J R McKenzie Trust Staff
The staff and trustees at the J R McKenzie Trust are the current stewards of the legacy of one of New Zealand’s generous families – Sir John and Lady May McKenzie and their descendants. The Trust Board comprises 13 volunteers including McKenzie Family members, Rotarians and other appointees. It employs six staff who are involved in advising and reviewing grant requests from applicants before being considered by the Trustees for approval.
Robyn Scott
Executive Director
Robyn Scott has been the Executive Director of the J R McKenzie Trust since May 2017. She has held many senior roles in both Government and the not-for-profit sector including Director, Ministry of Youth Development; CEO, Age Concern NZ; and CEO, Philanthropy NZ. Robyn has a passion for making a difference which drives her commitment to the J R McKenzie Trust vision of a socially just and inclusive Aotearoa New Zealand. She has held several governance roles and is an alumnus of Leadership NZ. She is married to David and has two adult children. She divides her time between her home in Wellington City and her bach, ‘Gladys-by-the-Sea’.
Aiolupotea Lili Tuioti
Director, Peter McKenzie Project
Lili hails from the villages of Lauli’i and Falelima in Samoa. She and her husband Turi, have four adult children. A former secondary school teacher, she worked as Education Advisor and Strategic Advisor to the Government of Tokelau for over ten years. Lili has had extensive board experience in organisations such as Foundation North, AUT and Education Council. She is currently Mission Services Manager, The Salvation Army Worship and Community Centre, Newtown, and serves as a board trustee for an Auckland secondary school. She is an advocate for equitable educational outcomes for all learners, to advance the health and wellbeing of all citizens and communities in Aotearoa.
Marama Tākao
Pou Ārahi
Ko Ngāi Tūhoe, ko Te Āti Awa, ko Ngāti Rārua, ko Ngāti Toa Rangatira, ko Ngāti Tama, ko Ngāi Tahu hoki ngā Iwi o Marama Tākao, te Kaitohutohu / Māori Development and Funding Advisor. Marama joined the J R McKenzie Team in 2010 after working for many years with the Department of Internal Affairs. Prior to that, she worked for Consumer Affairs, Community Volunteers, and the Māori Resource Centre, Rēhua Marae, Ōtautahi. She lives in Ōtaki in close proximity to her fabulous mokopuna and whānau. Whaia te iti kahurangi, ki te tuoh u koe me he maunga teitei: Seek that which is most precious, if you should bow let it be to a lofty mountain.
Matthew McCracken
Grants, Partnerships and Relationships Manager
Born and raised in Whakatane Matthew (Matt) had various roles, finally finding his passion in organisations trying to make the world a better place.
Having spent his O.E in London working in partnerships focused on aid and international development he moved back to Wellington and spent five and a half years as the Partnerships and Trust Manager at New Zealand Red Cross. At Red Cross he worked to develop partnerships that supported programmes focused on refugee resettlement, disaster risk management and community development.
Having spent time working as the Fundraising Manager for his local Hospice in Lower Hutt, Matthew joined the JR McKenzie Trust in 2022.
He loves learning and experiencing new cultures and has travelled to 60 countries (and counting).
Beverley Richards
Operations Manager
In her role, Beverley manages the operations of the Trust to ensure the effective running of all finance and grants systems, logistics and events, facilities and equipment and general administration.
Beverley has a background in management in the Education and IT sectors, including as General Manager of a large group of Early Childhood Education services, working in the Ministry of Education, and as General Manager of a privately owned tertiary education provider. She has been a Board Member of NZ Kindergartens Inc and the Common Unity Project Aotearoa.
Tuitogatupu Sylvia Moe
Pacific Strategy and Engagement Lead
Sylvia is committed to improving the wellbeing of Pasifika people in Aotearoa. She has a background in strategy, policy, and programme design and management. Before joining the Trust, she focused on contract work, volunteering, and family. Examples of her contract work included working with the Ministry of Social Development on the Pasefika Proud Programmes of Action and the related Pathways for Change strategy. Her volunteering included chairing an early childcare centre (Aubert Childcare Centre) and an Intermediate school board, plus coaching and managing junior sports. She is married with three young adult children. Prior to her mainstay role of motherhood, she started her career as an advisor at the State Services Commission, which included a stint as a Senior Private Secretary for a senior Minister of the Crown. Her aiga lautele are spread across the Samoan villages of Faleapuna, Tafagamanu Lefaga, and Gataivai, and she lives in Te Whanganui-a-Tara in the seaside suburb of Island Bay – still near the sea and surrounded by an island, Taputeranga!
