MDL in the Community
MDL staff have a long history of using their skills and experience to make a lasting impact in the wider community by joining or working with organisations where we can make a difference. Contributing our expertise – particularly our expertise in effective governance, developing strategy and community networks - is one of the immensely satisfying and rewarding things we do.
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Serving on non-profit voluntary boards. Peter McKinlay is on the board of the Tauranga Region Chamber of Commerce. Adrienne von Tunzelmann is a past President. Adrienne is also on the local board of Age Concern NZ and a founding member of an initiative to establish a local social sector forum under a charitable trust.
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Playing key support roles. Adrienne and Peter are both actively involved in the Tauranga Community Housing Trust, Adrienne as Patron and Peter in providing strategic advice. The Trust is unique in New Zealand and is forging new ways of meeting the housing needs of people facing housing barriers, including working with the commercial sector.
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Promoting professional development. Peter takes a lead role in the Auckland branch of the Institute of Public Administration (IPANZ) which brings together people from the professional, commercial and public sectors to network around the important public issues of the day. IPANZ is committed to promoting improvements in public policy and in administration and management across New Zealand’s public sector, both in central and local government.
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Fostering education. Adrienne is a Council member of the Eastern Bay of Plenty Maori indigenous university Te Whare Wananga o Awanuiarangi, established by Ngati Awa iwi to provide tertiary education opportunities particularly to Maori, and ultimately to create a critical mass of Māori intellectual leadership. She is also a trustee of the University of Waikato Foundation whose role is to help secure funding and to promote the university’s interests through trustees’ networks.
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Providing leadership. Peter is the inaugural president of a neighbourhood resident’s association which is tackling major planning and development issues in the city.
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Supporting animal welfare. MDL supports the SPCA, and has participated in an annual fund-raising event aimed at finding homes for animals in SPCA care.
