People

Iris is the Operations Manager for A Rocha Aotearoa New Zealand, helping keep things running smoothly behind the scenes. Her role spans a bit of everything – from fundraising and finance to HR and health & safety – supporting the many moving parts of the organisation.

She’s dabbled in a mix of areas over the years and has spent time living in different parts of the world along the way. These days, she’s based in Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington, juggling work, family life, and everyday adventures with her husband Philip and their two boys.

Irene is on the organising committee for the Wellington local group of A Rocha Aotearoa New Zealand. She spent far too long studying in her younger years (horticulture, economics and theology) and not enough time planting trees, and is making up for lost time now. Irene and her husband, Terry live on a 5 ha bush block near Paraparaumu, and are thankful every day for being able to live amongst God’s gifts of bush, garden and sea. She works at the Ministry for the Environment when she is not planting trees.

Please see here for more information about the Wellington local group, or email [email protected] to get in touch with Irene.

Pete Armstrong is an electrical engineer working as the General Manager Network for EA Networks Limited, who operates the electricity distribution network for the Ashburton District. He has an engineering degree from the University of Canterbury and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Waikato. He is interested in the de-carbonisation of electricity, transport and process heat technologies to assist in reducing the impact of those sectors on climate change. Previously Pete was based in Hamilton and joined the Karioi Project as a trapline volunteer and enjoyed getting out and making a difference for the birds on the maunga. Married to Carolyn and with three teenage children, Pete now lives in Ashburton.

Mary Hutchinson is a Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Wellington based, retired GP who has had a lifelong interest in environmental issues. This was originally inspired by childhood family holidays near a North Canterbury river. Her involvement with freshwater conservation continues with being a member of the Papawai Reserve Group in her local suburb of Pukeahu-Mt Cook. The neighbourhood group is part of the Mt Cook Mobilised Resident’s Association and has been working to restore the small un-piped ‘Papawai Stream’, with riparian planting, water quality monitoring and advocacy. She has also volunteered with weed control at Zealandia Eco-Sanctuary.

Mary’s medical career included working in mental health; with newly arrived refugees in Wellington, and more latterly, student health. Currently she is a volunteer lay ecumenical Chaplain two days a week at Massey University, Wellington.

Since retirement from medicine, Mary has further developed her interest in street and social documentary photography; she has held several exhibitions and self published photo-books focusing on distinctive parts of local urban areas.

Mary is married to Jonathan and they have two adult daughters.

Nō ngā hau e whā ōku tūpuna, engari I tūpu ake au i raro o te korowai o Kā Kōhatu Whakarekareka o Tamatea Pōkai Whenua kei Waitaha. My ancestors arrived in Aotearoa from the four winds, but I was raised under the protection of the Port Hills in Canterbury. I deeply love the land and the people of Aotearoa, and I am passionate about the good news of Jesus changing people’s hearts and restoring their relationship with God, themselves, others and the whenua. When I am not pursuing God’s dream for the restoration of all things, I love running in the hills, reading books, making music and hanging out with my little whānau.

Emeritus Professor Carolyn M. King FRSNZ completed a D. Phil at Oxford University, UK, on the ecology of British weasels in 1971, then moved to New Zealand to join DSIR Ecology Division as a scientist specialising on introduced predators, particularly stoats. She has written or edited many books about New Zealand animals, edited academic journals for the Royal Society of New Zealand (1983 to 2009), and took a second PhD in religious studies from the University of Waikato in 1999. From 1995 to 2018, she taught zoology and conservation biology at Waikato University, where she now continues writing part time. Her work has been recognised by prestigious awards from the Ecological Society of New Zealand (1999), the Mammal Society of UK (2005) and the Australasian Wildlife Management Society (2021).