ACE Aotearoa Professional Development Steering Group Te Roopu Whaiti Whakangungu Pakeke
The ACE Aotearoa Professional Development Steering Group/Te Roopu Whaiti Whakangungu Pakeke, established 2008, governs the ACE Aotearoa lead implementation of the ACE Professional Development Strategy.
Steering Group members
Peter McNeur, Chair
Peter is the Director of Wairarapa REAP and has been formally involved in Adult and Community education since 1992. Peter was a member and Chairperson of the National Resource Centre Trust that gifted the building at 192 Tinakori Rd to ACE Aotearoa. He has participated on numerous government working parties, including the Ministry of Education Charters and Profiles Development Group, NZQA ACE Quality Assurance Working Group. More recently he has been a member of the TEC ACE PD Working Group, and is able to provide ongoing continuity between the work of that group and the new sector-based PD Steering Group. Peter is currently a member of the Ako Aotearoa Central Hub Advisory Committee, a member of the Ako Aotearoa National Project Fund Panel, a member of the ACE Strategic Alliance and the Secretary of REAP Aotearoa New Zealand.
Peter Coolbear
Peter McNeur, Chair
Peter is the Director of Wairarapa REAP and has been formally involved in Adult and Community education since 1992. Peter was a member and Chairperson of the National Resource Centre Trust that gifted the building at 192 Tinakori Rd to ACE Aotearoa. He has participated on numerous government working parties, including the Ministry of Education Charters and Profiles Development Group, NZQA ACE Quality Assurance Working Group. More recently he has been a member of the TEC ACE PD Working Group, and is able to provide ongoing continuity between the work of that group and the new sector-based PD Steering Group. Peter is currently a member of the Ako Aotearoa Central Hub Advisory Committee, a member of the Ako Aotearoa National Project Fund Panel, a member of the ACE Strategic Alliance and the Secretary of REAP Aotearoa New Zealand.
Peter is the foundation director of Ako Aotearoa, the new National Centre for Tertiary Teaching Excellence. Prior to taking up this role in July 2007, Peter was Deputy Chief Executive at Manukau Institute of Technology. Originally a plant physiologist, Peter has had an extensive research and teaching career, prior to taking up a series of management roles in the New Zealand ITP sector. Peter has also worked as Director Academic for the Association of Polytechnics (now ITP New Zealand) and for the Ministry of Education. He has special interests in widening access to successful participation in tertiary education.
Jenny Merton
Jenny is originally from Canterbury. She studied science at Canterbury University and completed her secondary teacher training in Auckland. She worked in schools in Palmerston North, Dunedin and Rarotonga, before taking up a position at the School of Education at UNITEC where she taught on the Graduate Diploma of Higher Education and MEd programmes. Jenny moved to Central Otago with her family in 2004, where she carried out a needs analysis for Central Otago REAP and ran a Sustainable Living programme. She is currently completing a PhD in Multicultural Adult Education, contributes to ACE tutor development in Central Otago, is involved with the delivery of U3A in Cromwell and Alexandra and works part time as the ACE co-ordinator at Mount Aspiring College.
Owen Lewis
Owen is a Cook Islander who came to New Zealand as a scholarship student 24 years ago. He is currently the Director of the Pacific Education Centre (PEC).He has a BSc and is a trained secondary school teacher. Has taught at Huntley College, St Andrew’s College and at Mangaia College and Tereora College in the Cook Islands. Has also worked at Te Oranga (Health, Social Service & Education unit) at Te Runanga O Te Rarawa in Kaitaia; in staff training and development at Te Puna Reo o Te Whetu Tawera Trust in Hamilton; for the Deaf Association and Te Runanaga O Aotearoa in Hamilton.
Deleraine Puhara
Ka haere ngä mihi, tëtehi ki tëtehi, kaupapa ki te kaupapa, wawata ki te wawata, ka tika Tënä koe, tënä koutou, tënä katoa mai tätou. Deleraine is affiliated with East Coast tribes she is currently employed as the Operations Manager for Te Kupenga Mätauranga o Taranaki, a Taranaki Mäori tertiary advocacy committee supported and recognised by Taranaki Iwi. Te Kupenga actively supports Tino Rangatiratanga for Mäori in education. She has been a Programme Administrator for Te Reo o Taranaki and Te Kura Matatini o Taranaki and has also worked with the NZ Mäori Wardens' Association. Deleraine is passionate about education and believes ACE learning provides the tertiary pathway for the many New Zealanders whose initial learning was unsuccessful. She has been involved with ACE learning since 2003 and values any initiative that provides advancement for educators. Her interests include Indigenous Peoples of the World, Mäori development and Te Reo Mäori.
Pauline A Winter
Pauline A Winter has her own consultancy business (INTERPACIFIC Ltd) which offers governance training, management support, mentoring and strategic planning for private and public sector organizations and individuals.
Pauline began her career in the building industry managing a design and Build Company overseeing contracts in New Zealand and the South Pacific for Fletcher Ltd. She is the former Chief Executive of Workbridge Inc. a national organization with 27 centers throughout the country providing employment and training services for disabled people. Under her guidance, the organization sharpened its focus on quality services, gained recognition internationally and developed unique service products for the accident rehabilitation industry.
Pauline now Chairs NACEW (National Advisory Council on Employment for Women). She is also the Deputy Chief Commissioner of the Transport Accident Investigation Commission, and has memberships on the Prime Minister’s Government Innovation and Advisory Board, the Auckland District Police Pacific Peoples Advisory group, the NZ Police Commissioner’s Assurance Committee. She also co-chairs the Auckland Pasifika Youth Development Strategy and is a member of the Tertiary Education Commission’s Adult Community Education Professional Development working group. She was recently appointed to the board of OMEGA an Auckland based organization working to secure employment for highly qualified immigrants from non Western countries.
She was the first Maori/Pacific Island woman to be elected to the Auckland Energy Consumer Trust (AECT) the 100% shareholder of New Zealand’s largest Electricity line company, Vector. Vector is one of NZ largest utility companies ($3,130,000,000) Pauline was Chair/Trustee of the AECT.
August 2007 Pauline was appointed as Director to the AUT University’s Office of Pasifika Advancement.
Pauline was appointed as a Companion of The Queen’s Service Order (QSO) in 2008 for her services to business and the Pacific Islands community.
Pauline Winter and Bronwyn Yates are transitional members, providing further continuity from the TEC PD Working Group