JUDGES

Ray Wallace (Chair)

MAYOR OF LOWER HUTT

Ray Wallace was elected Lower Hutt City Mayor in October 2010, becoming the 21st person to occupy the office of mayor since 1891.

Mr Wallace was first elected to Hutt City Council as a councillor in the Wainuiomata Ward in 1995 and served as Deputy Mayor from 2001 to 2005. During his 15 years as a councillor he held various senior positions on council committees including chair of Operations and Compliance, Chair of Community Grants, Chair of Community Services Committee and Chair of Heritage Advisory Committee.

He is proud of his Scottish heritage and as Mayor is passionate about celebrating all of Lower Hutt’s rich cultural diversity. He loves Lower Hutt and is committed to making it a more vibrant, exciting and inclusive place for everyone. A place where people feel safe, residents are proud to call home, businesses are keen to set up shop and visitors are excited to come.

Mr Wallace lives in Wainuiomata with his wife Linda. In his spare time he enjoys working on landscaping plans for the couple’s property and hitting the Petone foreshore on his bike.

Kerri Graham QSM

General manager of the naenae youth charitable trust

Kerri is the General Manager of the Naenae Youth Charitable Trust (NYCT). Kerri and Billy Graham established the Naenae Boxing Academy (NBA) in 2006. The Academy is an amazing youth facility which assists young people developing life skills through the discipline of boxing and physical fitness. The Trust has worked with youth referrals from schools, the Police and Juvenile Courts, and deals with problems such as learning disorders, relationship difficulties and drug/alcohol abuse. Naenae Boxing Academy has played a big part in helping drive down youth crime in Naenae and the greater Hutt Valley area.

Kerri is instrumental in developing the vision and strategy for expanding the NBA programmes across New Zealand.

Kevin Goldsbury

Director of youth development charity Ignite Sport

Kevin has over thirty years of youth work and community work experience both as a volunteer and as a full-time practitioner. He has worked predominantly with ‘at risk’ Maori and Pacific Island youth and their families in the Hutt Valley, including fourteen years coordinating the Te Hou Ora work in the greater Wellington region. Projects included running local community-based clubs, counseling, camps both local and national, youth development early intervention ‘in school’ programmes, youth homes providing respite care and emergency accommodation.

During the 1990’s Kevin and his wife Diane developed and coordinated a community-based community development project in a poorer high density housing NZ community in Petone, In 2000 Kevin took on the Directors position at Wgtn YFC with the responsibility of several youth work initiatives and projects including the establishment and supervision of over 25 Youth Service Corp and Conservation Corp pre-employment programmes in partnership with the Ministry of Youth Development.

In 2007 Kevin established the Ignite Sport Trust – a volunteer organisation which has developed a range of projects and networks designed to encourage and support every day sports-mad people to use their love for sport to make a difference in their local communities.

Kevin has had a strong interest in all sports and especially cricket. He has coached at various levels from Primary age through to Premier One College grade and is now involved with Petone Riverside Cricket Club.

Matt Reid

Chair, te awakairangi access trust (taka trust)

Matt Reid is the Chair of TAKA Trust and General Manager of Community Services at Hutt City Council. Over the last 20 years Matt has undertaken general management roles of Te Papa and Hutt City council, as well spending two years as an Assistant Auditor-General and two years as CEO in the racing industry. Matt is a Chartered Accountant with broad experience in wider areas of corporate services.

Matt is passionate about ensuring every child in every community is given equal opportunity to discover his or her own special talent. Matt is also on the Board of Barnardos NZ and chairs the Boards of Youth Inspire, Healthy Families Lower Hutt and also his local primary school. Matt loves to spend time with his family (wife and three young kids), and also enjoys time coaching junior sport, keeping himself fit and some occasional golf or fishing.

Chris Gosling

CEO, Weltec

Chris Gosling is Chief Executive of the Wellington Institute of Technology and Whitireia Community Polytechnic. He was previously Deputy Chief Executive (Operations) at Whitireia, a position he held for three years. He has worked in the Middle East setting up and operating a polytechnic in the Kingdom of Bahrain. Chris is the former Corporate Services Director at the Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology (NMIT). This role followed several years in finance and senior management roles in local government in New Zealand. He is a Chartered Accountant with membership of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand and a Board member of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce.

Prabha Ravi QSM

natraj school of dance

Prabha is a highly experienced and a well-engaged community leader with a proven track record of high performance in the development and implementation of strategy, business plans, cross-cultural understanding, and promotion.

She is the Founder, Director and Principal Consultant of Grow Consultancy Limited, which provides specialist management consultancy services from developing strategy to implementation and review for organisations keen to grow their export revenue in the education industry. She also founded the Natraj School of Dance in 1999. Prabha’s wealth of experience and dedication to her work earned her a Queen Services Medal for contribution to Dance and Ethnic Communities in 2017. She currently works as Head of Engagement at the NZ Drama School.

In addition, she is very active in the Hutt community in varied governance roles. She is the Establishment Chair for the Hutt Valley District Health Board consumer council, member of the Hutt City Council Community panel for Central ward and a Board of Trustee at the Epuni School board. At a national level, she is the executive member of Women on Board and Cultural Ambassador for the India trade Alliance. Recently, in June 2018, She was also one of the judges for the TV3 Great NZ dance Masala competition series, first of its kind aired on national television. You can watch it on TV3 on demand if you wish to be entertained with some good dancing!!! She is also a Justice of Peace.

She has been one of the founding members of the Hutt City Youth Awards and been actively involved in this initiative since its inception in 2015

Linda Aroha Olsen

Manager, Wainuiomata Marae

Linda has lived in Wainuiomata for over 50 years, with a background in catering, hospitality and health services. Today, she manages the Marae and is Maori Liason Support for Te Omanga Hospice. A proud mother, grandmother and great grandmother, Linda is highly respected for the invaluable role she plays in the Wainuiomata community.

Tēnā koutou katoa,

Ko Taranaki tōku maunga
Ko Kapuni tōku awa
Ko Aotea tōku waka
Ko Nga Ruahine tōku iwi
Ko Ngati Tu tōku hapu
Ko Wai o kura tōku marae
Nō Taranaki ahau
Kei Wainuiomata tōku kāinga ināianei
Ko Linda Aroha Olsen tōku ingoa

Nō reira, tēnā kotou, tēnā kotou, tēnā tātou katoa.