Ngaere Hauiti-Parapara
Kaiārahi Māori
Tīramarama te marama ki te pō, he rau ngā mata, ko Whetumatarau. He iti taku iti, taku puku i āhua, ko Rangiahua.
Ngaere is of Ngati Porou and Ngai Tai descent. She is a proud graduate of kōhanga reo and kura ā-Iwi and is passionate about advancing Māori interest. Ngaere has previously worked in the public sector with roles at the Education Review Office and the Ministry of Education focussed predominantly on Kaupapa Māori Education. At the Education Review Office, she led the establishment of a specialist te reo Māori team who will evaluate the provision of te reo Māori in English-medium schools. At the Ministry of Education, she was involved in supporting the curriculum content development for Te Takanga o Te Wā in Te Marautanga o Aotearoa. She is a keen traveller and a lover of music.
Board of Trustees
Dr Chelsea Grootveld
Chair of J R McKenzie Trust Board
Chelsea is Ngāitai, Ngāti Porou, Whānau-ā-Apanui, Whakatōhea and Te Arawa. After working alongside Te Kāwai Toro to develop their inaugural strategy, Chelsea was appointed as a Trustee in 2016. She is stepping down as the chair of Te Kāwai Toro.
Chelsea has a public policy background and specialises in kaupapa Māori research and evaluation. She completed her PhD in Education at Victoria University and, in 2013, started her own research company, Aiko Consultants.
Chelsea is proud mother to Kahuroa and Mihi-Terina, and wife to Timoti.
Chelsea is currently on the board of High-Performance Sport New Zealand and CORE Education Limited.
She is a proud advocate and Trustee for the Trust and is humbled by the vision and generosity of the McKenzie whānau.
Sibyl Bloomfield
Trustee and Family Representative
Sibyl Bloomfield is Waikato Tainui, Ngāti Maniapoto, and Ngai Te Rangi, and the granddaughter of Sir Roy and his wife Lady Shirley McKenzie and lives in Auckland with her husband and two young children.
She is a new Trustee and representative of the McKenzie Family, joining the board in late 2020 after many years of peripheral engagement in the Trust.
Sibyl is a Landscape Architect currently working as a senior lecturer in Architecture in Huri te Ao - The School of Future Environments at Te Wānanga Aronui o Tāmaki Makaurau - AUT.
Sarah McLennan
Trustee and Family Representative
Sarah is a family trustee and fourth-generation member of the McKenzie family. She lives in Lower Hutt with her husband and two young children and enjoys being involved in all their activities.
She would love to see a future New Zealand where every child is given the opportunities they deserve and feels that serving the J R McKenzie Trust is a small way to contribute towards this.
She feels privileged to have the opportunity to serve the Trust and loves seeing the positive impact that amazing groups around New Zealand are able to achieve with the Trust’s support.
Grant Chirnside
Trustee
Grant is a Rotary Trustee representing the lower half of the South Island and is a Director of the Dunedin Rotary Club. He has been a Trustee since 2024 and serves on the Partnership and Collaboration committee and is a trustee of the Jayar Trust.
Having been chair of the J R McKenzie Youth Education Fund for the lower South Island for ten years, he has developed a growing understanding and belief in the positive role philanthropy can play in the lives of those living in our communities.
Living in Dunedin, he is a self-employed commercial property manager, managing property nationwide and has previous experience with developing and investing in commercial property. In his spare time, he enjoys exploring the outdoors with his partner Sarah, supporting and encouraging his young adult children, and enjoying friendly competition with friends on the golf course.
Jerry Norman
Trustee and Panel Chair of Auckland North
Jerry hails from the Far North. A former teacher, his career includes time as Māori Liaison Officer at Auckland Technical Institute (now AUT), wide-ranging consultancy work, and a twenty-year tenure at the Ministry of Education until his retirement in mid-2018. Jerry has been a member of Rotary Club for nearly 30 years and has served as Club President. He is a Paul Harris Fellow and a Centurion. In 2018, Jerry became the Governor for Rotary District 9910. He has extensive governance experience and strong community connections where he has served in many capacities, from Chairman of North Harbour Māori Rugby Board, through to Justice of the Peace. Jerry has whakapapa connections to Tai Tokerau and Tanui iwi. He is fluent in Te Reo Māori and holds a Bachelor of Māori Studies. Jerry and his wife, Fay, have three children and eight grandchildren. The family enjoy spending time together taking part in outdoor, sporting and beach activities.
