Greenpeace Aotearoa Board and Governance
One of Greenpeace’s key strengths is its ability to work across borders, while running its national offices and campaigns in a way that is relevant and appropriate to the local context. Our governance structure has been critical to Greenpeace’s success as a global campaigning organisation, and to our success in New Zealand. The Executive Director and other senior managers at Greenpeace Aotearoa work collaboratively with Greenpeace International, and with their Greenpeace counterparts in countries and regions, to develop and implement global strategies and plans. While Greenpeace Aotearoa is an autonomous organisation, its campaigns, fundraising and administration must also align with the framework and policies agreed by the organisation globally. The Greenpeace Aotearoa Board is elected by the Voting Assembly, a group comprised of 35 people from Greenpeace Aotearoa’s supporter base, five staff from other Greenpeace offices and 10 former Greenpeace Aotearoa staff who left more than a year ago. The Board is comprised of six directors, who are elected at the Annual General Meeting, each for a term of three years. They ensure that the organisation is being managed in an effective and ethical manner, in accordance with Greenpeace’s objectives. The Greenpeace Aotearoa Executive Director, currently Russel Norman, is responsible for overall management of the organisation. They report to, and are hired by, the Board. Greenpeace New Zealand Incorporated is an independent, not for profit organisation which is affiliated with Greenpeace International, based in the Netherlands and 28 other Greenpeace offices around the world. You can read the Greenpeace Aotearoa constitution here on the Charities Commission website.
Greenpeace Aotearoa Board of Executives
Russel Norman – Executive Director
Russel is one of New Zealand’s leading voices on sustainability. He has been Executive Director of Greenpeace Aotearoa New Zealand since November 2015. Before that he was an MP and co-leader of the Green Party. Russel was born in Brisbane and was involved in a wide range of social and environmental campaigns in Australia before moving to New Zealand in 1997. Since then he has continued to agitate for a greener world. He lives in Auckland with his partner and three young children. Follow Russel on Twitter.
Tui Aroha Warmenhoven – Chair of the Board
Tui is a trained lawyer and researcher. Before returning home to Tairawhiti in 2000, Tui spent 4 years in Wellington working for government in policy and as a solicitor for TPK. Tui’s research work spans 24 years of collaborative environmental and social research in the areas of climate change adaptation & risk reduction, weather science, natural hazard preparedness, the Waiapu catchment, sustainable land use, adaptive governance, freshwater, customary fisheries, customary rights, pest eradication science, hapu development and conservation. She has over two decades of governance experience including a 12 year directorship on Ngati Porou’s post settlement board, hapu and marae trust, Kohanga and Kura governance, Radio Ngati Porou(Chair) and the Raukumara Restoration Programme. Tui is currently the Board chair for Greenpeace Aotearoa.
A staunch environmental and community advocate, Tui applies corresponding ideas and methods drawn from ‘te taiao’, te ao Maori & indigenous worldviews, community-centric solutions, and adaptive or anticipatory governance in her work ethos and outlook. Based out of rural Ruatoria, she contracts to Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research and is employed by Otago University in two programmes that integrate science with matauranga in tailoring models and solutions for a better Aotearoa.
Pania Newton
Pania Newton has whakapapa links to Ngāpuhi, Te Rarawa, and Waikato whaanui. Pania is passionate about te reo Māori me ona tikanga, maahinga kai, and pursuing justice for her whanau, hapu, and iwi. Living in Ihumātao, Mangere, Pania went to school at Te Kura Maori o Nga Tapuwae. She then went to the University of Auckland where she completed her Conjoint Degree in Law and Health Sciences, and is currently working towards completing her Bachelors Degree in Tikanga Māori and Social Sciences for Public Health. Pania also holds a number of qualifications from Te Awanuiarangi and Te Wananga o Aotearoa in the areas of Māori Food Sovereignty Practices and Performing Arts. After graduating University Pania and her cousins established the Save Our Unique Landscape Campaign. This saw Pania leaving behind her career in Law to dedicate her life to the preservation and protection of Ihumātao – their ancestral whenua. Pania has been part of Matike Mai Aotearoa Rangatahi which is the youth arm working towards Constitutional Transformation since 2012. Pania is also a board member and trustee on several Trusts and Boards that seek to empower communities to lead healthy lifestyles that enable their well-being.
Rahul Watson Govindan
Rahul is a senior executive who has lived and worked in eight different countries and has had a 22 year career in business, technology, public and community sectors. He has founded a number of companies, consulted to UNICEF and Oxfam globally and is currently CEO of Loomio, a SaaS co-op in Wellington. Currently he is an investor, board member and advisor on strategy, operations and performance to organisations in NZ and abroad. He is passionate about purpose driven transformation and challenging mindsets to bring about systems change. Rahul is the Board Chair of Belong Aotearoa, a former Trustee of United Nations Youth NZ, and a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. Rahul has studied at Victoria University, University of Amsterdam, Oslo University and has been awarded an University Blue from Victoria University for services to sports management (Hockey) and is a member of the NZ Masters hockey team.
Bill Sinclair
Bill has an impressive 50 years of experience in Management, as a Systems Analyst, Chief Financial Officer, Lecturer, and more. His qualifications include a Graduate Diploma in Business and Industrial Administration, Master of Science (Hons), Mathematics, Bachelor of Science, Chemistry. Bill was co-opted onto the Greenpeace Aotearoa Board during this past year particularly for his financial expertise, and his work on the Finance Subcommittee and the Risk Committee. He has become even more supportive of the Greenpeace mission in this time.
Emalani Case
Emalani Case is a lecturer in Pacific Studies at Te Herenga Waka-Victoria University of Wellington. As a Kanaka Maoli (Hawaiian) activist, teacher, and writer, she is deeply engaged in issues of Indigenous rights and representation, settler colonialism and decolonisation, and environmental and social justice. Her work is motivated by a desire to strengthen trans-Indigenous solidarities across the Pacific and to work toward building better futures. She is the author of Everything Ancient Was Once New: Indigenous Persistence from Hawaiʻi to Kahiki. She comes to Aotearoa from Waimea, Hawaiʻi.
Te Kawa Robb
Te Kawa (Ngāti Awa, Ngāti Pūkeko, Ngāti Ranginui, Scotland) is an educator, consultant, kaupapa Māori researcher, writer, and photographer, passionate about improving the wellbeing of taiao through being in a reciprocal relationship informed by whakapapa. Te Kawa is passionate about supporting whānau, hapū, and iwi to express rangatiratanga over their kai, wai and whenua, and build community resilience and embody the responsibilities of kaitiakitanga through reconnecting to practices of harvesting, growing, and gathering that our tūpuna perfected over generations. Drawing on his foundation in te reo and te ao Māori, and professional experience working with NGO’s, government, community, business, and social enterprise sectors, Te Kawa is thrilled to be joining the Board of Greenpeace Aotearoa.
Jessica Desmond
Jess has spent most of the past two decades working on campaigns and communications in both the public and private sectors. Jess spent six years campaigning with Greenpeace on oceans issues, and leading research to innovate campaigning tactics. She previously worked for The B Team; enabling the advocacy of a global collective of business and civic leaders across climate change, governance and transparency and human rights issues. Jess graduated as the Senior Scholar of both her degrees in commerce and psychology, from the University of Auckland. She currently works for the Centre for Sustainable Finance, leading the development of a sustainable finance taxonomy for Aotearoa New Zealand.