Board of Trustees
The Starship Foundation Board of Trustees is a voluntary group of dedicated individuals who give their time to oversee the work of our charity. They are leaders in business, medicine and the community.
Martin Wiseman - Chair
Martin Wiseman is a senior corporate partner with more than 30 years experience in corporate, commercial and insolvency law. He has advised some of New Zealand’s largest and best-known businesses on complex transactions and on their day-to-day legal needs.
Martin is a former country managing partner of DLA Piper New Zealand and a former chairman of DLA Piper Australia. He was at the forefront of the integration of the Australian and New Zealand businesses with DLA Piper.
As well as being Chair of the Starship Foundation, he is also a committee member and secretary of the Lake Tarawera Ratepayers' Association, which aims to preserve for all the unique environment and water quality of Lake Tarawera in the Bay of Plenty.
Sharon Hunter – Vice-Chair
Sharon Hunter has extensive entrepreneurial and business experience across all aspects of business from banking and finance to brand development.
She is a long standing member of the board and has served since 2002. Her expansive governance experience goes across not-for-profits, government and commercial organisations – both public and private.
Sharon is the Chair of Eventfinda, board member for Plexure, a mobile engagement software, as well as board member for Company of Women. She has also served on other various boards, including Antarctica New Zealand and the Rugby World Cup 2011.
Her latest business venture is Great Goodbyes, an online platform for arranging funerals, connecting services with the people who need them.
Dr Cameron Grant – Trustee
Dr Cameron Grant is a general paediatrician at Starship Children’s Hospital, Head-Department of Paediatrics: Child & Youth Health and Professor of Paediatrics at the University of Auckland.
He completed his MBChB at the University of Otago and PhD at the University of Auckland. Cameron is a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians and of the America Academy of Paediatrics.
His research focuses on prevalent child health problems, which cause disparities between population subgroups in New Zealand. With these health issues, often there is the potential to eliminate these disparities through immunisation or nutritional interventions.
His teaching skills have been recognised with faculty and university teaching awards including a University of Auckland Teaching Excellence Award for sustained excellence in teaching.
Bryan Mogridge – Trustee
Bryan Mogridge ONZM has been deeply involved with the Starship community, a founding trustee, and recently retired as chair after 20 years in that role. He continues to serve as a trustee.
Bryan is the Chair of Bupa ANZ and Asia. He is currently a member of the Remuneration and Clinical Governance Committees having in the past been a member of the Audit and Risk Committees.
He has extensive experience at both the director and executive levels, spanning over 45 years. Bryan has served as CEO of two New Zealand based public companies and as a director of several public companies since 1984. He is currently a director and shareholder of Mainfreight plus a number of significant private companies.
Bryan has also served as Chair of national bodies such as the NZ Wine Institute, The NZ Food and Beverage Exporters Council and The New Zealand Tourism Board.
Dr John Beca – Trustee
Dr John Beca is one of two Directors of Starship Child Health, responsible for Surgery, Cardiac and Critical Care (Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) and Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU)). He is a paediatric intensive care doctor.
He trained in intensive care at the Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto and the Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne and has been working at Starship since returning to New Zealand in 1994.
John’s sub-specialty clinical interest is in cardiac and neuro-intensive care. He is also actively involved in research related to brain injury and development in children, and in charity medical work in the Middle East.
Jess Patten- Trustee
Jess Patten is the General Manager of Starship Children’s Hospital and brings over 10 years’ experience managing health services across Tāmaki Makaurau and Aotearoa.
Jess has a conjoint degree in health science and business from the University of Auckland and spent many years in the private sector, working for Deloitte where she helped organisations achieve their strategic objectives.
As a mum of three, Jess is passionate about delivering the best possible care to mokopuna and whānau and improving health outcomes. She is particularly focussed on reducing health
inequity, improving performance and driving innovative care.
