Chair's Report to 2019 Annual General Meeting

This is my seventh report as Chair of the Trust and as in past years I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the Trustees for their ongoing support for yet another very successful year for the Trust.

Financial

The modest equities market was continued with us meeting our target and our surplus for the year was $195,832 which has grown our capital base to $7,129,357.

The Science, Technology and Emerging Industries Scholarship

We were pleased to make a positive change to the scholarships this year with an increase in value to $6,000 per scholarship (over three years). This year we were thrilled to award another 18 scholarships with a total value of $108,000 to each school in our catchment area. This brings a total of 308 scholars that have gained scholarships and the total scholarships granted to date are $1,475,750.

Publicity

We continue to use Monique to publicise the Trust’s activities in the local newspapers and tabloids to raise the Trust’s profile. Our upgraded website is now working and better reflects the workings of the Trust. We have also started an electronic newsletter which is being circulated to current and past students.

Future Leaders Program

This very successful program was run again in 2018 and is now into its eleventh year and continues with Phil Lawrence as the presenter. The program is aimed at Year 12 and 13 students from each College in our catchment area and gives them the opportunity to grow their leadership skills. The Programme comprises 3 full day workshops during Year 12 and a half day workshop in Year 13. In between workshops students have tasks to complete and are mentored by Phil.

Instep and Toi EDA

This year we continued our Grant of $20,000 to Instep and $15,000 to Toi EDA. Instep is a Tauranga based organisation and Toi EDA is a Whakatane based organisation which presents a programme to help students in decisions towards full time employment and into worthwhile careers.

Trustees

We were sad to see Brian Scantlebury retire at our last AGM – Brian started with the Trust in 1995 and has played a strong leadership role in guiding us to the healthy financial position we are in today. Brian has been Chair of the Trust for many years and is the third ‘Pioneer Trustee” to retire in recent years. It gives me great pleasure to announce that Brian has been appointed the third Emeritus Trustee of our Trust. We wish Brian and his family all the best in his retirement.

I am pleased to welcome Tom Beswick as a new Trustee to the Trust. Tom is a Partner of Ingham Mora, accounting firm and brings a wealth of experience to the Trust. Tom has taken over the Secretary role of the Trust and has quickly come up to speed.

Roger Loveridge - Chairman