PRIORITY ONE - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Operations Manager
- Employment
Michelle, our Employment Mentor for the Ara Rau Skills and Employment Hub, focuses on engaging rangatahi who are not in education, employment, or training. She helps to map the navigation routes of employment, retraining and upskilling, to create pipelines into sustainable employment for our youth.
Mary will be working across the community, connecting young people into training, jobs and employment opportunities to grow their potential and contribute towards the exciting future workforce of Tauranga Moana. Through our amazing connections with business, Mary believes we can create win-win outcomes that build strong economic ecosystems to feed the mauri ora of our region.
Living in an area of such great abundance and beauty, Mary is ever grateful to be able to swim in the sea and access fresh fish and kai moana, so easily accessible here in Tauranga Moana.
In her spare time, Mary enjoys walking, reading, cooking and sinking her teeth into some of her husband's freshly caught ika from our awesome moana - She tells us her fish tacos are pretty good too!
James's aka Jock joins our Ara Rau Skills and Employment Hub as an Employment Mentor, and his role is to connect rangatahi who are not engage in education, training or employment with local employers and training providers. He works collaboratively, connects and builds relationships with our rangatahi and maps out options with local employers or training providers to ultimately secure long-term employment.
Ara Rau is committed to supporting the people in our communities and helping them to get into employment. We partner with local support services and employers, to make the journey as seamless as possible.
Job Titles:
- General Manager
- General Manager: Business Partnerships
Colin has a career supporting many of New Zealand's successful exporters. He is passionate about New Zealand's global competitiveness, enabling success through strategic leadership.
A proven leader, experienced in leading teams across multiple sites with complex and diverse business operations with demonstrable achievements in operational excellence and strategy and business objective alignment.
He has an MBA, is a Chartered Member of the Institute of Directors and has held executive and governance primary sector roles in Australia, South America and New Zealand, including with Iwi.
Colin is a proud Kiwi, committed to innovative solutions, sustainability and the development of present and future capability to enhance the prosperity with the customer at the core.
Job Titles:
- Property & Infrastructure Manager, Port of Tauranga
Job Titles:
- Coordinator
- Vocational Coordinator
As the vocational coordinator Darlene will be engaging with local businesses, and secondary schools, coordinating events that help to expose and showcase learning pathways to students. In addition to the amazing career opportunities, local businesses and industries have for them right here in the Western Bay of Plenty.
Prior to this role Darlene worked as a tutor delivering workshops in secondary schools around Aotearoa to help students gain NCEA. She is thrilled to be following her passion for supporting young people into vocational pathways.
Darlene has lived in Mount Maunganui for most of her life and her favourite part about living here would have to be the amazing weather and beaches. Darlene enjoys cooking, sewing, spending time outdoors, surfing and catching up with friends and family.
Job Titles:
- CEO, Bay of Plenty Regional Council
Gail works at the front and centre of the team and enjoys helping everyone, including anyone coming into the office. She can always provide an answer/solution or at least know who to point them to, and do it with a smile!
Gail loves Tauranga for the mix of people here from different cultures and enjoys seeing the spectacular range of landscapes across the city, from the beach and Mauao to the harbour and ever changing city landscape.
Apart from keeping the office running smoothly she enjoys spending time in her garden, walking with her dog Ruby and utilising what she has harvested from her fruit trees.
Job Titles:
- General Manager - Workforce and Policy
The work we do directly impacts both current and future generations who call Tauranga Moana home. That could be the support we provide here and now through Ara Rau, our skills and employment hub, which provides a one-stop-shop for the community to obtain all the information they need on local employment, training and upskilling; to longer-term strategic work focused on reorientating our sector mix regionally to one that creates high-value jobs that local people have the ability to fill.
Greg feels Tauranga is the perfect place for families, growing, but connected with heaps of options to enjoy an active lifestyle.
Greg loves getting out and enjoying the many local walking and hiking tracks such as the Orokawa Bay walk at Waihi beach, or taking a short drive over to the lakes for a waterski and wakeboard.
Job Titles:
- Head of Strategy and Impact, Mercury Energy
Jill works across a range of projects within the team. She enjoys the variety and opportunity to be involved on many levels with the wider community in the growth of an innovative, vibrant city.
She loves living in Tauranga for the obvious! The location, sunshine, beaches and of course our lifestyle.
When Jill isn't supporting the team she's out walking at the nearby reserves and beaches, socialising with friends or simply at home crafting and cooking. The team loves it when Jill decides to bake!