Jay Farris
Trustee
Talofa, Jay Farris is Samoan, and a first-generation New Zealander born of immigrant parents, who provided a legacy of authentic cultural and faith leadership to continue. She is a long time public and community servant with a passion and commitment to Māori and Pacific development, racial equity and social justice. She is an Educator at heart, and her teaching and learning philosophies are founded on her cultural indigenous capital, community development principles, and critical education pedagogies. Fa’afetai lava.
Melissa Campbell
Trustee and Panel Chair for Hamilton
Melissa Campbell is Director of Campbell Law Ltd. which she established in 2011. She graduated from the University of Waikato with a Bachelor of Law and Bachelor of Arts. Prior to establishing her own practice, she gained extensive experience at large accounting and law firms in Hamilton over a period of more than ten years.
Her specialist areas are property and commercial transaction. She often works with individuals or people who own small to medium sized businesses in urban, rural and commercial and private property transactions, buying and selling of businesses, subdivisions, trusts, asset planning, leases, terms of trade, drafting contracts and Wills.
Outside of work, she enjoys spending time with her family and leading an active sporting life. This means that she has a particular interest in nurturing the sportsmen and women of Aotearoa New Zealand.
Louise Edwards
Trustee
Louise was appointed in March 2020 as the Rotary representative for the top half of the South Island. She is a Chartered Accountant and professional director with many years of experience across a number of industries, both in Aotearoa and overseas. She has held senior executive positions within the financial services industry and is an experienced leader with a wealth of financial management acumen. In conjunction with her busy corporate life, Louise has always maintained strong community sector links which include her work with the Canterbury Business Recovery Trust, Christchurch Symphony Orchestra, University of Canterbury Foundation, Christchurch Resettlement Services, Christchurch Earthquake Children’s Trust, Marlborough Kaikoura Trail Trust, Good Shepherd and Victim Support
Ann Tod
Trustee
Ann Tod is a Rotary Trustee, a member of the Rotary Club of Auckland. She is a Chartered Accountant recently retired from her audit partner role at KPMG.
Other Board roles include Harbour Hospice Chair, World Netball, Make-a-wish and Te Tuhi Contemporary Arts. Ann’s area of interest include leadership, coaching and mentoring.
She also enjoys netball, she is a member of the Netball North Harbour Umpires committee and is an umpire coach.
Jesse Boyce
Trustee
Jesse is a proud Cook Islander / Tongan, born and raised in Tāmaki Makaurau. He joins the board with vast experience across public, private and nonprofit sectors, living and working in Ōtautahi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara and Tāmaki.
Currently, Jesse serves as the CEO of Zeal, a national youth development organisation deeply committed to the transformation of young people’s lives in Aotearoa, particularly those experiencing distress and inequity. Jesse’s interests extend to indigenous and pacific leadership, nonprofit strategy and community development.
Jesse enjoys time with his wife and three Tamariki. He is honoured to be part of the J R McKenzie Trust and is committed to its mission of enabling a socially just and inclusive Aotearoa New Zealand.
Erin Matariki Carr
Trustee
Erin Matariki Carr is of Tūhoe, Ngāti Awa and Pākehā descent. She is the Law Society appointed trustee having graduated with Ngā Rangahautira from Te Herenga Waka, Victoria University Law School majoring in Law (Hons) and Spanish in 2015. Matariki’s career has been as a solicitor for Te Waka Ture at Chapman Tripp, as a policy writer for Ōnukurani team serving Te Urewera Act at Tūhoe Te Uru Taumatua, and as a consultant for RIVER Aotearoa Charitable Trust, Tūmanako Consultants, Te Kuaka, and as a research fellow at University of Auckland Law School.
Janice Wilson
Trustee
Janice Wilson has recently retired from her role as the inaugural Chief Executive of Te Tāhū Hauroa Health Quality and Safety Commission, a position she held for twelve years. Prior to this, she worked in Manatū Hauora Ministry of Health since 1993, in senior roles in mental health and population health. A psychiatrist by training, she has worked clinically, as well as a manager of mental health services before going to the Ministry of Health as Director of Mental Health, a statutory position. While working in the Ministry she led national policy endeavours reforming the organisation of mental health services.
Janice enjoys living in Wellington with her family including her dog and cat, and the challenges of being an active gardener within the wonderful climatic variations this city experiences.
Family and History
Below you can find a pictorial history of the J R McKenzie Trust. Use the arrows on either side to navigate.
