OUR BOARD

Ruahine Albert

Founding member and CEO (QSM)

Ruahine (Roni) Albert (Tuwharetoa, Maniapoto and Tainui descent) is one of the founding members of New Zealand’s first Māori Women’s Refuge in 1987. She is a passionate advocate for social justice and has worked at local, national and international levels to improve government and community services to survivors of violence.

Since 1987, Roni has worked tirelessly to raise public awareness on the issue of family violence and, establish a Waikato-based family violence response system that ensures the paramount safety of women and children.
Roni is a Justice of Peace and received the Queen’s Service Medal in 2012. In 2015, Roni was a recipient of a Hamilton City Council Civic award.

Ariana Simpson

Founding member and Kaiwhakarite Education/Training (QSM)

Ariana Simpson is one of the founding members of New Zealand’s first Māori Women’s Refuge in 1987and is a strong advocate for social change around violence to women and their children. She has strong working relationships with iwi and has regional and national experience in developing partnerships between iwi and Māori service providers.

Ariana is the cultural advisor of the Waikato Women’s Refuge and in 2012 was a recipient of the Queen’s Service Medal.

Annah Stretton

Chair

Annah is the founder of the Annah Stretton fashion label, an award-winning business and social entrepreneur, the author of eight books and a sought after public speaker.

Annah’s philanthropic efforts have been felt far and wide across New Zealand. In addition to her role as the founding Chair of the Waikato Women’s Refuge, she has established three charities/NPOs under her own Foundation – RAWKia Puāwai and Hope Fish.  Annah has held a number of governance positions including Board member of UNICEF NZ (2015-2020).

In 2008 Annah became a Member of New Zealand Order of Merit for Services to Fashion/Business/Community and in 2015 became Ernst & Young’s Social Entrepreneur of the Year (for her work RAW).

Ngaire Kelly 

Trustee

Ngaire Kelly (Tainui descent) is a highly skilled communicator, and a strong advocate on Tainui culture and protocol.  As a member of the management team of Waikato Women’s Refuge – Te Whakaruruhau, she is passionate about and loyal to the families they help.

Ngaire is well known for her love of people and strong alliances and relationships that connect different areas around the country. She was a founding member of the Tokoroa Women’s Refuge in 1985, and has been with Te Whakaruruhau since 1990.  She has successfully developed and fostered strong relationships with iwi and Māori service providers and is a strong advocate for social change for women who have experienced domestic violence and their families; both locally and nationally.

Margaret Comer

Trustee

Margaret Comer previously worked in the Corporate Services Executive Team at the Gallagher Group; responsible for the human resources functions for over 500 staff, policy development and implementation, organisation of conferences and training.

She was also responsible for the management of Gallagher Group buildings, farm, fleet and services and remains a director of Franklin Machinery, a subsidiary of the Gallagher Group. Margaret takes an active interest in the local community. She has been a Director of the Chamber of Commerce and Parentline, and has been the President of the EMA Waikato. Margaret was also on the Board of Waikato Stadium.

Malcolm Jensen

Trustee

Malcolm Jensen joined the board as an independent trustee in early 2018 and has an extensive commercial background in Meat Exporting, Finance, Financial Services and other sectors as an employee, business owner and more recently, as a Business Advisor/Coach.

Malcolm is a strong advocate and supporter of Te Whakaruruhau and looks forward to contributing his skills in the areas of financial planning, human resources, procurement and strategic planning.

Malcolm is a member of the Institute of Directors, a Shareholder and Director in Director’s Inc Waikato, and also holds several Trustee positions.