As you will be aware, Jim Munford is retiring as Chief Executive of the NBN Trust at the end of May. We are now pleased to confirm that he has been succeeded by John Sawyer.
John started in the role on 1st May to allow time for a month's handover and some of you may have already seen him at various meetings.
John has been involved in nature conservation, biosecurity and ecological research and restoration for over 20 years as a corporate, government and NGO advisor. He has worked in New Zealand, Europe and Central and South America including time on the Chatham Islands and Robinson Crusoe Island (Chile) and the highlands of Guatemala.
John has co-authored many papers and books including Plant me Instead (a guide to environmentally friendly gardening), Threatened plants of New Zealand, Introduction to applied biogeography and Threatened plants of the Chatham Islands as well as a hiking cookbook entitled ‘Gourmet Tramping in New Zealand’. John was President of the New Zealand Ecological Society and was co-founder of the New Zealand Plant Conservation Network – New Zealand’s largest NGO devoted solely to the protection of New Zealand’s native plant life. For ten years he ran the Network’s national on-line flora database. He is co-founder of Nature Space – an on-line portal for people involved in ecological restoration in New Zealand and has worked as an environmental strategy and policy advisor for Auckland (NZ’s largest city).
We are sure you will join us in wishing John well in his new role.