Strong skills brought to hospice role

Sasima Pearce is Waipuna Hospice's new marketing and fundraising manager. Photo/supplied

Sasima (SAS) Pearce is happiest when she knows her work is contributing to the well-being of others.

Given that life philosophy, the Western Bay of Plenty public can be happy she is hanging her hat at Waipuna Hospice. Sas has taken up the position of marketing and fundraising manager. She comes to the role with strong skills and experience in marketing and fundraising in the not-for-profit sector, as well as diverse involvement within the health sector.

"Like many people joining a charity organisation, my main motivation is to help people. My skills are highly transferable and I simply wanted to use them in the best possible way - in a way that would help people.

"It's rare to have the opportunity to work for an organisation where you can walk in every day and know that you are actually making a difference to people's lives - and Waipuna Hospice offers just that," she says.

Sas' resume shows diverse experience in the not-for-profit sector, covering research and communications to fundraising and project development.

Before joining Waipuna Hospice, Sas was the project director of Sailability Tauranga, an organisation working to provide sailing opportunities for people with disabilities. She remains a trustee of the Bay of Plenty Disabled Sailing Trust.

Her interest in sailing is also hands-on. Immediately before starting at Waipuna Hospice she was competing in the All Women's Kellers Regatta in Melbourne, returning with a gold medal.

Sas, and family, moved to New Zealand and Tauranga from England six years ago.
Her English husband, Tony, is a marketing research director and together they have two children - Aron, 18, who is at the University of Auckland, and Anya, 14, an Otumoetai College student.

Coming to New Zealand was always on their bucket list, and eventuated when Sas' husband secured a contract here. Her first job in New Zealand was with the cancer society; that was followed by time as chief executive of the Alzheimer's Society, Tauranga.

Thai-born Sasima initially worked with the United Nations, travelling extensively in senior executive roles in the not-for-profit sector. She was involved in project management for UN agencies in Canada and South-East Asia.

The United Kingdom became home in the mid-1990s and the health sector was a focus area during her UK working life. She enjoyed stints with the Department of Health and British Red Cross Society.

"Nearly all of my life has involved work in the not-for-profit area, except before that when I was a teacher."

Sas has a Bachelor of Education (from Thailand), and is a qualified art teacher. (She exhibited at Creative Tauranga in January.) Her qualifications also include a post-graduate diploma in international development (from Canada) and a master's degree in project management (from the United Kingdom).

She has been heavily involved in fundraising over the last 20 years and is a tutor and mentor with the NZ Fundraising Institute. Awards received over the years include the prestigious Henry Dunant Award for Outstanding Humanitarian Service (2010) for her assistance in post-flood recovery work in the United Kingdom.

When not at work, sailing or painting, Sas loves to cook. Additionally, she professes to having some "unusual" hobbies like foraging for mushrooms and making beef jerky. She also makes wine and jam and has a weakness for chocolate - "I tell people, 'you bring chocolate and you are guaranteed an answer'," she quips.

Waipuna Hospice chief executive Richard Thurlow says Sas' arrival provided the opportunity to restructure the fundraising department. As marketing and fundraising manager, Sas is assisted by communications manager Ingrid Hennessey and fundraising executive Shelley Atkinson.