Our History: 1913 - 1940
Our History: 2008 - Today
Early Days
At the Conference of Rotary Clubs in Palmerston North in 1940, Sir John Robert McKenzie made a ‘munificent gift’ to the people of Aotearoa New Zealand. Through a donation of £100,000 plus one-third of the McKenzie’s Stores’ annual profits, the J R McKenzie Trust was born. Sir John’s words during his announcement at the Conference would prove prophetic:
“I have established a Trust which I hope will prove of benefit to the community, not only at present, but in the years to come.”
The J R McKenzie Trust has a long history of helping to build stronger communities, primarily through making grants to community organisations. Its vision of a socially just and inclusive Aotearoa New Zealand provides it with a touchstone as it seeks to contribute to longer term, fundamental change where fewer people are struggling, and there is less need for health and social services over time.
Sir John Robert McKenzie
Sir John and Lady May McKenzie
One of seven children of Scottish immigrants, John was born in Melbourne, Australia in 1876. He served in the Victoria Bushmen’s Regiment during the Boer War until he was invalided home in 1901. In 1905, he established a ‘fancy goods’ store with his sister Ella which proved so successful, the pair quickly expanded inter-state. After holidaying in New Zealand in 1909, John decided to transfer his business and the first Aotearoa-based McKenzie’s Store was opened in Dunedin.
With a gift of £10,000, he established the first Trust to bear his name in 1938, the J R McKenzie Youth Education Trust. John McKenzie believed that a business should share its prosperity with those who had helped to make it prosperous and so this was quickly followed by the establishment of J R McKenzie Trust in 1940. The Trust’s initial beneficiaries were disabled servicemen, the Plunket Society, and children in need. In a true sign of the times, John McKenzie said, ‘New Zealand has no greater assets than its soldiers and its children, and the country’s future is in their hands.’
In 1949, he was recognised for his contribution to public welfare when he was made a Knight of the Order of the British Empire. Sir John was a humble but inspirational man who accomplished everything with quiet resolve, minimal fuss and maximum decency.
Sir John and his wife, May, raised two sons: Don, who was killed in WWII, and Roy, who expanded and embedded the Trust’s mahi. Sir John died in 1955.
Sir Roy McKenzie
Sir Roy and Lady Shirley McKenzie
Born in 1922, Roy McKenzie attended Timaru Boys High School and Otago University, where he studied accountancy. During the Second World War he served in the RNZAF and the RAF. In 1948, Sir Roy married Shirley Howard. Together they had three children, Peter, John and Robyn, and nine grandchildren. From 1949 to 1970 he was the Executive Director for McKenzie’s (NZ) Ltd.
As the heir to the McKenzie’s retail empire, Sir Roy pledged more money than most people will ever earn and is known as one of the great New Zealand philanthropists. The causes he supported were numerous and varied including the establishment of the Te Omanga Trust, the first Women’s Refuge, as well as several schools for children from disadvantaged backgrounds.
He donated the land on which Outward Bound sits, and is renowned for his kindness and willingness to work for people in need. He unassumingly saw himself as a ‘community volunteer’ and in 2004 was a winner of a Wellingtonian of the Year Award in the Community Service category.
Sir Roy sat on the J R McKenzie Trust Board from 1947 – 1993, Chairing it for 17 years. He was significantly involved in the governance of the J R McKenzie Youth Education Fund and also set up other grantmaking bodies such as:
The McKenzie Education Foundation (1966 – 85)
The Roy McKenzie Foundation (1986 – 95) – ground-breaking in its flexibility and innovation, this Foundation was instrumental in the establishment of Philanthropy New Zealand and Generosity New Zealand (originally known as the Funding Information Service).
The Deaf Decade Trust (1992 – present), which now operates as the Deaf Development Fund.
Sir Roy passed away in 2007.
See excerpts from Giving It All Away, a Paul Davidson documentary about the history of the family here.
Read a short history of the Trust from our 75th anniversary here.
Established by the McKenzie family, Rangatira Investments and the Jayar Charitable Trust are the primary sources of the Trust’s funding.
Annual dividend payments from the J R McKenzie Trust’s 51% shareholdings in Rangatira Investments supply the Trust with its operating and grantmaking budgets. Rangatira Limited is managed independently of the J R McKenzie Trust, and invests primarily in New Zealand businesses.
The Jayar Trust manages a separate investment portfolio for the Trust which funds the Peter McKenzie Project. It can accept bequests and sizeable donations to add to the capital of our Trust. Please email for more information.
Giving for Good: The History of the J R McKenzie Trust
If you’d like to learn more about the J R McKenzie Trust’s 80 year history, you are invited to read a digital copy of our book “Giving for Good” by following this link.