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The Friends Executive Committee

The Friends Executive Committee

Richard Dean – President
Prior to his retirement in early 2022, Richard had a long and broad-ranging career in administration, general management and governance in the New Zealand financial services sector, serving 32 years with various companies in Insurance and Banking industry roles. In 2008 he joined the Reserve Bank of New Zealand where he served 14 years in leading roles involved with the development of prudential legislation, and the delivery and implementation of financial supervision of the Insurance and Banking sectors. He retired from the Reserve Bank in early 2022.
In addition to his employed roles, Richard has also been significantly involved in governance and administration of financial sector industry bodies at local, national and international levels. He has led New Zealand’s representation on international Insurance and Banking associations and regulatory bodies. He has ongoing involvement in governance, trustee, and chairmanship roles of “not for profit” organisations, and various incorporated societies and charitable trusts.  Richard lives in Wellington with his wife Sheryl.

Mazz Sannell – Vice President
Mazz Scannell’s first career was teaching followed by many years of business experience with clients ranging from big corporates, to government and SMEs. The technical skills and business knowledge gained in Human Resources, Personal Development, Event Planning and Management means that Mazz has a diverse skill set including: skilled project coordinator and manager, capable of managing complex programs & multiple projects simultaneously. Proven track record of successful product & project introductions & implementations. Most importantly Mazz is a relationship builder with individuals and teams.
She has graduated twice from Victoria University (Education and Psychology) and more recently from Massey University with a Masters in Journalism and Communication with distinction.
Mazz’s attitude can be described as someone who gets on with it. She likes to make things happen. Instead of getting bogged down by the problems, she stays focused on the solutions. 
Outside of work, she has had extensive experience in governance with voluntary organisations; as Member of the Board of Trustees Wellington College, President of the Wellington College “College Mothers”, President of the Friends of the Wellington Botanic Garden, as well as serving on numerous school

Tim SteelTreasurer
Tim qualified as an accountant with a BCA from Victoria University. He was a taxation manager with a major accounting firm, a significant bank, insurance companies and fund managers. He is currently providing taxation and accounting services to a wide variety of clients and is also the treasurer and adviser to a number of non-profit and charitable organisations. He enjoys playing tennis, skiing, reading and an occasional bike ride when the weather permits.

Nicola KirkupSecretary
Nicola graduated from Pembroke College, Oxford with a Bachelor’s degree in Oriental Studies, solemnly vowed never to take another examination, and subsequently went on to obtain a Master’s in Business Administration from the Imperial College, London and diplomas in Astronomy and Physical Sciences from the Open University.  She emigrated to New Zealand after twenty years of this and that for the civil service in London and Brussels and retired in 2018 after nine years of this and that for the New Zealand Treasury.  She is a member of Wellington City Chorus, currently the world champion mid-size women’s barbershop group, and the Wellington Late Starters’ Orchestra who will never win any prizes but provide entertainment and achievement for beginner and rusty instrumentalists.  With partner Rory she forms the nucleus of an erratic pub quiz team.

Joji Jacob
Joji aspires to be a follower of Gandhi’s philosophy. Born to South Indian parents but studied in various parts of India being a military brat. He graduated with a Bachelor of Sciences in Physics and then worked in Oman for four years before migrating to NZ to be with his better half. After four years in the corporate IT sector in Wellington, he has been freelancing for small to medium businesses to enable them with IT solutions. In 2013 he and his wife, Shani, established a tour operation business based in Wellington for the in-bound tourists to Asia. This venture was born out of a passion for learning and sharing their understanding of various cultures, traditions and lifestyles, aptly called ‘All Things Intriguing Travel’. Joji & Shani has presented for Friends of Te Papa on Textiles from various countries. Currently, they are frequent travellers within NZ, interviewing artists to understand and promote their crafts, especially those ethnic artists who brought their crafts and amalgamated them into the ‘NZ culture’. He is also the Deputy Chair of NIWA Wellington Regional Science & Technology Fair, designing, developing and implementing virtual fairs in the uncertain world of the pandemic. He loves cooking, entertaining, gardening and DIY projects.

