Message from the Executive Director, Heather Shotter
It is hard to believe that December has come around so quickly, but here we find ourselves another year passed and an opportunity to reflect on 12 months of accomplishments and initiatives underway.
The country itself has had to face some real challenges - the continuing challenge of the economic crisis and the Christchurch earthquake has placed a real stress on the community both economically and personally. Yet the country has also witnessed one of its greatest sporting triumphs which brought a six week period of fun, excitement and economic benefit that galvanised our country, albeit with a few challenges which are always involved in staging a world class event.
Auckland has also been tending to its own business of building one of the world’s great places to live and work.
The Auckland plan brought together thousands of submissions and set an admirable vision for our city. The Committee made a significant contribution to that process and appeared before the City Vision Committee twice over the year to present submissions and engaged through a very extensive consultation process. There is still much to do and we will be looking at bringing together some discussion opportunities around the key aspects of the Plan in the new year.
Apart from this, the Committee has also had a number of its own achievements as we have embarked on a year of refocus and revitalisation. We have grown our membership significantly, delivered a new series of dialogue lunches attracting some of our key influencers, embarked on two new thought leadership projects including spearheading a Regional Skills Plan for Auckland (see below for details on how you can become involved). The Committee also graduated 28 more young Auckland leaders, found roles for 15 top Maori Graduates and extended that opportunity to Pacific Students. The Committee recruited more schools into our Business 'n Schools programme, graduated 8 potential Maori principles from our Taki Hono project and extended our work with Maori in the Iwi Business Consortium.
More of you are engaged with The Committee than ever before, contributing your time, energy and resources to help make our shared vision a reality.
My thanks to you all and to our small team: Lorraine, Nikki , Sarah, Suzanne, Judy and Dorren who have made it all possible.
My thanks also to our Board who have guided our work and have been a huge support to me during the year.
I wish you all a very happy Christmas and safe and prosperous new year with your family and friends.