The Team

Board of Trustees

Coming together was the beginning. Keeping together is the progress. Working together is the success of the Northland community.

The Foundation’s Trustees bring together a wide range of expertise including business and financial management, law and community development. Board members volunteer their time to oversee the functions of the Foundation.

Richard Ayton: Chairperson
Born and raised in Mid Canterbury Richard studied Law at Canterbury University eventually becoming a partner in a Christchurch law firm in the 1970’s. Richard found that the Northland weather was more suiting to his passion for sailing and moved here in the early 1980’s. He eventually settled in Kerikeri and extended his interests in horticultural, farming. Richard is a partner in Law North and supports the Northland Community Foundation with his expertise in the legal field. He has been involved in many sporting and community organizations with competitive sailing being Richard’s pastime of choice. In between he has found time to raise two children and two stepchildren with his wife Tracey. Richard has a commitment to the Northland Community Foundation and he summed that up by saying “After more than 20 years in Northland I feel like a local – the area has been good to me and I see my involvement with the Foundation as a way of developing the opportunities for the community that I live in and work within.”

Kevin Prime
Kevin is married to Margaret with 13 children and 8 grandchildren. He is a beef farmer, forester, beekeeper and works part- time as a Commissioner with the Environment Court. Prior to his appointment to the Environment Court he spent most of his time on various companies, trusts, community organisations in areas relating to philanthropy, health, conservation, justice, Maori development, education, environment, forestry, farming and sport.
His hobbies are family, sport, bee keeping, learning new things, and his favourite holiday spot is at home on the farm in Motatau.

Ken Couper
Ken is a dairy farmer living in Waipu with his wife and four children. He is actively involved in the local community and has held positions on the Board of Trustees for Waipu Primary School, Waipu Rugby Squash Club, the Waipu Hall Committee and Waipu Tennis Club. Ken is a piper in the Waipu Highland Pipe Band and serves the Bream Bay area as a Justice of the Peace.

Susie Fordyce
Susie moved to New Zealand in 2006 to be close to family and grandchildren living in Northland. In the UK her career was in local government management across finance, business and customer services. She also worked within the change and project management arena, managing system implementation across a number of varying business areas. During this time she maintained her involvement in the local community, supporting cricket and the church. Her short time in New Zealand brought home the significance of philanthropy and the voluntary sector and when nominated to be a Trustee she said “The opportunity to be part of a foundation developing a respected profile of working for the community is a real plus for me.”

Alan Wellington
Alan is married with two children and four grandchildren. He is currently living in Glenbervie. He spent his early working life in management roles for financial companies, living in many locations around New Zealand. He settled in Northland in the early 1990′s and bought a shareholding in a company in the motor industry. Alan is currently retired and indulging his passion for sports, particularly rugby, cricket and golf. Apart from these interests he devotes a good deal of his time to ‘Project Promise’.

Margareth Broodkoorn
Of Nga Puhi and Dutch descent, Margareth was born in the Hokianga. Although she grew up in South Auckland her heart has always been in the community in which she was born.
Margareth is a registered nurse and was recently employed with Hauora Hokianga as the Clinical and Community Development Manager. She is now in a leadership role with the Northland District Health Board as the Director of Nursing. In her spare time she is the secretary of Te Whakarongotai Marae and can usually be found in the weekends following her children around the rugby fields and netball courts.

Gavin Buckingham – Gavin grew up on his parent’s dairy farm just south of Kaitaia. He milked cows for his parents for a year after leaving school and then attended Massey & Auckland Universities focusing on an accounting degree.
After working in Auckland for 5 years he headed north to Whangarei becoming a partner at Russell Turner Chartered Accounts in 2006. He enjoys life on his small lifestyle property at Whakapara with wife Ursula (a passionate Waipu girl) and new daughter Brianna, a few pigs and some Pitt Island sheep.
He is a keen diver, fisherman, kayaker and a multisport enthusiast, completing the one day coast to coast event in 2008.

Liz Woodward: Manager
A career in communications, marketing and events management, working mainly for government and local government organisations in Auckland and Northland, gives Liz a knowledge of working with community. Her role as Manager covers a wide area of operational day-to-day management and community development. Key to this is raising the profile of the Foundation ensuring the people of Northland are aware of how the community benefits from Grassroots Giving.

NCF currently has three panels with each one managed by a Board of Trustee member supported by a team of volunteers with an appropriate skills and professional mix. Find out more about the panels here