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Pukeroa Oruawhata Trust has appointed Mark Gibb as its new chief executive officer.
Pukeroa chairman Malcolm Short said Gibb has extensive commercial experience in senior leadership roles at Westfield, Fonterra and as current chief executive of Rotorua Airport Limited.
"We are delighted to welcome Mark to our team.
"With a number of new commercial projects on the go, and others planned for the near future, it will be great to have Mark's skills on board to work with us on those projects, along with our current portfolio."
Gibb will commence work with Pukeroa Oruawhata Trust in early October.
The Tauranga Chamber of Commerce is looking for engaged, enthusiastic members of the business community to join its 2021 board.
The board plays a pivotal role in the governance of the chamber. Board members are involved in the strategic direction of the chamber and are instrumental in ensuring the organisation is on track to meet its core purpose: To support and champion people in business.
CEO Matt Cowley says this is a particularly exciting time to be involved with the chamber, as he and the team embark on a refreshed strategic direction.
"As one of the largest business organisations in the Bay of Plenty, we have a responsibility to our business community that we continue to adapt and evolve to meet their needs.
"We're all about practising what we preach – we supported numerous businesses to pivot, upskill and rethink their direction off the back of Covid-19 and now it's our turn to reflect, rethink and reposition ourselves.
"We need board members who share our enthusiasm for the future of business in the Bay, who have forward-thinking ideas and a strategic mind to see the big picture when it comes to key decisions for the organisation."
There are seven positions available on the chamber board, all with a two-year term. The board meets once a month on the third Monday, with meetings as/when required in the lead-up to the board meeting.
Nominations are open from Monday, August 2 through to Friday, August 13 at 5pm. Nominees and nominators must be financial members of the Tauranga Chamber of Commerce. Governance experience is preferable.
• To find out more and to complete the online nomination form, visit the chamber's website: www.tauranga.org.nz/agm-annual-report
Gull New Zealand has opened its new office at its Mount Maunganui fuel terminal.
The office relocation, which started in 2017, included more than $9 million in safety and environment enhancements at Gull's key Mount Maunganui terminal.
After working in a cramped, basic portacom for 20 years, Gull's terminal manager Chris Toms was thrilled to finally give his six team members decent facilities that future-proofed this key asset.
"I'm very proud of the improvements we've made over the last four years.
"The changes to improve the reliability of Gull's operation and improve safety systems, all have been implemented while maintaining a very busy operation of over 1200 truck movements and around four ship discharges each month, " Toms said.
With storage of around 91m litres (the equivalent of what 60,000 average family vehicles use in a year), the terminal was one of the three largest fuel terminals in New Zealand and had been the key asset securing Gull's supply chain for the last 23 years.
Gull general manager Dave Bodger said the upgrade stood the company in great stead for the next 23 years.
"While we had a great facility already, Gull now sells over three times what we did 15 years ago. This additional investment maintains our facility as state-of-the-art and ensures this key gateway infrastructure for Gull will be resilient to meet our ongoing needs and growth," he said.
Key pieces of the upgrade in addition to the office included new firewater tanks, upgraded fire main system for foam and water, installation of in terminal gas detectors that will note the presence of fuel vapour, increased bund capacity, upgraded emergency shut down systems for use in tanker discharge, improved CCTV coverage of the terminal, upgrading of internal pipework at the terminal to be fire-resistant, removal of auto-fill system for service station and installation of containment for firefighting foam.
The governor of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, Adrian Orr, was in Tauranga yesterday for a question and answer session with the public and the city's business community.
He spoke at the Tauranga Yacht & Power Boat Club Inc on July 30.
Orr has been the Reserve Bank governor since March 2018.
He is a graduate of Waikato University and the University of Leicester (UK) and has held a variety of positions both here and overseas.
Orr has worked with the NZ Institute of Economic Research, the National Bank of New Zealand (twice), a stint in France with the OECD then time with treasury as chief analyst, then to the Reserve Bank, Westpac as chief economist, deputy governor at the Reserve Bank and chief executive of the Guardians of the NZ Super Fund.
He has governance experience at international level and boasts a whole host of directorships past and present across a broad spectrum of activities.
SociaLink, the umbrella organisation for Western Bay of Plenty social agencies and charities, has appointed a new Māori engagement adviser.
Irene Walker (Ngāiterangi, Ngāti Ranginui, Ngāti Pukenga, Waitaha, Ngāti Rehua ki Ngāti Wai), whakapapas to the iwi within the Western Bay and northern iwi. She comes from a large family with eight siblings.
Walker has a 40-year background in the health field working nationally, regionally and local levels, and says the local level has been her most challenging.
Over the past 10 years she has been working regionally in Māori suicide prevention with Kia Piki te Ora, a Bay of Plenty contract under Te Ao Hou Trust, Ōpōtiki.
She says during lockdown there were no Māori suicides within the WBOP and very low nationally, as people were connected to each other, but the figures soon returned to pre-lockdown levels when restrictions were over.
"What can we learn from that? We need new and innovative ways to create a new path."
While she is already well known in the western Bay, Walker says she is looking forward to creating connections through SociaLink and working with organisations.
A pivotal event has paved the way forward for Whānau Āwhina Plunket to play its part in levelling the playing field for all pēpi and tamariki in Aotearoa.
In June, Plunket clinical leaders returned to Puketeraki Marae in Karitāne, where the organisation began in 1907, to understand how it can better meet the needs of
whānau Māori and how its staff can support pro-equity through their own work.
