growth opportunities.
"This is good news for our farmer-owners, unitholders, and all dairy industry participants and is expected to lead to greater volumes being traded on GDT. It will bring more participants and transactions, stimulating further growth of risk management contracts available on financial trading platforms.
He said dairy was one of the most volatile traded commodities.
"This partnership is another step in helping to manage this risk for everyone – from the farmer through to the customer at the end of the supply chain. A more liquid dairy trading environment allows for the growth of financial tools which can be used by all participants to better manage price volatility.
NZX chief executive Mark Peterson said the price discovery that GDT provides the international dairy industry was crucial for dealing with volatility and its associated risks.
"We see the expansion of the physical trading environment as both further strengthening existing financial contracts and enabling the creation of new tools and opportunities for dairy processors and end users to manage price volatility. These offer clear benefits for New Zealand dairy farmers and customers around the world."
EEX chief strategy officer Dr Tobias Paulun said becoming a shareholder of Global Dairy Trade was perfectly in line with the EEX strategy of taking asset classes, which it already successfully serves to a global dimension.
GDT director Dr Eric Hansen said GDT was excited the addition of NZX and EEX as shareholders alongside Fonterra will enable them to build on its success in establishing a global brand and expertise in price discovery to create more opportunities for its customers.
Tokoroa local spearheads South Waikato employment programme
South Waikato-based employment programme WORKit has secured a second round of funding after success in helping the district's unemployed youth find and sustain work.
A collaboration between the South Waikato District Council and the Mayors Taskforce for Jobs, WORKit is funded by the Ministry of Social Development (MSD).
The programme is one of many nationwide Community Recovery Programme projects working towards a vision to have all young people under 25 in appropriate education, training, work or other positive activities in their community.
Established in April 2021 and initially funded for six months, the programme has been spearheaded by fulltime WORKit connector and Tokoroa local Paniora Daniels.
The initiative exceeded its six-month objective of securing 25 sustainable employment roles within half that time and has secured 12 more months of funding.
"The programme is about understanding the status of our youth at the moment," said South Waikato District Mayor Jenny Shattock.
"We are absolutely thrilled to have secured new funding to continue the programme. We're working hard to connect with those young people who are not in employment, education or training and to help build relationships with employers who can support them to build careers.
"We aim to secure another 50 fulltime employment roles within the 12 months."
Shattock said in the wake of Covid-19 and economic uncertainty, job prospects for NEETs were looking far more positive thanks to the success of the WORKit programme.
"While Paniora is the sole WORKit connector currently, we are developing a framework with longevity that includes hiring a second connector. It's a very exciting time."
"With close ties to his local community, Paniora works with the families of young people looking for jobs, in a holistic whanau-centred approach."
Daniels has also worked closely with the local network of stakeholders that includes Raukawa Charitable Trust, South Waikato Pacific Island Community Trust, Cook Island Society, YMCA, high school Gateway co-ordinators, Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology and Te Wananga O Aotearoa.
One local who secured work late last year was 22-year-old Shayden Teao, who helped
establish the new Green Frame steel framing manufacturing plant that was opened in Putāruru in December.
The new business is expected to require a workforce of more than 40, and WORKit has succeeded in placing four employees there already.
"After not being able to find a job in Tokoroa or Putāruru I needed to move to Hamilton, away from friends and family to work," Teao said.
"I had a couple of mates through league who were already in WORkit. Paniora is our league coach, and a few of the boys had signed up through him. He told me about the opportunities, and I went for it.
"We helped start the company up from scratch which has been really good to learn, fixing up the joint where we work and finding out how to start a business. I'm also working with a couple of mates from the league team. I've never worked with close mates before."
Top NZ broadband and energy Providers of 2021
Hundreds of senior-level professionals from the New Zealand internet and energy sectors come together for the NZ Compare Awards 2021 to celebrate the best of the best in the New Zealand broadband and energy sectors.
The awards were hosted virtually by NZ Compare on February 16.
Gavin Male, chief executive for NZ Compare said 2021, in particular, was a time to recognise success and celebrate the essential businesses that operate in NZ's broadband and energy sectors.
"As essential services the entire telecoms and energy sectors have worked incredibly hard to keep Kiwis connected and powered up during 2021.
"It was fantastic to see another year of record entries from a huge range of providers ..."
Several new categories were introduced in the 2021 awards alongside established categories like Best Customer Support, Best Fibre Provider and Best Bundled Plan.
The new categories included Best Energy Innovation, Best Mobile Application, and the Making a Difference Award.
Megan Matthews, general manager for NZ Compare, said the new categories reflect the importance of innovation, value and community involvement within the broadband and energy sectors.
"A key aspect of the awards this year is the recognition that digital connectivity in New Zealand is now just as important as a reliable power supply and more and more providers are starting to offer both to the Kiwi consumer.
"That's one of the key reasons we made the decision to expand the awards to now include the energy sector as well as broadband."
The 2021 NZ Compare awards winners included Best Wireless Service Provider Wireless Nation, Best Mobile Application Contact Energy and Young Professional of the Year Saba Samiei.
Contact Energy was named Supreme Champion.
Western Bay of Plenty District could have fewer councillors to vote for next election.