The Institute completed the first leg of its TalentNZ Tour yesterday. The Northern Shore location of Tauranga was bright and breezy when Wendy McGuinness arrived mid-week accompanied by Janice Feutz of CORE Technology one of our 30 kiwis interviewed in the TalentNZ Journal. She added a personal note to the presentations, speaking of her history moving from farming to technology and sharing why some of her international staff are attracted to living and working in New Zealand.
From left to right: Cr. Bill Grainger, Cr. John Robson, Cr. Clayton Mitchell, Cr. Catherine Stewart, Cr. Matt Cowley, Cr. Kelvin Clout, Mayor Stuart Crosby, Cr. Steve Morris, Cr. Bev Edlin, Cr. Gail McIntosh, Cr. Rick Curach.
Wendy presented the TalentNZ project including the Menu of Initiatives to Tauranga Mayor Stuart Crosby and Councillors on Wednesday afternoon. There were some animated inputs from the Mayor and Councillors during the presentation, highlighting the potential for Tauranga to advance as ‘a place where talent wants to live.’
The evening public event followed at 5pm at the spectacular Tauranga Art Gallery, once again with engaging participation from the audience of approximately 40 people. The diverse guests included council employees, lawyers, business men and women, creative arts members, education staff and three students from Tauranga Girls College. The presentation sparked some insightful discussions which continued until 7.30pm in the Gallery atrium. We hope the Institutes’ day in Tauranga will inspire people to keep these conversations going and feed ideas back to the local government.
Wendy McGuinness speaking at the TalentNZ Tauranga public event on 12 March 2014.
In the next two weeks, the TalentNZ Tour will be visiting Dunedin, Kaikoura, Christchurch, Wellington, Gisborne, Hastings and Napier. To find out more visit the TalentNZ page on the McGuinness Institute website.
Our thanks to those who have made this tour possible in the different north Shore locations: Colleen Sidebottom and the Tauranga City Council. Kylie, Kalou and Jeremy at Tauranga Art Gallery.