Whānau Āwhina Plunket chief executive Amanda Malu said the organisation was changing the way it works with whānau, pēpi and tāmariki Māori to "acknowledge the inequalities, bias and racism Māori have experienced in our services and across the health system".
Sandra Shanly, a clinical leader for Tauranga, Katikati, Te Puna and Matakana Island, said a little more than 17 per cent of the city's population identified as Māori, which was higher than the national average of 16.5 per cent.
"Achieving equitable service delivery is our goal and in Tauranga, we are taking steps to help us on this journey.
"We have a very experienced team of staff who link whānau to our local community organisations across the social, health and education sectors.
"Our staff work closely with all these services, helping whānau access any additional support they may need."
Annie Fisher, clinical leader for Te Puke and the Eastern Bay of Plenty, said she was in a privileged and humbled position to lead Whānau Āwhina Plunket staff on its pro-equity journey.
"We have a high population of Māori whānau who choose Whānau Āwhina Plunket's service in my area. To me, being a better treaty partner starts with enhancing the mana and the whakapapa of our Māori whānau in Aotearoa.
"As a team of registered nurses, one health worker and three Kaiāwhina, we embrace tikanga Maori practices."
Fisher said it was important they get it right for generations to come.
The Rotorua hospitality industry acknowledged the outstanding abilities of its own at the 2021 Rotorua Hospitality Awards.
The winners were announced at a sell-out awards ceremony held at the Energy Events Centre on July 25.
Presented by the Restaurant Association of New Zealand and lead partners Gilmours and RA Lexis ComplyHub, the awards acknowledge outstanding hospitality professionals, making a positive impact on the local cafe, dining and drinking scene.
Speak easy meets metropolitan eat street bistro Atticus Finch won supreme restaurant.
Bartender Sean Kelly was also recognised, picking up the award for outstanding bartender.
Indian restaurant Indian Star was the people's choice.
Bruce Thomason, of Ambrosia Restaurant & Bar, was awarded the accolade of outstanding chef.
In a new category for 2021, El Mexicano Zapata Express won the award for outstanding street food/takeout.
Funky Tutanekai St eatery Scope Cafe picked up the award for outstanding cafe, while Monica Muzzioli, of Regent of Rotorua, won the award for outstanding waitperson and Third Place Cafe won the award for outstanding front of house team.
Little BREW | Craft Beer Pub won outstanding bar.
Restaurant Association chief executive Marisa Bidois said Rotorua was recognised globally for its manaakitanga.
"It's so important that hospitality recognises our champions as it provides not only a peer benchmark for excellence, but also serves to give our local community and our
visitors valuable guidelines on the best places to visit.
"We believe it's important to shine a light on our industry and ensure hospitality is recognised for its contribution to our local community and visitor economy".
Bayfair Shopping Centre will be part of an upcoming exhibition at Tauranga Art Gallery by Shannon Novak, a New Zealand artist that explores challenges faced by the LGBTQI+ community.
Novak collaborated with the local LGBTQI+ community to create an installation at the Mount Maunganui shopping centre.
The installation will focus on acknowledging, supporting, and celebrating the local LGBTQI+ community in Tauranga and the Bay of Plenty.
Novak said the project makes space for community voices to be seen and heard; voices from the local/national LGBTQI+ community, particularly, BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Colour) voices.
"I hope the project will grow public awareness around key challenges the local LGBTQI+ community faces and ultimately grow support for this community."
Centre manager Steve Ellingford said the centre advocated for inclusivity.
"We love Shannon's work and the concept, at a high level, is to help reduce rates of anxiety, depression, and suicide in the local LGBTQI+ community, through being visibly supportive in a meaningful way, essentially, to save lives."
Novak will be collaborating with the community to design the installation. The exhibition began on July 23.
Mount Maunganui-based pop-up restaurant Kitchen Takeover has been nominated in the New Zealand Events Awards.
The restaurant has been nominated for Best Lifestyle Event for Eat Your Memories and Best Arts and Cultural Event for Taiao: Food of the Gods.
This year's awards saw record numbers and some stiff competition from events nationwide.
Segolene de Fontenay, general manager of the NZ Events Association (NZEA), said the record numbers this year were remarkable given the impacts of Covid-19 during the qualifying period.
"Traditionally, the purpose of the awards has been to recognise excellence, promote best practice and creativity, raise awareness of the events sector and celebrate the contribution of the industry.
"But this year we also needed to recognise the resilience, flexibility and responsiveness of
the industry under the trying circumstances and uncertainty of the global Covid-19 pandemic."
Kitchen Takeover takes every traditional element of a restaurant night and turns it into a destination event.
Diners pre-purchase a ticket for a six-course fine dining feast based on a changing theme.
One evening diners might be in the forest for a hunter-gatherer event where the food is hunted and foraged, next, they will be transported into a deeply cultural, modern Māori take on the natural world.
Stacey Jones, founder and foodie of Kitchen Takeover, said she had to pinch herself about how popular it had become.
"Diners don't know where they are going until an hour before, what they will be eating or drinking - and the funny thing is… they love it!"
"It's a real honour to be recognised for these awards and we are proud to be playing our part in putting the Bay of Plenty on the map as a culinary destination."
The winners will be announced at the gala evening at the Toitoi Hawke's Bay Arts & Events Centre in Hastings on September 30.
'This decision has not been made lightly'.