Jamie Rihia, Lance Walker, and Sachi Taulelei, will join the 7 currenttrustees in providing strategic direction and governance for the organisationand helping to shape the future leaders, change makers, and disruptors. Thetrio are all strongly passionate about youth development and recognise thedevelopment of enterprising young people as critical to New Zealand’s future.

The new appointees join the current members of the Board ofTrustees: Chair – Norm Thompson; Phi Muir, David Downs, Sheena Henderson, MarkEglinton, Andy Symons, and Youth Trustee – Sam Wixon. The 3 new trustees officiallystart their positions this week and are looking forward to getting underway.

“I am excited to join YES as it’sa powerful platform to inspire rangatahi to identify what they want theirfuture to be and empower them to go out and smash it,” says Jamie.

Jamie has had a varied career withsenior roles at PwC, EY, ASB and the BNZ. He is an experienced business adviserwith a big background working with small and large businesses from start-ups tomulti-national exporting companies across the motu. He is currently the GM ofStrategic Investments for Tauhara North No2 Trust taking care of all itsinvestments for the benefit of its 10,000 beneficiaries.  

Asa mum of a fourteen-year-old, I see the challenges many of our rangatahi facetoday. This is why I'm excited to be working with YES - helping our youngpeople, particularly Māori and Pasifika youth, unlock their hopes and aspirationswill be an incredible honour, says new trustee, Sachi Taulelei.

Sachi is Head of Design at ANZ. She has worked in digital anddesign for over 25 years, spending most of her career creating and designingdigital experiences centred on people. As a proud Pasifika woman, she has aparticular interest in diversity, equity and inclusion.  She has spokenout about the need for more diversity within the technology workforce and theimpacts it can have on the technology we create.  She also mentors andcoaches Pasifika youth and is a Pasifika SME advisor for a number of ITeducation courses.

“I have been privileged to judge at YES events in recent years sohave seen first-hand the positive impact that YES has on students, and I’vebeen hugely inspired by the talent and creativity on display. Aotearoa NewZealand has always been a hot bed of innovation and entrepreneurship, so toplay a small part in helping to support that in the next generation of ouryoung people is something that I’m really looking forward to as a Trustee,”said Lance.

Lance has held CEO roles across the private and public sector,including Loyalty New Zealand (Fly Buys), Cigna Insurance and WellingtonNZ (theeconomic development agency for the Wellington region). He is currently CEO ofAccuro Health Insurance and Chair of innovation and start up incubation companyCreativeHQ.  He is also a trustee of the Wellington regional sports trust,Nuku Ora.   Graduating with a law degree from Victoria University,Lance’s career began in marketing and advertising on both the client and agencysides, culminating in the creation of his own marketing and advertisingconsultancy which later became part of the global DDB advertising group.

The 3 new appointments bring a range of skills and insight tothe board and help position Young Enterprise Trust as a powerful platform to continueto provide transformational learning experiences to over 85% of New Zealandschools.  

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