Andy Fryar is the National Operations Manager for Better Impact in Australia and New Zealand and the founder of OzVPM (Australasian Volunteer Program Management).

For more than 30 years has contributed significantly to the Australian volunteerism community. His achievements include serving as President of Volunteering Australia and convening the working party that later evolved into AAMoV - the Australasian Association for Managers of Volunteers.

Andy has helped produce three books on volunteer management and is a co-author of Volunteer Program Management: an essential guide (3rd edition) - Australia’s premier guidebook to volunteering. He has served on the editorial committee of the Australian Journal of Volunteering and since 2000, has been a founding member of the editorial team for e-volunteerism, an international electronic journal of volunteerism based in Philadelphia.

Andy travels extensively and has conducted volunteer management training and worked with volunteer involving agencies in many countries including the USA, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Singapore and the UK, where between 2004 and 2010 he was a faculty member with the prestigious ‘Institute of Advanced Volunteer Management’. He is also a co-founder of the Australasian Retreat for Advanced Volunteer Management that was held annually between 2005 and 2012.

Since 2008, Andy has volunteered his time as Chairperson of the global committee overseeing the promotion of International Volunteer Manager’s Day, celebrated on November 5 each year.

In 2003, Andy was awarded a Centenary Medal by the Australian government in recognition of his services to the volunteering movement in Australia.

Kerri has worked in and for the community sector for 25 years and has been involved with all sorts of organisations in all sorts of ways. She has worked as a manager, a volunteer, a trustee and a consultant. Her passion lies with grass-roots groups who are committed to making a difference, no matter how hard they have to work to make it happen. She is currently involved with long-term volunteering in the Pacific nation of Vanuatu. You can catch up with Kerri’s adventures on Facebook by following the page: Sailing With Purpose. Kerri is described as a dynamic speaker and ‘terrific storyteller’ who engages her audience right from the get-go. Whether she is speaking to 10 people or 100, she has the unique ability to actively include the audience in her presentation.

Melissa became a Professional Director after 25 years experience as an entrepreneur and CEO of a number of Technology companies. She was awarded the ONZM for Services to Technology in 2015. Melissa is a Governor of Radio NZ, sits on the Boards of Jasmax Architects, Beef and Lamb NZ and Kiwi Insurance Ltd. In recent years she has studied at MIT, Cambridge University and Stanford (twice!), as well as The Institute for the Future in Silicon Valley. Melissa works with companies to execute transformational strategies, through futurecentre.nz She tweets as @HoneyBeeGeek.

Michelle brings a valuable mix of management and leadership skills, and the ability to work collaboratively and innovatively. She is well known and respected within the sector and is passionate about increasing recognition for the value and impact of volunteering. Michelle has a background in communications, marketing and community engagement, and volunteer leadership. She has previously worked for a social enterprise, in the public sector and within the publishing and training industries and holds several governance leadership roles in the community sector.

Tui currently leads the public engagement, fundraising, operational and commercial activities of the National Library. At the heart of this work is connecting the knowledge and taonga held within the National Library with communities and visitors.
Tui has built complex national innovation programmes from scratch, including Mahuki: the world’s first business accelerator for the culture sector (located within Te Papa). She has also been a former New Zealand Trade Commissioner in Melbourne, General Manager of a leading creative digital agency, and Chief Executive of Creative HQ.
Tui also led the Maori Enterprise Team of Trade NZ (now NZ Trade and Enterprise). A scholarship recipient for the 2017 Global Women Breakthrough Leaders Programme and a finalist in the Government category of the Wellingtonian of the year awards 2017, Tui is passionate about creative entrepreneurship and innovation. She is also a board member for the Mary Potter Hospice.
Tui is an internationally recognized speaker on innovation in the culture and heritage sector and regularly speaks about leadership and innovation.

Ross completed a Masters in Experience and Service Design culminating in his ground breaking research Civic Circles. Ross specialises in youth engagement with Non-profit organisations. When Ross is not thinking of ways Volunteer organisations can engage more people in volunteering in their communities, he is volunteering his skills in community projects such as the Youth Aotea-Reo Project – developing an app for New Zealand youth which aims to provide youth support services in a more convenient way. Ross is also the President of the Multicultural New Zealand Youth Council. He also works as a consultant Service Designer in the LabPlus team in the All of Government Service Innovation Lab.