Robin Skeggs – Trustee
Robin Skeggs has 25 years of experience as a Chief Financial Officer and as a General Manager in public and private healthcare and financial services.
Since 2016 he has been an independent consultant, mainly working on projects in the aged care and retirement village sector.
Robin holds a Programme for Management Development (PMD) from Harvard Business School, an Honours degree in accounting and finance from Otago University and is a Chartered Accountant.
Dr Mike Shepherd – Trustee
Dr Mike Shepherd is the Director of Child Health, Director of the Douglas Starship Simulation Programme and a Paediatric Emergency Physician at Starship Child Health.
His 20 years of experience as a paediatric specialist has seen him become a strong advocate for children’s health, speaking to the media on a variety of issues including the importance of vaccinations, prevention of child injuries caused by motor vehicle crashes, and law changes that would put children’s health at risk.
As well as his roles at Starship, he is also the President of Advanced Paediatric Life Support (NZ) and President Elect of the Paediatric Society of NZ.
He holds a Fellow of Royal Australian College of Physicians (FRACP), Master of Public Health (MPH) and he is also Honorary Clinical Senior Lecturer at the University of Auckland.
Sarah Lynds – Trustee
Sarah Lynds has several years experience as a commercial litigator in a private practice and is a busy mum of two.
She has co-founded a variety of businesses from a legal services firm to her latest venture Halo & Swoon, a plant based baking company.
Passionate about philanthropy, Sarah has served on other charitable trust boards. She was also Chair of Friends of Starship for over 4 years, from 2014 - 2018.
She holds a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) specialising in Media Law, along with a Master of Laws in commercial law, both from the University of Auckland.
Amy Knightley – Trustee
Amy Knightley is a senior brand, marketing and communications professional with over 18 years' experience. She brings a broad perspective having worked in the public and private sectorsfor global organisations in the UK and New Zealand.
Amy is the Director of Marketing for New Zealand Story Group, a government agency whose purpose is to inspire, curate and amplify storytelling to expand New Zealand's reputation and value internationally.
With proud links to Ngāi Takoto, Te Waiohua and Tainui-Waikato, Amy is passionate
about providing healthcare equity for all New Zealand children, particularly in
Māori and Pacific communities.
Simon Tipene Adlam - Trustee
Simon Tipene Adlam works globally as a Senior Executive Advisor for governments, cultural organisations and museum initiatives, projects and programmes specialising in organisational transformation.
Having recently returned from Los Angeles, Simon has established HAIMONA, a global leadership consultancy specialising in the brokerage of diplomatic cultural exchanges, mission-driven organisational change and cultural empowerment.
He has successfully delivered 13 cultural capital projects and over 80 programmes and exhibitions bringing a fresh perspective and global expertise in cultural diplomacy.
As our most recent member to the board, Simon is excited to bring his wealth of expertise in cultural diplomacy to the child health field.
Kia tūmāia i te ao i te pō! (Be constantly resilient and courageous)
Adrian Evans - Trustee
Adrian Evans is the founder and owner/operator of The Gentry – two award-winning men’s grooming establishments in Auckland Central.
As well as being a business owner, Adrian was a Health Reporter for Fairfax New Zealand from 2011 to 2015. There, he developed strong relationships with the Ministry of Health and Counties Manukau District Health Board. In addition to writing stories, promoting resources, and connecting individuals with health services, Adrian helped initiate a pertussis (whooping cough) drive during the 2011 outbreak where none existed previously.
With strong links to his Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Kahu, and Te Aupōuri tupuna, Adrian is energised by the Starship Foundation’s kaupapa of better health and brighter futures for all New Zealand children. As well as strong business nous and entrepreneurial drive, he brings valuable insight into healthcare delivery ‘on the ground’, and a vision to help ensure equitable healthcare for Māori and Pacific communities.
The Starship Foundation uses BoardOutlook to conduct an annual board evaluation and performance activities. We have benefited from a pro-bono grant under the BoardOutlook not-for-profit program.
