Massey Magazine November 2001

Notes and News

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Letters to the Editor
Thank you for sending the latest Massey Alumni News. I was saddened to learn about Robert Brooks’ passing, but interested to learn so much more about his life and work in the obituary.

There are a couple of points I would like to add. I was a member of the Massey Business Studies Faculty during the 1980s when Robert was Chairman of the Manawatu Branch of the anti-smoking group, ASH. He campaigned vigorously to help bring about a smoke-free environment on the Massey campus, and for citizens more generally in the wider community. This involved ongoing letter writing and representations to parliamentarians, local government officials, university managers, newspaper editors, fund raising and general cajoling over the years. My recollection is that Massey management was not particularly proactive on this one and Robert’s efforts during the 1980s contributed significantly to the bringing about of a safer, smoke free campus for both staff and students.

His obituary recalls the ‘dapper man in the bowtie’. I remember him fondly for his mode of transport; the tiny motor-scooter with the wire basket up front.

Yours sincerely
Associate Professor David Coy
University of Waikato
Management School

What’s happening in the lives of our alumni

Alan Jones DipAgr 1953
Alan took a working holiday to Australia, he writes, and never made it back. He spent three years in the eastern states, ten years in the west, and then became firmly lodged in Tasmania (much like part of New Zealand, he says), where he worked for the Department of Agriculture as a Sheep and Wool Adviser up until retirement. Following his interests, he now undertakes quality assurance auditing on a consultancy basis.

David Thawley BVSc 1970
David has followed an illustrious academic career in the US. He gained his PhD at the University of Guelph, became Dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Minnesota (1988–98), and from 1998 has been the Dean of the College of Agriculture, Biotechnology and Natural Resources at the University of Nevada, a position he still holds, together with the post of Director of the Nevada Agricultural Experiment Station.

Robin Staples MEdAdmin (Hons) 1999, BSc 1973
Robin is the Principal of Hillary College. This college is part of a special educational development programme in South Auckland, which aims to raise the student achievement levels of low decile families. The college is currently in the process of incorporating a local primary and intermediate school on to its premises to form one school that caters for years one to 13 students. A combined Board of Trustees has recently been created and an architect has been commissioned to work on the structural development required for the move.

Bill Jurkovich GDipArts 2001, DipEd 1982, BEd 1977
Bill retired from the Mathematics Department at the Auckland College of Education in 1994, relocated to Matakana, then decided, he writes, to pick up the quill again. At the April 2001 Albany graduation he gained a Graduate Diploma of Arts i n history. “A well-worthwhile study! Go Massey!”

Heather Baigent MA 1978, BA (English) (Hons) 1976
Heather’s career has embraced teaching at primary, secondary and tertiary levels; diplomatic postings in Samoa, Indonesia and China – the last of these as Deputy Head of Mission; and time as a corporate international manager. Today, as director of Interact Consulting Ltd, she is an independent consultant.

Lance King BTech (Food) 1978
Lance worked in the food industry for seven years before becoming a polytechnic lecturer. In 1995 he stepped out to start his own business delivering learning skills seminars in secondary schools. These days The Art of Learning Ltd has five employees, a clientelle of 130 schools, and has had over 35,000 students through its courses.

Brenda Ward BA (English/French) 1979
Brenda started out as a journalist, first in New Zealand, then in the UK, became the Chief Reporter for the Auckland Star, and then made the transition into magazines. At Trends, New Idea, Next and Grace magazines Brenda’s job titles included editor, reporter, production editor, and deputy editor. She was an associate editor and on the launch team for the lauded but discontinued Grace, while Southern Cross, which Brenda launched, continues strongly. Today Brenda is again the editor of New Idea.

Roy McCormick BHortSc 1979
While working with pipfruit orchardists in France during the early ’80s, Roy became aware of the benefit of farmers working together in groups. This prompted him to form Nelson Group 8 Horticulture Limited in 1993, a focused growers group aimed at improvement and best management practice in pipfruit orcharding. Over the last eight years Roy has facilitated Group 8, but his life has now taken a different turn as he and his wife have decided to work for an extended period in Germany.

