A warm welcome to our newest voluntary trustees  

We are delighted to welcome two new volunteer trustees to our Sunrise board – Mike Torrie, BDO Managing Partner, and Leslynne Jackson, Manaaki Tairāwhiti Project Manager. Both Mike and Leslynnne have significant governance experience and are passionate about the well-being of our region. 

For many years Leslynne has been a key member of our Sunrise grants committee, sharing her in-depth awareness and understanding of Tairāwhiti. Of Ngati Porou and Te Aitanga Mahaki descent, Leslynne says she values the role that Sunrise plays in sustaining vital work in the community. 

 “As trustees our role is to understand what our community values, and support the people, places and groups in our community that keep our cultural, environmental, sporting, social and support networks strong,” says Leslynne. 

Mike has been a long time Sunrise donor and says volunteering his finance and governance skills as a trustee is just one way he can ‘give back.’ 

“It’s human nature to want to play your part in the community, and offering my governance skills is one way I can do that,” says Mike. 

Mike and Leslynne take the place of founding trustees John Clarke and Colin Christie who have both retired after nine years of dedicated service. As part of John’s tenure, he held the role of Sunrise chair before being succeeded last year by Rob Dymock.