Trustees
Anna Groot
Chair
Anna has honed her skills in business growth and strategic communications advisory, growing businesses and organisations across the UK, Europe, Asia and Australia over the last 20 years. She has recently brought her skills and contact book home, to help New Zealand businesses thrive both domestically and on the world stage. Anna has worked with start-ups, non-profits and multi-national corporations alike, developing business growth strategies and bringing ideas to life in the form of immersive experiences, unique products, innovative services, facilitated introductions, filmed content and animation. As a multiple hat wearing business development advisor, producer, director and scriptwriter, and cat herder, Anna is happiest when working on a vision in need of distillation, bringing the right people together to affect positive change in the world. “Nothing is impossible” is her mantra. Anna is thrilled to be utilising her skills to help nurture kaitiakitanga and help restore the whenua.
CONNIE ROWE
Deputy Chair
Connie believes that people thrive when they are in connected communities and have meaningful shared goals which is why she is passionate about the work of EcoMatters. She has spent the last 20 years working across the public and private sector in public relations, communications and more latterly in public engagement which is a passion. Connie leads communications and engagement around climate change and the environment for Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency and has deep experience in the transport infrastructure space. She is interested in understanding more about what motivates people to take meaningful climate action and then putting that into practice. Connie grew up in suburbs across West Auckland and now lives in central Auckland with her husband and two sons.
Nick Pollard
Treasurer
Nick is an accomplished resource management consultant and organisational leader, working with people and communities in a broad range of projects with one of New Zealand’s leading environmental planning and design consultancies. Through his work with a wide range of stakeholders, Nick is keenly aware of the need to work collaboratively with participants and understanding the diverse drivers and contexts that shape behaviours and outcomes. Nick has a strong personal alignment with the values and objectives of EcoMatters, with a belief that through community action and working with nature we can solve complex problems and achieve significant improvements for the environment and for people’s lives. Nick’s involvement with EcoMatters is inspired by a goal of increasingly stepping more lightly on the land, and encouraging others to join him.
JAimee Kirby-Brown
Trustee
Jaimee (Ngāti Ruanui, Ngāruahine, Ngāti Awa) has a long-standing interest in the legal aspects needed to create a thriving environment. She is currently a Principal Legal Advisor at the Ministry for the Environment, where she specialises in environmental policy and legislative reform. During her legal career, she has gained experience in Māori, public and environmental law in a variety of roles at legal firms before she moved to MfE. Jaimee lives locally in Titirangi with her husband and three children and is passionate about her community, also serving as a trustee at her children’s school. When she’s not working, she enjoys tennis and other sports as well as the outdoors with her whānau.
EMMA FOULKES
Trustee
Emma is a seasoned sustainability manager with a civil engineering background and extensive experience in sustainability consulting and project management. Passionate about driving positive outcomes, she has been on a journey to both live more sustainably and drive sustainable practices through her work in procurement and project delivery. Emma was drawn to EcoMatters’ mission of empowering communities to live sustainably, aligning with her personal and professional values. Her collaborative approach builds trusting partnerships. She enjoys working with diverse groups of people to achieve outcomes aligned with EcoMatters’ goals to reduce carbon emissions, minimise waste, and contribute to broader social and economic uplift in communities. Outside of work, Emma loves being in nature and can usually be found gardening, bushwalking, and enjoying ocean adventures.
NIGEL SMITH
Trustee
Nigel is a relational educational and community leader, with a background in organisational development. His personal and professional experiences across Aotearoa, Australia, South East Asia, North America and North Africa have shaped his desire for regenerative growth and change. Nigel currently acts as a project manager and leadership consultant in the educational sector, and is a director of Pūkeko Learning Solutions, an eLearning development consultancy. He is passionate about helping organisations navigate the ever-changing contexts in which we live by surfacing the wisdom that is often present if we can find ways to listen well together. He personally recharges by connecting with Te Tāiao on land or water and facilitating opportunities for others to do the same. Nigel has lived in West Auckland for the NZ-based chapters of his adult life and values the opportunity to serve the wider community with EcoMatters.
STEPHANIE WHYTE
Trustee
Stephanie has spent her career helping people to see what is possible, whether as an individual or collectively as a team. She believes that everyone has the ability to make an impact from wherever they are and that education is the key to empowerment. As Principal Advisor, Learning & Capability Development for Waka Kotahi, NZ Transport Agency, she is working to help internal and external stakeholders to ensure they have the knowledge and skills they need plus systems and processes that work with them to efficiently deliver what they need to be delivering. Stephanie has lifelong connections with West Auckland and two small children who go to kura in the Whau area. She is thrilled to serve on the EcoMatters Environment Trust Board as she believes that our natural environment is precious and we need to work together to look after Papatūānuku.
Marion Feasey
Trustee
Marion is inspired by the words of Thich Nhat Hanh: “There’s a revolution that needs to happen and it starts from inside each of us. We need to wake up and fall in love with the Earth.” She feels a resonance with EcoMatters leadership – of their vision, mission, purpose and “walking their talk”. Her wealth of experience has been gained over a lifetime of work – mainly in continuing education, family, healthy living and community, and she has been involved in spiritual organisations all her life. She brings positivity and openness to the belief in human potential, and innovative solutions to the questions of this current period of environmental and ecological challenges. She is particularly interested in collaborative and cooperative ventures, and in nurturing and empowering young future leaders. She is interested in human ecology and brain science, trains in Qigong dynamic meditation, and enjoys sharing in the lives and upbringing of her eight grandchildren.