Eddie Welsh DipHort (Nursery Management) 1980
After 19 years of teaching in what was Massey University’s Department of Horticulture, Eddie set up his own business in 1998. Starter Plants is a small international business that develops, grows and trades unique flower bulb crops. “We co-operate with nurseries in Japan, China, Portugal, Thailand, Guatemala and the Netherlands to supply young plants and seeds for production and marketing in the Northern Hemisphere.”

Carol Price BSW (Hons) 1981
Carol worked as a Student Unit Supervisor at the social work department of Palmerston North Hospital for four years before shifting to Golden Bay for 12 years as a guidance counsellor and teacher of special education. Then came a career shift. Carol qualified as an English language teacher, an occupation that has taken her to Christchurch and Vietnam. When she contacted MASSEY, Carol was again teaching in Christchurch, but was looking forward to a year teaching at a senior high school in Hamamatsu, Japan.

Denise Tohiariki BEd 1984, B Maori Visual Arts, Hons (First Class)2000
Denise (at right)is pictured with student Julia Waru. After graduating last year, Denise Tohiariki was appointed as curator/custodian at Te Wananga o Aotearoa in Palmerston North. Living on site in the newly refurbished workshop and gallery, Ms Tohiariki is the sole lecturer for the visual arts programme she has designed for Te Wananga O Aotearoa ki Papaioea, a national tertiary institution specialising in educational programmes within a Mäori environment.

Her four year Mäori Visual Arts degree brought together Denise’s 20-year background in teaching and her interest in Mäori art. With two youngsters at school and a position at the Massey College of Education, there was “lots of juggling” during her degree. Denise admits her new position affords her the best possible environment for her work and study, “and I even have my own gallery for my Masters Exhibition next year”.

Peter Parker BSW 1985
Peter has recently returned to Perth after five-and-a-half years in Japan and is now self-employed as a property developer and manager (the social work degree has never been put to vocational use). He would welcome contact from Perth-based Massey graduates.

Andrew Fitzsimons MBA 1992, BAgrSc 1986
Andrew is the Director of flourishing Tauranga coffee roastery Fusion Coffee. He started up the business two-and-a-half years ago and delivers freshly roasted gourmet coffee to a wide range of wholesale and retail clients, mainly in the central North Island and as far south as Wellington. Andrew buys his green beans from Auckland-based importers and also supplies tea, commercial and domestic espresso equipment, as well as a wide range of coffee accessories.

Grant Duff BSc 1987
Despite having lived in Australia for the past three years, Grant writes, “I’m a passionate All Black supporter in the midst of all these Aussies”. Since leaving Massey University Grant has been working in the pharmaceutical industry and he has just “taken the plunge” and set up his own marketing consultancy firm, Navie Consulting, in Sydney. Grant has spent time as the Global Brand Manager for Novartis in Switzerland, and he was also the Business Unit Director for their Self Medication Division in South Africa. Before starting his own company, Grant was Marketing and Sales Director of Pfizer Pharmaceuticals in Sydney.

Bruce Williams DipIndustProd (Dist) 1995 BAgSc 1988
Bruce has worked in various roles with the Northern Wairoa and then Northland Dairy companies. Now with Kiwi Dairy company, Bruce is concentrating on nutritional and specialty milk powders, is enrolled in a modular MBA with Massey, and is kept busy with three sons.

Peter Tohill DipArts (History) 2000, BA (History) 1988
Peter currently works as a private English tutor and he has been responsible for organising Korean and Japanese student visits to New Zealand. Peter, who was Executive Director of the Race Relations Office for 13 years, recently published a Chinese/English text: New Zealand Idioms and Colloquial English.

Des Brennan MBA (Dist) 1990
Among other roles, Des has been the General Manager of Anchor Foods, and the Sales and Marketing Director of TVNZ, in which capacity he led TVNZ’s support for Team New Zealand’s ‘Family of Five’ sponsorship. Now the Marketing Manager for Fletcher Wood Panels, Des lists his interests as family, running marathons and SCUBA diving.

