Our Volunteer Trustees

Lance Hutchison QSM JP

Chairman / Trustee / Life Member

Lance is a Private Banking Manager at ASB Bank, and is proud to have the support of ASB behind him. Lance formed Life Education Trust in Auckland Central 17 years ago, and with the help of his fellow Trustees, has seen the Trust grow into a respected community asset with strong support from personal, business, corporate, and community groups.

A past President of a number of Lions Clubs, he was heavily involved in a variety of youth projects, and saw the exceptional value that Life Education adds to the young people of the community.

A Justice of the Peace and Civil Marriage Celebrant, Lance is committed to the growth of Life Education in Auckland Central and to achieve the mission of ” Leaving No Child Behind”. His wife, Kim, provides huge support to his work in the community. Lance was awarded Life Membership of Life Education Trust NZ in 2012, to go with his Life Membership of Lions Clubs NZ.

Lance was humbled to receive the Queens Service Medal (QSM) in the Jubilee Queens Birthday Honours in 2013

David Wright

Deputy Chairman/Treasurer/Trustee

David is currently working for Commonwealth Bank of Australia. He has also been a youth mentor and has also had time working as a teacher’s aide.

David has fond memories of his own time at Primary school of the Life Education “caravan” and HAROLD. He became a Trustee 6 years ago and is currently joint Treasurer of the Trust.

He was appointed Deputy Chairman of the Trust and also received a Service Trophy at the Annual Life Education New Zealand Conference 2016.

David has also started a family of his own. He and his partner, Katie, welcomed a new supporter for HAROLD, their daughter Chloe.

Mark Biggs

Secretary/Trustee/ Life Member

Mark owns and operates a private investment company. He has been involved with Life Education Trust for over 10 years.

A strong family person, he recognises the value Life Education Trust provides to the young people of today as they grow and mature into young adults. Mark continues in the role of secretary, and remains committed to the development of the Trust to reach every child with a unique message. Mark contributes to the Trust by his knowledge and experience of over 40 years in the NZ Business Community.

Mark has served many community organisations over the years especially groups focused on child welfare. Mark is also a committed Rotarian, and served as President of the Rotary Club of Auckland East Inc. 2012-2013.

Mark was made a Life Member of the Trust, celebrating the work he and his wife, Ruth, have done for so many years, and continue to do for this Trust and the children of Auckland Central.

Chloe Lear

Treasurer/Trustee

Chloe is a Business Manager at the ANZ Bank and a busy mum with 2 young children. As a former Girl Guide leader, she has seen HAROLD helping young girls to reach their potential, respect their own bodies and others’.

After visiting one of the mobile classrooms she was astonished by the popularity of HAROLD among children and how contagious the energy of the educators was.

A Trustee since 2011, Chloe is joint Treasurer of the Trust.

Chloe received a Service Trophy at the Annual Life Education New Zealand Conference 2016.

Adrienne White

Trustee/Life Member

Adrienne is a foundation Trustee and Life Member of the Trust. She is also a past president of Remuera Lions Club (the first female to hold the office of President since the Club’s Charter in 1963!).

Since moving to Waiheke Island Adrienne has still been able to be a very active Trustee, including our five-week stint teaching on Waiheke Island.

Her husband Kevin is a huge supporter of the Trust while we are working on Waiheke Island.

Debra Chantry

Trustee/Life Member

As a member of the New Zealand Institute of Directors, Debra sits on a number of advisory boards. She has been a Trustee for the Life Education Trust, Auckland Central since 2007.

Debra is involved with The Icehouse, runs her own Business Growth Agency (Ventell), as well as Leadership Coaching (DebraChantry.com).

Debra is passionate about helping people become the best that they can be, so when she was first introduced to the Life Education Trust through its Auckland Central chairman, Lance Hutchison, she was blown away by what it does for Kiwi kids.

“Life Education Trust has shown that it really can make a difference and I’m truly excited and proud to be part of such an awesome programme.”

Debra received an award for Excellence in Volunteer Service from Life Education NZ in 2014. In 2017, Debra received Life Membership to Life Education Trust Auckland Central to celebrate her contribution to the trust over the past ten years.

Michael Moka

Trustee

Michael Moka is the young and engaging founder of Indigenous Growth Limited an organisation with a quadruple bottom line – which feeds his passion which is to empower families to get themselves out of the poverty cycle. Building a strong foundation is the most powerful way of retaining long term growth.