Karen is our previous Board Chair at VNZ. She completed a PhD thesis in 1999 titled 'The management of volunteers at heritage attractions: literary heritage properties in the UK' at Nottingham Trent University, working at the University of Greenwich before moving to Victoria University of Wellington in 2003 and rising to full professor in 2017.

Smith's research focuses on the management of volunteers, particularly at large sporting events. She has conducted projects related to the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, London 2012 Olympic Games (funded by the International Olympic Committee) and the Rugby World Cup 2011 (funded by Sport New Zealand).

In the 2019 Queen's Birthday Honours, Smith was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to education and volunteering

Laura O'Connell Rapira (Te Ātiawa, Ngāpuhi, Te Rarawa, Ngāti Whakaue) is the Director of ActionStation, an independent, crowdfunded community campaigning organisation representing over 100,000 New Zealanders acting together to create what we cannot achieve on our own: a society, economy and democracy that serves everyday people and Papatūānuku. She is also the Co-Founder and Board Chair of RockEnrol, a volunteer-powered organisation dedicated to activating the political power of young people.

Charlie Devenish is the Civic Engagement and Leadership Programmes Manager in Careers and Employment at Victoria University of Wellington. He manages the Victoria Plus Programme which is a student volunteer and leadership programme. Prior to joining the University Charlie worked for 8 years in Wellington’s community sector in a range of community development roles including Volunteer Wellington, Kaibosh and Enviroschools.

Mark has held senior roles within volunteer-involving organisations for many years and is passionate about enabling leaders to enhance their influence, and empowering organisations to be bold in developing strategies that promote a people-centred approach. Mark has a doctorate in organisational leadership – specifically volunteer leadership – and wants to share his research for positive social change.

Formerly the Crown Solicitor for Rotorua, Fletcher joined the independent bar in 2014 where he acts for a wide range of clients in criminal, regulatory and public law litigation. His principal focus is on white collar crime and defending clients against regulatory prosecutions and other enforcement actions. He has over 20 years of experience appearing in all the Courts of New Zealand including the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court. He became the inaugural Convenor of the Auckland District Law Society Health and Safety at Work Committee, which was formed in response to the introduction of the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015, and he regularly delivers seminars and papers on this legislation. He is also admitted as a barrister and solicitor of the Pitcairn Islands and is presently a senior magistrate of the Islands.

Erina Papp is an experienced organisational development and HR professional with a focus on engaging others to achieve results and turn vision into reality. She brings a unique mix of in-depth HR and senior management experience, coaching, counselling and community development expertise enable her to work with people to address both business and interpersonal challenges. Erina is also Volunteering New Zealand's National Learning and Development Manager.

Gail is a freelance communications professional with around 20 years experience across the not-for-profit, corporate and public sectors. She is also a trustee and matchmaker-in-chief of the Community Comms Collective, a 100% volunteer-run organisation which she co-founded in 2013. Gail is also a Board Member of Volunteering New Zealand.

Helga is the Capacity and Development Manager at the Cancer Society of New Zealand. Helga has 10 years of experience of establishing supportive environments for volunteering in the not-for-profit and government sectors and is also on the advisory committee of her local timebank.

Louise is a strong advocate for social responsibility and impact, driven to make meaningful change by putting positive impact at the heart of our economy. She leads a talented and passionate team of impact, procurement, investment and consulting experts, providing support, capability and thought leadership both across New Zealand and internationally.

Louise joined Ākina in 2016, following a successful corporate career, which included the management of New Zealand’s largest corporate social responsibility programme. She sits on the Board of the Impact Enterprise Fund (New Zealand’s first impact investment fund) and on the National Advisory Board for Impact Investing Network Aotearoa New Zealand.

Hon Poto Williams is the Labour Member of Parliament for Christchurch East, where she lives. Poto became the MP for Christchurch East at a By-Election in November 2013. She is now the Minister for the Community and Voluntary Sector, and is the Associate Minister for Social Development, Immigration, and Greater Christchurch Regeneration.

After gaining an MBA and Graduate Certificate in Research Methods from Manukau Institute of Technology and Southern Cross University, Poto has worked in and managing community health and community mental health services, residential disability services, working with single parent families, youth services, family violence and refuge. Working in mental health provided the opportunity to engage in strengths based, recovery focussed and client centred work, which has guided her practice ever since.

As the Minister of the Community and Voluntary sector, she understands the importance of forging constructive relationships with the sector and passionately believes the sector is an integral part of the Government’s agenda with the Wellbeing Budget.