Nalin Anand BTech (Indust Tech) 1991
Currently working as a Quality Manager for Bluebird Foods in Auckland, Nalin has put his time since leaving Massey to good effect, first gaining a Masterate in Chemical and Process Engineering from Canterbury and then working in a variety of capacities for the Tucker Group Fiji (part of Goodman Fielder), Coca Cola Amatil Fiji, and Goodman Fielder, first in Papua New Guinea and then the Pacific Region. He took up his present position in 2000. Nalin is also an accomplished weight lifter with a swag of gold medals, the most recent a gold in the 75kg body weight division of the 2000 Victoria State Championship.

Fidel Lopez BAgr 1991
Fidel Lopez is part of VerdeGreen, a company providing services to the oil industry in the Amazon region “with excellence, yield, social and environ-mental responsibility based on the development of our human resource and the community.” VerdeGreen employs 738 people, a quarter of them from Amazon communities. The services include construction and civil works, providing manpower, human resources management, revegetation, and planning and developing proposals.

Stephen Belcher BVSc 1993, BSc 1991
Stephen has recently been highly commended in the Animal Behaviour Mammals category of one of the world’s biggest and best wildlife photography competitions – the 2001 BG Wildlife Photographer of the Year. Stephen captured his highly commended photograph, Hyena with a kudu foetus, while in the Etosha National Park, Namibia. He saw a female kudu in obvious distress lying beside a waterhole with a pack of spotted Hyena moving rapidly towards her. The largest female homed in and killed the antelope, keeping the rest of the pack at bay. For the next 45 minutes she dragged the carcass through the waterhole to the opposite bank where she began tearing the body apart. When she ripped open the uterus, Stephen was surprised to see her drag out a foetus, which she took away to savour alone. Only then did she let the pack eat the rest of the carcass. Stephen’s photograph is currently on display alongside 115 others at the Natural History Museum in London.

Maniue Vilsoni Cert TSL 1992
Maniue became a primary school teacher on Rotuma, his home island, in 1981 and began his first Massey paper in Cert TSL (English) in 1983. He then took a long break, but renewed his study in 1990. More recently Maniue graduated with a BA (Economics and Literature and Language) from the University of the South Pacific in 1998. He now teaches at the Marist Brothers High School in Suva.

Robert Jones Dammerman BBS 1992
From bond sales to business development to institutional investor, Robert has shifted em-ployers and sometimes countries a number of times since graduating, each time acquitting himself well. While working for Microsoft he helped achieve revenue of close to US$10 million. He is now an enterprise account manager for CITRIX Systems based in the Netherlands.

Meredith Owen BBS, DBS, 1992 PGDipBusAdmin 1995
After having lived in Wellington, Auckland and Sydney, Meredith is now resident in Christchurch as the Southern Service Manager for TelstraSaturn. “Great for snowboarding in the winter and beach in the summer,” she writes. Last year she managed a trip to Britain and Europe and caught up with many friends, a number who are ex-Massey. Her longer term plans are to start a number of business ventures and try out the delights of living overseas.

Paul Lewis MBA 2001, BA History 1993
After completing his BA Paul was employed for eight years at Sport Manawatu, the last five as CEO. During this time Paul was involved in a number of projects in the Manawatu, including the development of the Manawatu Community Athletic Track – Massey University. Paul now works in Sydney as the Australian CEO of New Zealand-owned Tenderlink Online Services.

Hamish Rudland BBS 1995
Soon after completing his degree Hamish set up a freight and passenger company, Pioneer Transport, in Harare. The freight side of the business involves using the company’s 16 trucks to move jet fuel, diesel and petrol for Mobil Africa in the Southern African region. The daily bus service offered by Pioneer Transport operates inter-city from Harare northwards.
Hamish says Zimbabwe is currently a difficult country in which to run a business. “As seen in the media our political problems and land issues have had a negative effect on the economy. Foreign exchange is scarce and inflation is high; however this is where opportunity lies and we are making the most of the opportunities for better times, which we expect in the not too distant future. The people of Zimbabwe are very resilient and resourceful and I have no doubt that the country will prosper in the near future. Zimbabwe is a great place to live, the weather is excellent and the people very friendly. I am definitely having the time of my life.”

Nicola Wagner MBA 1995
Nicola has established the largest and most successful fashion website in Australasia. www.fashionz.co.nz is a cluster site that caters for the New Zealand fashion industry and has been used as a model to establish similar sites for the gardening industry – www.garden-nz.co.nz – and the computer software industry – www.computer-nz.com.

