Sir David Carter - Patron
Company Director, former Speaker of the NZ Parliament and National MP.
Bob Shearing QSM - Chair
Company Director, former Christchurch Counselor, Chairman and Trustee on multiple charity boards.
Bill McElhinney QSO
Former Chairperson of the Templeton Centre Parents Association, Chair of the Templeton Welfare Council, Trustee of Enrich Chaplaincy Trust, Trustee of Hawksbury Community Living Trust and parent of a child with an intellectual disability.
Mike Bourke
Semi-retired civil engineer, father of two disabled children. Mike has had a long association with the disability sector. Previously chair of the Templeton Parents Association, and of the NZ Psychopaedic Hospital Parents Federation, and time on the board of Brackenridge Services.
Juliane Brand
Health Care Executive, and former nurse, holding a Masters in Public Health from the University of Otago.
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Karla Gunby
Active Communities Programme Manager, Christchurch City Council. Holds a Masters in Community Development from Deakin University and previously been a manager of disability services in Melbourne and London.
Wendy Alexander
Founder and Managing Director of Kin Recruitment; a B Corp certified business. With over 30 years experience as a leader in HR and Recruitment, she is passionate about removing barriers between business and the disabled community.
Thane Pullan
Thane is a comedian, writer and accessibility software developer. He has also written a book called Teachings of a Grumpy Cripple, which describes his own experience of disability and how society can improve its treatment of disabled people. Thane also blogs about disability issues.
AMBASSADORS
Eddie Low MNZM - Performing Arts Ambassador
The Hāpai Foundation are proud to have Mr Eddie Low “the Voice in a Million” as our Performing Arts Ambassador. Eddie has kindly given us permission to use his song “I am Me” to use as our signature tune.
Eddie was born totally blind in 1943 and spent much of his childhood at the Blind Institute in Auckland. While there he developed his musical talent, becoming a member of the institute band and winning a number of talent quests. When Eddie was twelve he underwent a series of operations which gained him partial sight in his left eye.
Eddie was awarded the Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2006. He was also Awarded Country Music Legend Award in 2009 and also received The Benny award by Variety Artists Club of New Zealand which is the highest honour that can be bestowed to a New Zealand variety entertainer for “A lifetime of excellence in their field of the performing arts”.