New Steering Committee members announced
Congratulations to the new YLN steering committee members for 2010: Chris Foulkes (Wellington), Alexandra-Jayeun Lee (Auckland), Esther Hogenhout (Christchurch), Junita Douglass (Christchurch), and Onnuri Lee (Offshore).
Director Education Vanessa Lee said that the selection process was difficult as there were a number of applications for the five available places. “We have chosen YLs who have attended an onshore or offshore forum and for the first time we have an offshore member representing our YLs offshore – Onnuri Lee from Seoul.”
Onnuri is the Representative for the NZ Ministry of Education in Korea and is also doing an MA is Public Policy. After spending time with other YLs in the Seoul cluster and partaking in the Hanoi Offshore Forum, Onnuri was motivated to join the Steering Committee to create a strong voice for offshore members. He considers input from offshore members as “an important fertiliser to the growth and fruition of the Network” and he would like to develop a cluster model as well as facilitating more communication between YLs in NZ and overseas.
Back in New Zealand, former University of Canterbury Social Anthropology student Esther currently works for Statistics New Zealand producing the quarterly national population estimate. She feels that now is the right time “to build some momentum and increase our YL activity and profile through successful projects.” Esther is excited about the future direction of the YLN and would like to see a continuation and increase in the successful activities being undertaken by members.
Chris is currently in the penultimate year of his law degree, after completing an honours
degree in International Relations last year. As a result of his participation in the 2009 Forum in Wellington Chris felt “invigorated to get more highly involved in the YLN” and thus he applied for a position on the committee. Chris would like to focus on developing relationships between the Young Leaders Network and governmental and non-governmental organisations, particularly within the Wellington region.
Alex a part-time professor and full-time PhD candidate in Architecture at the University of Auckland. She was motivated to become a committee member through her involvement in the Future Leaders Programme which has taught her how to apply leadership through action. Alex is inspired by the fact that the YLN is “growing fast and becoming more powerful by the minute” and she feels that her involvement in Asia:NZ has helped her solidify her own identity. She places high value on networking to build capacity.
Vanessa is excited about the new additions to the Steering Committee and also points out that two additional positions will become available in June. “We will be looking for a female Wellington-based member and a regional member. For the latter position we would prefer someone from outside Wellington, Auckland or Christchurch as we feel it is important to hear the voice of those who either don’t have a cluster or who represent a small cluster.”
Photo of the 2008 Young Leaders Forum
