Meet our team
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Caroline Budge
MANAGER
Caroline loves leading the ACNT team, and helping to make the region a great place to age. She is particularly passionate about promoting social connections and working in collaboration with the wider community.
In her spare time she likes to keep fit with waka ama and mountain biking.
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Mal Drummond
ELDER ABUSE RESPONSE ADVISOR
Mal’s role is to support older adults dealing with abuse, as well as raising awareness in the wider community about the issue. A former police officer, he brings a wide range of skills to the role.
Mal loves fishing, biking and spending time with his young grandchildren.
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Kate Miller
ELDER ABUSE RESPONSE ADVISOR
Kate’s our newest team member, joining us in July 2022, and we’re delighted to have her wealth of skills and experience as a nurse and manager in the health sector. She works alongside Mal as well as supporting people living in self-neglect situations.
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Susan Arrowsmith
VISITOR SERVICE AND CARER RELIEF CO-ORDINATOR
Susan does a wonderful job overseeing our matching services, and has a knack of putting the right people together, ensuring long-standing friendships. A qualified Social Worker, Susan is currently doing some extra study.
In her spare time she enjoys gardening and spending time with whanau.
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Joleen McEvoy
VISITOR SERVICE AND CARER RELIEF SUPPORT
Joleen works alongside Susan running the visitor service, and is also a Social Worker. She enjoys solving problems and going out of her way to help older adults needing some support.
She loves gardening and being creative.
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Jackie McIntyre
COMMUNITY SUPPORT CO-ORDINATOR
Jackie’s role is working at a community level to ensure older people maintain their independence. She runs all our Older Driver workshops, as well as Care & Repair, and brings her upbeat sense of humour to the role.
Jackie is an avid biker, surf skier and loves getting out in the hills with her dogs.
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Miriam Clark
FUNDING AND COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER
Miriam’s role is at the heart of keeping the agency going - applying for grants and telling our story in all our communications. She’s also great at capturing the stories of our older members, and runs our SpinPoi sessions.
Miriam enjoys running and obstacle course racing.
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Marnie Brown
SOCIAL CONNECTIONS AND PROJECTS
Marnie is a people person, and loves creating opportunities to bring people together. She oversees all our social connection activities and events, and is working on building our presence in the more rural parts of Tasman.
Marnie is another keep-fit team member and enjoys running and rowing.
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Liz Gillespie
OFFICE MANAGER
Liz joined us in late 2022 and provides a welcoming face to our Richmond Office as well as keeping the office running smoothly. She has been involved in community organisations and charities since 2005 as an employee but has done voluntary work for most of her life.
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Megan Cole
NELSON OFFICE CO-ORDINATOR
Megan joined the Age Concern Team in January 2023 in a new role of Nelson Office Co-Ordinator. She provides a friendly welcoming face at our Nelson office and co-ordinates all our Nelson based activities.
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Tanya Charles
MOTUEKA OFFICE ELDER ABUSE RESPONSE ADVISOR
Tanya comes to us with a wealth of experience as a police officer in south-west England, and more recently as a nurse, having done her training when she moved to New Zealand four years ago. She has been working most recently at Alexandra Hospital as a nurse supporting older adults with mental health issues.
Board of Governance
Emeritus Professor Bevan Grant – Chair
Lester Oakes – Vice Chair
Lynley Lee – Secretary/Treasurer
Archdeacon Emeritus Te Hawe Harvey Ruru, QSM – Kaumātua
The Very Rev Charles Tyrrell, QSO – co-opted member
Sharon Blackbeard – Member
Chris Allison - Member
Betty van Rooyen - Member
Ken Scoltock - Member