Meet the Trust Board

John had careers in hospitality and financial services before founding New Zealand Home Loans in 1996. As founder and CEO, he grew the business to be one of the most successful non-bank mortgage providers in NZ, with a franchise network of over 65 offices. Since selling to Kiwibank in 2012, John has been building a diverse business portfolio in the tourism, mining, agriculture, and marine sectors. He works actively in all these businesses and also holds several governance roles as chair.

John is a serial entrepreneur, with an immense ability to cast a vision and then motivate and coach people to achieve the outcome. He has unique skills in developing sales systems and sees every business as a sales business. He is passionate about building things - businesses, people, teams, boats, buildings - but mainly people!

Monique is a Partner at Lewis Lawyers in Cambridge and is independent of St Peter’s. Qualifying with a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Social Sciences from the University of Waikato in 2006, Monique now primarily practices in property and commercial areas of Law.
Monique currently chairs the school’s Health and Safety Board Committee and has been a trustee at St Peter’s since 2015.

Raewyn has a Bachelor of Electronic Commerce, majoring in Management Information Systems from Waikato University, a National Diploma of Science and is currently studying towards a law degree. Raewyn has worked extensively in the information technology and services industry, including work in Search Engine Optimization (SEO), E-commerce, Google Analytics, Integration, and E-commerce Consulting. Raewyn joined the Trust Board in 2010, is a St Peter’s Alumni and her children have attended St Peter’s.

David is the Managing Director of Bakertilly Staples Rodway, a past student and currently has two children attending the school. David joined the board in 2007 and shortly after took responsibility of the chair of the finance committee. In 2012 David stepped into the role of chair after acting as deputy chair. David stood down as chair of the board in 2018 after serving the maximum 6-year term in that position.

David holds a Bachelor of Business Studies with honours from the University of Waikato and is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand and a Chartered member of the Institute of Directors.

David holds numerous trustee and director positions, including the Home of Cycling Charitable Trust, the Chartwell Trust group and the John and Glenice Gallagher Foundation.

Craig is a Partner at Bakertilly Staples Rodway Chartered Accountants in Hamilton. He works with commercial entities and Māori organisatons and provides strategic and commercial advice on all aspects of their business. He is passionate about innovation and value add to improve economic performance. Craig has a Bachelor of Management Studies from the University of Waikato, majoring in Accounting and Finance, and is a chartered accountant. He is also a member of the Institute of Directors. Craig also holds a number of trustee and directorships. Craig lives in Hamilton with his wife and has a young family with children attending Southwell. Craig has been a member since 2016 and is Chair of the Finance Committee.

Aksel is the Deputy Mayor of Waikato District Council and Councillor for Tamahere, the immediate northern neighbouring district to St Peter’s, and is a parent of current students at the school. He has a commercial background in both Human Resource Management and equipment sales & service, particularly to the Dairy, Wine and Brewing industries.
He received a B.Sc. in Microbiology and Psychology from Massey University and a M.Soc.Psy. in Industrial & Organisational Psychology from the University of Waikato.
Aksel started his professional career working for Natural Gas Corporation (a Fletcher Challenge company), then Cedenco Foods in Gisborne and was part of the successful management buy-out of NDA Engineering in 1998 -Australasia’s premier fabricator of stainless steel. Here he continued as an owner/manager until the business was sold a decade later, after which Aksel held Board of Trustee roles in primary schools as well as directorships in private sector companies whilst focusing most of his time around family.

Graeme has extensive experience in sports development, with a passion for the positive nature of holistic education. After attaining bachelors and doctoral degrees from Loughborough and Wollongong Universities, respectively, Graeme has left world-class sports and coaching programmes on three continents. His former role as Director of Sport at Millfield School in England, and his relationship with the Avantidrome, creates a strong affinity with St Peter’s School and aligns with the school’s holistic philosophy. Graeme has been a member since 2016 and is co-chair of the Education Committee. He is also a trustee of the Adastr
a Trust, member of the Waikato Pathway to Podium, and NZ Rugby 7’s innovation advisory groups. He is vice president of the Loughborough Students Rugby Club, and was a member of the New Zealand Olympic Committee’s Rio Planning Group.

Consulting in Property Development, Project & Facilities Management Ed is an experienced property and asset management professional with a Bachelor Civil Engineering with Environmental Management (Hons). Ed and Rochelle have three boys, the eldest started at St Peter’s in 2018. Ed is a board member of Brian Injury Trust (Headway) Auckland, chair of Tauhinu Sea Scouts and is chair of St Peter’s Building and Maintenance Committee.

Penelope has four children, who have all attended the school, one graduated year 13 in 2018; three still attend St Peter’s. She has a cousin who was a past Headmaster, so has been connected to the school all her life.

She and Nick, her husband, who works for Vodafone NZ, moved to Cambridge four years ago to bring the family back to the Waikato from Sydney, where they had lived and worked for 15 years.

She is a Dental Surgeon, Secondary Teacher, and oversees family Dairy Farms.

Penelope has worked in Private, Community and Hospital Dental Surgery in London, Sydney and New Zealand, teaching Oral Surgery for Sydney University.

She has a passion for education, strong healthy communities, and dairying, therefore sits on the education and farm committees for St Peter’s School.
Penelope sits on the board of one of St Peter’s sister schools in Africa and other church and charity boards in NZ.