A new chair and new faces at the Community and Enterprise Leadership Foundation (CELF) board table.

Raewyn Jones, CEO WEL Energy Trust, recently took up the role as chair of the Community and Enterprise Leadership Foundation, with the resignation of John Cook at CELF’s AGM in September.

John had chaired CELF since its inception, apart from a short sabbatical in 2018 at which time Raewyn took the helm.  John will continue to be an avid supporter of the programme, wholeheartedly committed to the outcomes achievable through building leadership capability across the business and community sectors.

John said, “there is nothing more rewarding as giving back to your community.  To see and experience the impact CELF has on an individual, their organisation and their community is testament to CELF’s purpose – to grow better leaders for a stronger Waikato.”

Raewyn’s first contact with CELF was back in 2015 when Bernie Crosby, David Irving, John Cook and Peter Sun presented their new leadership programme to WEL Energy Trust Trustees.   As WEL Energy Trust seeks to back change-makers to assist communities in developing their full potential,  there seemed to be a natural fit with a programme that brought leaders together from across sectors to build leadership and connections in Waikato.

Raewyn said, “I was privileged to be offered a place with the first CELF Elevate Leadership cohort. I suspect to find out if it was nay good!

The nine-month leadership journey that followed proved to be life changing for me, and I believe significant for my organisation also.  It gave me the confidence to take more leadership opportunities as they arose, and to contribute more effectively in the various roles I have.  I was blown away being invited to join CELF as a trustee in 2016 and have learnt a huge amount working alongside the inaugural trustees” 

With Bernie Crosby stepping back as a CELF Trustee and into the role as CELF’s Patron in early 2019 and John’s recent departure,  we’ve refreshed the CELF Board. 

Graeme Geurts – BNZ, John Adams – KPMG,  Simone Molenaar – Aspire and Andrew Boyd – St Johns,  join Raewyn Jones, David Irving, Eva Collins, Peter Sun & Susan Trodden (deputy chair), bringing us to a full complement, representative of both for profit and for purpose sectors, each bringing  a wealth of skills, experience, perspective, and connections to support the CELF kaupapa.  

“I have huge shoes to fill as I step in the Chair role, but with so many great leaders to support the mahi, we’re looking forward to delivering on the founders vision of 1000 connected leaders to build a stronger Waikato,” said Raewyn

This year’s CELF Elevate Leadership programme is well underway and we are now looking to the 2020 intake and sponsors for the next programme which will commence in August 2020.