William Bruce BBS 1995
William Bruce has been transplanted by his employer, Ernst and Young, to the Cayman Islands, where he is an auditor. While in New Zealand he qualified as a Chartered Accountant and he is now working towards becoming a Chartered Financial Analyst. Despite the Cayman Islands’ tropical climate he remains an avid rugby player.

Andrea Bruce BBS 1995
Coincidentally, Marketing Manager Andrea Bruce (née Cooper) is also a Cayman Islands resident.

Angus White MBS (Hons) 1997, BBS 1995
Following graduation, Angus lectured, and held a research fellowship, at the Tokyo University of Economics. Back in New Zealand as a management consultant with a Big-5 Firm, Angus worked on economic development, technology and e-commerce projects. Next was a move to Seattle as Vice President of a US Company that provides supply chain integration using a web services software model. Angus recently returned to New Zealand and is now the chief executive of an engineering company.

Janice Frater PGDip Museum Stud 1997
Janice has relocated to Western Australia – “for a while”, she writes – and is filling a temporary vacancy with the Western Australia Museum in its Museum Assistance Programme, which delivers information, advice and training throughout Western Australia.

Sigrun Steinhagen BBS (Hons) 1998, BApplSc 1997
Sigrun currently spends most of her working time with two main clients. She is Marketing Manager for the Nelson, Marlborough Institute of Technology (Marlborough Campus) and is Promotions Manager for Ice Sports New Zealand. This latter role involves Sigrun helping to publicise and promote top New Zealand athletes involved in ice hockey, curling, speed skating, figure skating as well as the toboggan sports. Sigrun is currently assisting many of these athletes in their bid to qualify for the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Sean Thompson BAppSci 1997
After graduating from Massey University Sean accepted a job with the Coalition for the Homeless in New York, where he worked with street kids and homeless children. After spending time travelling and working throughout America, Canada, Britain and the Pacific, Sean returned to Auckland and trained as an Ambulance Officer. He is now happily employed as an Ambulance Officer for Wairarapa Health.

Penelope Hosking BTech (Food) 1999
After graduating Penelope took up a job with Sealord and was soon promoted to the position of Market Technologist Asia, which takes her to Japan, Hong Kong and China to visit customers and factories and organise new, interesting projects. While working in her first position with Sealord, Shellfish Processing, Penelope met her husband-to-be. They now live in Nelson.

Daisy Tanielu BSW 1999
After her first year with the Taeaomanino Trust Daisy was promoted from social worker to Co-ordinator of Social Workers in Schools and Alcohol and Drug Services. Her work has given her the opportunity to attend national and international conferences. She will be presenting to an international conference in May 2002.

Rohaizad Hamid DipArt (Def&StratStuds), 2000
After returning to his home country of Malaysia, Rohaizad was appointed as Commanding Officer of a flying instructor training school, which is part of the Royal Malaysian Air Force. Rohaizad writes that the management training he received while at Massey has helped him in the management of the training school.

Sara Donaghey PGDipBusAdmin (Dist) 2001
A former British archaeologist who has directed excavations all over the world, Sara is now working towards a PhD with Massey’s School of Business. She will be investigating the valuation of New Zealand’s cultural heritage.

WANTED
Massey Chemistry Graduates

If you are one of the more than 400 people who have graduated with a degree in chemistry from Massey University since the early 1970s, Professor Andrew Brodie would be keen to hear from you. The Chemistry teaching staff are planning to get as many of you as they can together next year to coincide with the 75th anniversary celebrations of the University. A big problem is that a lot of the addresses they have on file are clearly out of date!

Soon Andrew Brodie will be writing to as many chemistry graduates as he can, so if you have not been contacted by the middle of October, please contact him (Email: A.Brodie@massey.ac.nz, fax:+64 6 350 5682, phone +64 6 356 9099 extn 3536) so he can add your correct details to the file.

If you know of anyone else among your Chemistry classmates who does not have an up-to-date address or details registered with the alumni office, please tell them about our search.

Details of the Chemistry event will be announced early in 2002 but put the date of Friday 5 July in your diary now.