People

Kristel is the co-founder of A Rocha Aotearoa and the Karioi Project. She now leads as the Director of Conservation for A Rocha and the Project Manager for Te Whakaoranga o Karioi (The Karioi Project). Prior to this, Kristel was a marine and freshwater ecologist at NIWA (NZ) and in American Samoa and Kenya. Kristel has over 20 years of practical biology and community based conservation experience. Kristel has taught field biology in New Zealand and overseas and enjoys applying these skills in a community based setting.

Philip was a lecturer in Biblical Studies and a Senior Research Fellow at Laidlaw College in Auckland, NZ from 2002 – 2016. He has a PhD in New Testament Studies from University of Otago. Prior to that he worked as an accountant in large corporate organisations. He has wide experience in the not-for-profit sector, being Chairman and Treasurer of the MECO (NZ) from 1998 to 2016, and Treasurer of the Asia Theological Research and Development (NZ) Trust since 2007. He was Treasurer (2002-2009) and Vice-Chair (2002-2007) of MECO International. He is the treasurer of A Rocha Aotearoa New Zealand and NZ Christians in Science. He now works from home doing contract accounting and Biblical Studies work as well as his own research.

Nicola is a theologian based in Auckland. She specialises in the interface between evolutionary theory and systematic theology and has broad interests also in all issues of public and contextual theology, and especially eco-theology. She wrote Animal Suffering and the Problem of Evil (OUP, 2013), and co-edited Creation and Hope with Andrew Shepherd (Wipf & Stock, 2018). She is currently working on a book on Free Will in relationship to the sciences. Nicola is co-director of New Zealand Christians in Science, and is a chaplain at Maclaurin Chapel at the University of Auckland. She has taught theology in the US and NZ and is currently an adjunct PhD supervisor for Flinders University, and a research fellow at St Johns College. She worships at All Saints in Ponsonby.

Iris is the Director of Operations for A Rocha Aotearoa New Zealand, helping keep the many moving parts of the organisation running smoothly. Her role spans a bit of everything – from fundraising and finance to HR and health & safety – bringing people, systems and processes together to support A Rocha’s work.

She’s worn many different hats over the years, from risk consulting to creation care field education, with stints in university administration and international development along the way. Having lived and worked in different parts of the world, she’s now 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.