Management Committee

Rebecca Bell

Chairperson

Rebecca grew up in the rural outskirts of Nelson on a mixed organic farm, has lived all over the North Island as an adult, and has been living in Palmy since 2018.  She has three almost-grown daughters, two of whom were born in Palmy during an earlier stint here.  Rebecca’s parents are American, so she has also spent time as an adult living in the States getting to know her extended family.

She likes to keep active and is currently working towards a goal to run a marathon some time in 2023.

Rebecca’s background is in local government, specifically strategic planning and policy, and over the years has been involved in a range of community projects and initiatives.  She is currently a self-employed consultant in strategic planning and project management.

 

Kendall Palmer-Frecklington

Kendall is a Palmy local who has studied and worked in the area her whole life. She has a background in auditing and achieved her Chartered Accountancy by the age of 25. She is now working in a local accounting firm helping small and medium sized businesses, as well as individuals, to achieve their goals and maximise their outputs. She is an avid animal lover and has an interest in living a sustainable life and minimising her carbon footprint.

When she is not working you will find her either curled up with a book or out and about with her soon to be one year old son at the park.

 

Ellieda Komene

Ellieda has a background in education, community and social services, health and local and central government sectors. In her spare time, she enjoys tramping, taking part in community activities, reading, spending time in the garden and enjoying Aotearoa.  She is passionate about social and environmental issues, helping people and working with communities.

 

Dr Heather Meikle 

Dr Heather Meikle taught at Palmerston North Girls’ High School for over three decades and was key to it achieving its Green-Gold Enviroschool status in 2023, the first secondary school in the Manawatū to achieve this. Now an Enviroschools facilitator, Heather is passionate about empowering rangatahi to take action on sustainability and connect with their community. She is also enthusiastic about harakeke weaving and an avid reader.

 

Dr Viv Aitken 

Viv's been a resident of Manawatū since 2016. Home is a former forestry block on a windy ridge in Turitea, which she and her husband are working hard to restore with native plantings. After thirty years in education (as an academic, teacher, professional development facilitator, events manager, and author of books for teachers), Viv is now pulling back to spend more time growing things (including grandkids), and volunteering. Viv’s been involved in a range of community groups over the years, including planting, gully restoration and ‘grow food party’ initiatives. She is part of Palmy repair cafe, and she opened her veggie patch to visitors on the ‘Palmy Homegrown' garden tour in 2023.

Viv feels privileged to be selected for the board of ENM and looks forward to supporting the work of the organisation.

 

Dr Jean Hera

Jean identifies as tangata Tiriti of Irish, English and Welsh descent, was born in Stratford, Taranaki and grew up in a number of small provincial towns around Aotearoa. She has lived in Palmerston North (with a few years in Feilding) since 1975. She has 2 adult children and 3 granddaughters who all live locally.  Jean is a registered social worker who studied social work and social policy at Massey University. She worked many years as a community health worker and manager at Te Hā o Hine-ahu-one Palmerston North Women’s Health Collective but is now mainly retired with a small private practice providing social service supervision. Jean brings her passion for community, social and environmental justice and to toitū Te Tiriti o Waitangi to her new involvement with ENM.

 

Sajani Dissanayake

Sajani was born in Sri Lanka and grew up partly in Palmy with her family. She is a student at PNGHS and is a keen gardener, enjoys growing her own produce and using more sustainable, self-sufficient ways of living. She is involved in the community, particularly as a member of the Palmy Youth Council where she works alongside PNCC. She believes that youth play a big role in matters relating to the environment and hopes to increase youth involvement and knowledge around these topics. In her spare time, she likes to paint, listen to music and go on walks by the river. 

 

Heinz Fellerhoff

Heinz Fellerhoff is of Dutch and Māori decent, Ngāti Porou and Ngāti Kahungunu, and was raised in the Wairarapa and Manawatū. He completed his studies at Massey University where he also currently works as an Advisor and Management Accountant.

He has a strong interest in the community sector and has been involved in environmental, social , and maritime sectors in the past. His interests in the environmental sector are primarily around natural environments and biodiversity, but also has a strong interest in sustainability and waste reduction initiatives.

Heinz currently resides in Palmerston North with Simone, his wife, and Kenna, his young daughter. In his spare time, you will be able to find him caring for Kenna or helping when he can at local working bees at the various parks and reserves in Palmerston North.

Staff

Madz BatachEl

Coordinator

Madz has been on the staff of ENM for a number of years in a variety of roles. In October 2019 she accepted the role of Coordinator, and is enjoying the challenge of keeping up with all the action in the network. She is the founder of Community Fruit Harvest Manawatu, and was instrumental in helping to establish the Manawatu Urban Foraging online community.  On her days off from ENM she helps to home educate 3 of her 5 children.

