Trust Services

Merle Boniface
Chief Operating Officer

Merle is the Chief Operating Officer and Board Secretary for the Trust Board with responsibility for all commercial and support operations across the Saint Kentigern organisation, including Planning, Finance, ICT, Marketing and Communication, Human Resources, Facilities Management, Major Property Projects and Risk Management. She brings significant strategic business and senior leadership experience to the role gained in the Finance, Education and Small Business Development sectors.

Merle has successfully turned around a University Business School, supported large corporates to implement best practise, advised business owners and played a key role in the merger of two banks. She has led large teams through periods of transformation and most recently, worked as Director of Business and Planning at another large independent school, during which time she led the transformation of the Campus with the implementation of a significant Master Plan.

Merle has made a significant contribution to the wider independent education sector holding executive positions as President of ASBA NZ Inc, member of the ISNZ executive and Chairman of ASBA Ltd. Her contribution to the sector was recognised through national awards received in both New Zealand and Australia.

Merle is well qualified for this role with two Business degrees from the University of South Africa, leadership programmes completed at Harvard Business School and Mount Eliza Business School and a Banking qualification. She has also completed the Certificate of Company Direction through the NZ Institute of Directors and the Certificate in Governance and Risk Management through the Governance Institute of Australia / CSA.

Colin Bowring
Major Projects Manager

Colin has had over 30 years’ experience in property development, project and property management in both the UK and in NZ. He has also enjoyed hands-on roles in property development, building design & construction, property asset and maintenance management for a range of organisations with varying property portfolios.

Over the last eleven years he worked for the Selwyn Foundation, a retirement village operator, initially as Development Manager and subsequently as General Manager Property. He led the property development and strategic asset management activities of the organisation across a number of Villages located on the North Island.

Kay Forrester
Strategic Marketing Manager

Before moving to Saint Kentigern Kay held senior advertising, marketing management and general management roles, both overseas and in New Zealand. These were in a range of commercial and public-sector companies, most recently as General Manager of The Brand Group and prior to that as Acting Group Manager of Auckland City Libraries.

Her responsibilities at Saint Kentigern are to develop and implement the organisational marketing strategy and plans at both Trust level and for all four schools, that enhance the Saint Kentigern reputation, engender positive engagement with the community and increase the roll of each of the schools. Kay also provides strategic marketing advice to Saint Kentigern’s senior leaders and managers.

Justin Browne
Property Manager

Justin is the Property Manager at Saint Kentigern. He is responsible for managing the Property Portfolio and Facilities for the Pakuranga Road and Shore Road campuses. He has over 25 years’ experience in commercial/retail, education, and residential property sectors, both locally and internationally. He has previously held roles at Seattle Coffee Company, Starbuck UK Limited, Diocesan School for Girls and Saint Cuthbert’s College.

Alison Denne
Financial Director

Before joining Saint Kentigern, Alison held several senior leadership roles in multinational companies in New Zealand and the UK. Throughout her 20-year career in finance and operations, Alison has led large multisite teams, and worked as a sole charge for smaller entrepreneurial companies, allowing her to build a skill set that drives change, champions people and seeks continual improvement. Alison’s most recent role was Group CFO of Te Arawa Lakes Trust, a legacy-iwi entity representing the interests of Te Arawa hapū and whānau. This role cemented her commitment to working in values-based organisations with a passion for people, community and continuous learning.

 Alison is a Fellow Chartered Accountant (ICAEW), having achieved the qualification through Deloitte London.

 As Finance Director, Alison is responsible for the financial stewardship of Saint Kentigern, ensuring that the Board of Trustees receives timely and robust reporting, and that the underlying financial systems are running efficiently with constant improvement in processes. Alison and her team partner with the Saint Kentigern’s senior leadership team to provide guidance on financial impact of strategic decisions. 

Walter Chieng
Director of ICT

Walter has fulfilled a range of roles during his tenure at Saint Kentigern. With a BSC and Grad Diploma in Operations Research his roles have included teaching, leading the Cisco Networking Academy programme, spearheading the one device per student programme from its inception in the late nineties and being responsible for the organisation’s ICT systems and infrastructure development. He maintains strategic partnerships with ICT vendors and suppliers to support the ICT services for students, staff and parents across all Saint Kentigern schools.

Brígida Orioli Figueira
Information Systems Product Owner

As the Information Systems Product Owner, Brígida is responsible for driving the optimisation and enhancement of Saint Kentigern’s core systems, with a primary focus on Learning & Teaching technologies.  

Brígida has a background in education and learning technologies and has led the implementation of multiple Learning Management Systems. At University of Auckland, she held a key role, leading a team involved with the implementation and utilisation of their Canvas Learning Management System and working across faculties to support Learning & Teaching using technologies.

Brígida began her career as a science teacher, before progressing her academic studies and being awarded a PhD in Geology at the University of Auckland. Brígida is passionate about education and the role that technology can play to support students’ engagement and success.

Rob Powell
Health and Safety Manager

Rob developed a passion for Health and Safety while serving with the Royal New Zealand Air Force. In 2010, he was selected to perform duties of the Base Safety and Health Advisor at Whenuapai Air Base, and he then became the RNZAF Ground Safety Auditor in 2012.  While in that role, he completed his Graduate Diploma in OSH with Massey University. 

After serving for over 30 years, he joined the University of Auckland as Health & Safety Manager and was closely involved with the Faculty of Engineering.  Over the five years at the University, he worked with Academic and Professional staff to ensure that students and staff could carry out complex and varied studies and research safely and effectively, both on-site and in the field. 

He then took on a role with Amenities and Infrastructure Management (AIM) Services in 2019. As an operational branch of Auckland Council, AIMS provided essential services to the people of Tāmaki Makaurau during the Covid lockdowns; and as the Health & Safety Manager, Rob played a key role in making sure that teams could perform their work with minimal disruption and that the wellbeing of all staff was supported.

Throughout, Rob gained a reputation for working in partnership with people from all parts of the business to introduce workable and reasonable steps to improve health and safety for workers, students and other stakeholders.

Rob is a member of the senior leadership team of the NZ Institute of Safety Management (NZISM), where he coaches and mentors Branch Managers throughout New Zealand.

He is an NZISM Certified Professional, and along with his GradDipOSH, also holds qualifications in Adult Education, Auditing and Investigations, Hazardous Substances and Emergency Management.