TAKA Trust Members

Matt Reid is the Chair of TAKA Trust. He is currently Chief Operating Officer at Te Ahuru Mowai. Over the last 25 years he has undertaken leadership roles at Corrections, Hutt City Council, Te Papa, in the racing industry and has been an Assistant Auditor-General. He is passionate about ensuring every child in every community is given an equal opportunity to discover his or her own special talent. Matt is on the Boards of Barnardos NZ and Trust House Limited and chairs the Board of Youth Inspire Trust.

 

Ed Louden is a partner at accounting and advisory firm, KPMG, and originally hails from the Hutt, of which he is very proud of! Ed wants to help give the communities TAKA Trust serves the opportunities and resources to grow and achieve their potential. He says: “At KPMG, we are passionate about fueling the prosperity of New Zealand – for ALL New Zealanders.  We want to give back to our society and through partnering with entities like TAKA Trust and my fellow trustees, gives us an avenue to do this.  Our real ability to make a difference comes not just through the monetary side of things, but from the transfer of knowledge, skills and the talent of our people who are chomping at the bit to be involved.”

 

Rebecca Lennon is Group Sales Lead at Spark New Zealand. She has been involved in education for several years across different organisations and roles and is an advocate for educating youth. She is passionate about delivering real tangible outcomes to the community and enabling our children to have opportunities which may be out of their reach in the past. She won the Innovation Award at the 2016 ICT Woman of Influence Awards and Shining Star at the 2020 ICT Woman of Influence for assisting the rollout of the Network for Learning Managed Network to all New Zealand schools.

 

Steve Swallow has a passion for realising potential in our youth through education and the power of community to create and sustain positive impact.  Steve now leads Datacoms presence across the middle of the Te-Ika-a Maui and has worked in the IT industry for over 30 years in roles ranging from technical operations, sales, consulting, general and service management. Now residing in Tauranga, Steve’s four children grew up in and attended schools in the Hutt Valley.

 

Naomi Shaw MNZM has had a long and successful career in softball as a player and coach and was captain of the only NZ Women’s Softball Team to win a world championship title. She was awarded a Queens Honour MNZM in 2019 for service to softball and continues to coach youth teams to this day.

Naomi is currently a Hutt City Council Northen Ward Councillor, and says it’s pleasure to be involved with TAKA Trust, supporting the growth and development of disadvantaged tamariki.

 

Mike Mercer currently works at NZDF running a programme to enhance land logistics. He previously led the Project Management Office at Oranga Tamariki after spending 15 years in local government in a range of management roles. He has a passion for giving back locally and has held voluntary roles with Recreation Aotearoa, Weltec, Skills Active and as a School Board of Trustee’s member. Being a Hutt boy through and through he believes that the work the Trust does can have a profound impact on his community providing tamariki and rangatahi with opportunities to find their passion and succeed.

 

Ian Perry run’s a small consulting company focusing on providing Governance, Risk Management, IT Security and Resilience advice and mentorship. This includes a number of Board and Risk & Assurance committee appointments across the public and NFP sectors. He was a specialist partner with one of the large accounting firms and provided similar advice and assistance across NZ and Asia. Ian enjoys an active lifestyle which includes all forms of cycling and tramping. He is increasingly involved in charity work focusing on the support of youth in the Hutt Valley, where he has lived for the majority of his career and school days.

 

Dave Lamont is into his 6th year as principal of Koraunui School in Stokes Valley and has been leading schools in both the South and North Islands for 20 years. Dave is passionate about providing rich learning experiences for tamariki and broadening their horizons, so they are able achieve all they want to in their lives.  Working to address inequities in the education system is a focus for Dave and he believes that all tamariki should be provided the opportunity to dream big, thrive and reach their potential.  “It is an honour for me to be a member of the Taka Trust and to be able to make a contribution to the lives of tamariki across the Hutt Valley”.