Job Titles:
- CEO, Western Bay of Plenty District Council
Job Titles:
- Investment Adviser, Craigs Investment Partners
Job Titles:
- Chief Financial Officer, Trustpower
Marissa has led the development of our first Environmental Sustainability Strategy and as our Sustainability Lead, she manages the delivery of our strategy for our region. Through collaboration with our local businesses and key stakeholders, she leans on her key relator strength to bring people together, identify the opportunities and develops projects that will support our region on its sustainability transition.
She has a passion for the living world and loves how her role protects the integrity of this ecosystem. Marissa is a proud mama of two young girls and sees how her role with Priority One will directly impact their future in this beautiful city.
Job Titles:
- CEO, Tauranga City Council
Meg's role as Project Manager for Priority One, works across two portfolios: The Future of Work and the Young Innovator Awards.
Meg brings to the role experience in General Management, Operations, People & Culture, Innovation and Event Management skills, and she is on a quest to build a better tomorrow.
She came to Tauranga in 2017, after stumbling across the Priority One website. When not at work, Meg loves the beach, hiking, pilates, thrifting and her ginger cat, Ed.
Job Titles:
- General Manager
- General Manager: Communications & Engagement
Mel Conrad leads Priority One's communications and engagement strategy, working across the organisations multifaceted workstreams and projects, whilst understanding stakeholders needs, to ensure we engage, connect, and communicate in an impactful and relevant way.
Having spent the previous four years at NZ Avocado, and prior to that, leading Export New Zealand Bay of Plenty, Mel is passionate about the region and strives to support business, education, and industry to ensure we remain a prosperous city in years to come.
Mel enjoys the beach, spending time with her young family and exploring all that the Bay of Plenty has to offer.
Job Titles:
- Marketing & Communications Executive
Melissa Mae works with the Priority One team across marketing and communications by supporting the comms and media on a variety of projects and initiatives for the region. She is a hands-on intuitive professional with over 30 years of experience in film and television as a producer, director, internal and external communications, marketing, digital media, and the disability, medical and mental health sectors.
Melissa is a creative and relocated to Tauranga Moana six years ago with her daughter to enjoy the lifestyle and community she found after location scouting for a film project and discovered the many treasures this region is rich with. In her spare time, she focuses on producing film and television and promoting the growth of the screen sector in the Bay of Plenty. Melissa feels it is important to strengthen the industry and create greater opportunities in the region. Additionally, Melissa is a writer and a painter and when she is not busy crafting her latest masterpiece, she is working in her daughter's popular coffee cart called Rudiemaes.
Nigel is passionate about improving the prosperity of people in our community, ensuring we remain a great place for generations to come. He is also very keen to develop better equity across our community through a strong and sustainable economy.
Nigel grew up here in Tauranga and loves the laid back atmosphere and great environment.
Job Titles:
- Chief Financial Officer, Zespri
Job Titles:
- Manager, Integrated Operations and Insights, Ministry of Education
Shane's role as Innovation Manager is a joint role shared with the University of Waikato, and in this he's focussed on developing tertiary and research opportunities. Shane enjoys working with the talented and motivated team at Priority One, and the variety of great people and organisations in our region.
He loves Tauranga because he can enjoy the lifestyle, while having the privilege of learning from a dynamic and collaborative innovation community.
In his spare time, he enjoys Tauranga with family, getting to the beach and harbour, drinking coffee and playing music (badly).
Job Titles:
- CEO & Founder, Robotics Plus
Job Titles:
- Coach ( Associate Certified Coach
Suki Xiao is is an ICF credentialed coach (Associate Certified Coach) with 5+ years of coaching experience and the founder of As you. She is passionate about empowering women of colour rise in the workplace. She regularly delivers talks on ethnically diverse staff and women of colour challenges and how to make diversity&inclusion a reality in the workplace.
Prior to starting As You, Suki was an Agile Coach at Xero, Meridian Energy and Datacom (via Nomad8), where Suki had direct experience coaching, enabling and supporting teams and leaders to perform better and in new ways of working. Suki also served on the leadership team of Xero Partner Products and has worked with a range of people, from senior leadership teams to early career professionals.
Vee's role as the Instep Manager brings both education and businesses together by supporting our Rangitahi, to gain the skills they need for the future workforce and be aware of the job opportunities within the Tauranga community. Vee is inspired to help our youth and enjoys watching them grow and succeed.
Originally from the UK, Tauranga Moana is where she calls home, with both the ocean and the bush at the doorstep (just perfect).