Mike made a conscious decision to pursue his dedication to empower his family and families like his who were trapped in a poverty cycle – who work hard yet still can get directions out of this cycle. Since 2005 he chose a specialised path dedicated to this goal of serving his family and families like his – taking, creating and making the most of all opportunities with his purpose being his decision making. .

He holds a number of governance and advisory roles for Whanau Organisations, Charities, Learning Institutions and Not for Profit organisations, the first of which was as a Trustee for Life Education Trust, being inducted in 2012.

Heather Samu

Trustee

Heather became involved with the Life Education Trust while working for the National Bank. When Heather resigned in 2012, she was asked if she would like to become a Trustee for Life Education Trust Auckland Central , of which she was delighted to accept.

She realised this was an amazing worthwhile Charity to be involved in and what a difference it makes to the Students who are fortunate enough to have Harold visit their School and to be part of their on-going development and growth.

Heather has been instrumental in building a new partnership with MortgageLink (who she works for).

Barry Samu

Trustee

Barry saw the great work that was being done by the Life Education Trust and wanted to be a part of the movement to help children make well thought out and informed decisions based on the tools and skills taught to them by Harold and the Educators. In Barry’s opinion, it is all about the value learnt from them that will help shape the Children’s decisions for full and productive futures.

Barry is from a Sales and Military background. He is married to Heather who is also a Trustee and is one of the reasons for him becoming a Trustee. He loves watching the joy on the children’s faces and their fascination with Harold. To him, Harold is a true Hero because of what he does for Children through the Educators.

Barry is our health and safety expert providing a safe environment for our Educators and Children.

Dylan Patel

Trustee

Dylan currently works at ASB Private Bank after completing his study at Massey University, finishing with a Bachelor of Sport and Exercise, Majoring in Management and Coaching.

Dylan grew up with Harold during his schooling years. Working on the Trust provides the opportunity for Dylan to provide the same, if not better, experience for the youth of today that he experienced during his school years. Dylan is also a Mentor for the First Foundation and is furthering his studies currently towards the AFA Qualification (Authorised Financial Advisor).

Dylan has a keen interest in building the ‘life-blood’ of the Trust – The Help Harold Help Kids Club. In 2017, Dylan completed an eight day “Connect” Course at Outward Bound in Anakiwa.

Matthew Crumpton

Trustee

Matthew was born in England but has been in the NZ Education System for the last 19 years. He is currently the Principal of Orakei School.

He is passionate about giving children access to the highest quality teaching, so that they develop a love of learning and have every opportunity to reach their full potential.

Matthew aids the Trust with his vast knowledge of the New Zealand education system to help our wonderful Educators spread Harold’s message across the country.

Geoff Burgess CNZM

Life Member

Geoff currently works for the Halberg Disability Foundation having served his apprenticeship at the chalk-face as a school Principal for 30 years.

He has seen the benefit of Life Education programmes for students and applauds the way the Trust’s Educators work with classroom teachers to integrate those programmes with each school’s curriculum.

Geoff believes that the combination of a mobile classroom with the skills of the Trust’s dedicated teachers is HAROLDS best kept secret.

Geoff is a foundation Trustee and was made a Life Member of the Trust in 2012. He was awarded the CNZM in the Queens Birthday Honours List in 2013 for his services to Education.

Geoff retired as a Trustee in 2016 but he and his wife Barbara remain loyal supporters and friends of the Trust

JC Favier

Trustee

JC is currently undertaking his postgraduate studies in supply chain management at the University of Auckland having recently completed his BA/BCom conjoint.

A First Foundation Alumni, he joins the trust alongside other First Foundation Alumni and Mentors within our trust to give back to the community and carrying out the First Foundation “ripple effect”. As part of the trust, JC has completed the eight day Outward Bound Connect course in Anakiwa.

As a “graduate” of Life Education West Auckland, JC has had fond memories growing up with the program and has seen his younger siblings go through the program as well.

Jane de Ville

TRUSTEE

Jane is a Procurement Manager for Frucor Beverages. She is also Mum to two children including one school age daughter who now loves Harold!

Jane became involved with Life Education because she wants every child to know of their huge potential and to have the skills and knowledge to fulfill that potential.

Daniel Grimmer

TRUSTEE

Daniel is a Risk Manager at ANZ. He became involved with Life Education through his colleagues after seeing the rewarding work they were doing. As a youngster he went through the Life Education programme. As a result, he wanted other children to experience the joy of being part of the programme and to feel the excitement he felt as a youngster.

Daniel became involved so he could give back and to help make a difference with the Trust. Prior to becoming a Trustee, Daniel has volunteered at numerous events and has visited the classrooms to see first-hand the work that the Educators were doing.