 

Kerry Jaques

Finance and Administration

Kerry is an experienced accountant/administrator with a public sector background in large organisations. His career has included significant experience in the electricity and tertiary sectors; initially at the Ministry of Energy (13 years), followed by Massey University (22 years) and the Universal College of Learning (just over 5 years).

He has considerable experience in office management and administration, with technical expertise in financial management and strategic planning to a senior level. Kerry is enjoying utilising his experience and knowledge in his role at Environment Network Manawatū.

Outside of work, Kerry and his wife have three adult children all of whom are working professionally. Apart from family, his passions are the outdoors and sport. Currently he is Chairman of Old Boys Cricket Club  in Palmerston North and manages the Premier team. 

 

Rennie Williamson

Communications Lead

Rennie is a returning Palmy local. She has a background in running an interior design business with a focus on sustainability and biophilic design for 4 years. She also recruited for renewable energy companies in Australia. She is passionate about making a positive impact on the Manawatū. Outside of work you can find her at the gym or working on her cookbook.

 

Sumeet Kaushal

Workflows and Systems Development

Sumeet is a passionate and focused business analyst with strong analytical and technical skills supporting business needs and process mapping for improving existing and introducing new processes. He is also competent at identifying, validating, and documenting business requirements and transforming them into successful technical solutions. Sumeet has had previous expereince working  with Mid District Health Board and Sime Darby Commercial NZ Limited as a Business Analyst.

 

Daniel Morrimire (Morri)

Coordinator, Manawatū Food Action Network

Morri has a diverse background, previously having worked as an avionics technician in the Royal New Zealand Air Force for 7 years before he took up study at Massey University. He has a Bachelor of Science with a double major in Zoology and Ecology as well as a Diploma of Teaching. Morri is a fully registered teacher and spent the last 4 years teaching at a local Montessori early childhood centre. Morri has links with Kura Kaupapa Māori o Manawatū and has a conversational level of fluency in Te Reo Māori thanks to his involvement there as well as having completed two courses through Te Wananga o Aotearoa. He has dreams of one day being self-sufficient, with a developing fruit forest, a small orchard and an expanding series of raised gardens. He lives rurally with his wife and 4 tamariki.

 

Robert Gibb

Ruahine Kiwi Project Lead

Robert is passionate about the environment, and as an avid bird photographer is keen to do everything he can to foster the return of kiwi to the Ruahine Ranges. Robert’s previous 35-year career was as a data scientist in the Informatics Science Team at Manaaki Whenua - Landcare Research (MWLR). He retired in 2016 as their team leader and has since continued to be an Informatics Research Associate with MWLR. Robert is married with two adult children, and when not thinking about the environment Robert can be found singing in choirs such as the Renaissance Singers or being proactive about climate disruption.

 

Mark Strachan

Community Kai Support, Manawatū Food Action Network

Mark is a keen gardener and gained a love of horticulture during his time as dispatch manager at Plantlife Propagators in Ashhurst, which taught him to identify and nurture a wide variety of plants. He has a passion for organic food production, guided by permaculture principles. Mark was introduced to ENM and its work through a seminar linked to Manawatū Young Chamber. From there, he volunteered to host one of our community composting hubs, took part in the trial of our ‘Every Bite’ initiative and finally applied to join the MFAN team. Mark is also a professional photographer and broadcast camera operator. He lives with his wife and three-year-old son in Awapuni. 

 

Sally Pearce

Future Living Skills Coordinator

Sally has been involved with ENM for the last 16 years, including 12 years as ENM Coordinator until 2019. Sally came to the Coordinator role having organised a community bush restoration project on family land, something she is passionate about and continues to enjoy.  Sally has a strong interest and involvement in most things environmental, especially protecting our native biodiversity, reducing waste, supporting composting, and sustainable transport. She enjoys riding her push bike to get around the city and in her spare time loves to work in the garden and bush, and to explore some of the amazing natural places we have in this region and beyond. 

 

Jenna Fisher

Trapper, Ruahine Kiwi

Jenna has been part Ruahine Kiwi since July 2023.  Jenna’s main career is in the legal profession but she has always had a passion for conservation.  Jenna has previously volunteered as a trapper for DOC; Ruahine Whio project and Maanaki Ruahine but employed work for Ruahine Kiwi was a dream come true.  Making a difference to the future of our native species is what drives Jenna to do what she does, and she wants to see our Ruahines thriving with native species.   Jenna lives in the Pohangina Valley under the Ruahine Range.  When Jenna isn’t working she can be found tramping through the bush and staying in DOC huts with her two primary aged children.