Koenraad Kuiper
Koenraad is a linguist and poet who emigrated to New Zealand from the Netherlands in 1951, living first in Auckland, then Wellington, and then Christchurch. He is now Professor Emeritus at the University of Canterbury where, in addition to teaching and researching linguistics, he served on the University Council and as Dean of Arts and Head of School. Koenraad is the author or editor of fifteen books including four of poetry and over a hundred research papers and book chapters. He is a graduate of Victoria University of Wellington, with doctorates from Simon Fraser University in Vancouver and the University of Canterbury. He has held two Fulbright Fellowships in the USA, a NZ-China Fellowship in the People’s Republic of China and been a Fellow at the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities and Social Sciences. After six years in Sydney, where he was an Adjunct Professor at the University of Sydney, on moving to Wellington, he has become a trustee of The Dutch Connection Trust.

 

Dr Richard Norman
Richard Norman’s work background was teaching and research at Victoria University’s School of Business and Government, particularly human resources and public sector management.  Since retiring in 2020 he has enjoyed spending more time on long standing interests in heritage, museums and music, including Historic Places Wellington and Friends of Te Papa. Visits during 2023 to a variety of museums and display spaces in the United States, Britain and Netherlands have reinforced this interest, and provided a reminder of how ground-breaking Te Papa (and many New Zealand museums) are internationally in their presentation of New Zealand’s culture and history.

Ann Walker
Ann recently retired as Development Officer of Scots College in Wellington and was co-opted on to the Executive Committee this year.   She brings to her new role many years of experience in stakeholder engagement and stewardship and aligned events.  In 2019 the Independent Schools of New Zealand awarded Ann an Honours Award for Service to Development & Advancement.

Ros Fogel
Wellington-born Rosalene (Ros) Fogel works for Victoria University of Wellington as the Senior Fundraising Manager responsible for Bequests and Special Projects. Her role includes helping raise funds for the New Zealand School of Music – Te Kōkī, Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery and Wai-te-ata Press to grow support for their various programmes. After graduating in 1999 from Whitireia Polytechnic with a diploma in publishing, Ros went on to work as Publishing Manager for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, followed by Senior Marketing Advisor at Housing New Zealand.
Her active involvement in music led to a fundraising role for the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and National Youth Orchestra. She is a member of the Orpheus Choir of Wellington and has served on the Board and committee. A keen photographer, hiker, golfer, and baker Ros also enjoys year round ocean swimming.

 

Dr. Daniel Laufer
Dan is an Associate Professor of Marketing, and a former Head of School at Victoria University of Wellington. His area of expertise is Crisis Management, and he has been working in academia for over 20 years. Dan has taught Crisis Management courses at leading business schools around the world. Prior to starting his academic career, he worked in consulting as a senior consultant at PwC, and a manager at KPMG in the USA. He moved to New Zealand in 2012 from the USA. Dan has published articles in leading managerial and academic journals about his research. He has written on a wide range of topics related to Crisis Management including the psychology of blame, crisis contagion, and the role of the CEO as a spokesperson during a crisis.
In addition to conducting research in the area of Crisis Management, Dan has written extensively on the topic in the media. He has written a monthly column on Crisis Management for the New Zealand Herald and Stuff, and provided commentary for the Wall Street Journal’s “Crisis of the Week” column in the USA. He is currently a columnist for NBR. He has also taught workshops on Crisis Management in New Zealand to board members for the Institute of Directors, and to mayors for Local Government New Zealand.
In addition to his great appreciation for New Zealand Art, Dan has been involved in activities relating to the sector. As a former Head of School, Dan chaired a review of the Museum and Heritage programme at Victoria University of Wellington, and his students worked on course projects with the New Zealand Portrait Gallery and Wellington Museum.

Colleen Restieaux
Colleen is a Wellingtonian, former primary school teacher and principal, now enjoying new opportunities that retirement from full time work offers.
She is currently a coordinator with Doc Edge, a not-for-profit annual international documentary film festival.
Colleen does some voluntary work, primarily as a volunteer and supervisor of the Wellington City Ambassador Program, run by WellingtonNZ and i-SITE.
Her interests include travel (mainly pre covid), arts, culture, especially diversity, similarity and social change. And, of course, museums!
Regular coffee and catching up with friends over food, random reading and Tai Chi are important aspects of life too.
Colleen believes that communication, collaboration and openness to change are important aspects of life for our times.