2019 Common Election results

Fiona Gurevin
Elected

My name is Fiona Gurevin and I am standing for the Board of Trustees for Rolleston Christian School. I am seeking re-election as I currently find this role, which includes being a member of the Finance Committee, both interesting and rewarding.

I have lived in Rolleston for over 13 years with my husband, Altan, and our children Alara and Aydin, the later of who attends RCS. Professionally I am a Chartered Accountant and my qualifications also include a Post Graduate Certificate in Strategic Leadership. Currently, I am employed in the role of Financial Controller and Commercial Operations Manager in an established and successful bio-medical company. I use my financial and business capabilities to support the strategic and business aspects of managing the school.

Also for more than 10 years, I have been part of a management team that provided executive support to the Board of Directors. These experiences have helped me to understand the complexities of a Boards roles and responsibilities, which has been useful for my involvement on the RCS Board. I believe the strong management and governance collaboration at RCS has been a key factor in the success of the school.

If I am re-elected as a parent representative, I am committed to providing ongoing advocacy of the academic achievement of our students, through a values-based education at RCS.

Thank you.

Richard James Reynolds
Elected

My name is Richard Reynolds and I am standing for a position as a Parent Representative on the Rolleston Christian School Board of Trustees. My wife Tana and I have two children at Rolleston Christian School; Callie in Year 7 and Aiden in Year 4. Our children have been there since mid-2016 when I returned to NZ after 25 years overseas to take a new position in Christchurch. We chose Rolleston as our town to live while we were still living in the USA, and that was because we found RCS when we searched for Christian schools. We actually started the enrolment process for RCS while overseas as we had prayed about this and felt that this was the school we wanted our children to be in. We were excited by the curriculum and home learning projects and the opportunity to take advantage of New Zealand's state-integrated schools. To have the ability to have a state-integrated school like RCS available with its special character of Christian teaching is a real blessing to us as parents and also to the community. I have several years’ experience in service, engineering and business; from my time as a young naval officer in the RNZNVR after finishing University at Canterbury, to moving to the USA as an engineer, working for companies such as Caterpillar as an engineer and then manager helping set direction for the Caterpillar Electric Power Business globally. I now work for HamiltonJet in Christchurch as a manager developing new products and developing long-term business plans and product strategies. While I am not an educator myself, I bring the ability to take a long-term strategic planning approach to situations, and would use that to assist in maintaining the excellent work done by the Board to date, and developing the future direction of our school. We are blessed to have this school and I look forward to being a part of encouraging the development of a strong Christian character in the students and supporting their learning, both in discipleship and leadership.

Paul William Saunders
Elected

I am married to Emma and am the Dad of Aziah (Year 6) and Shenaye (Year 8).

I have been on the Board of Trustees of RCS since early 2017 when I was asked to be a co-opted parent representative.

I am a lawyer with 20 years experience. Currently, I am on secondment with the New Zealand Police as a senior prosecutor but I have wide ranging experience in tax law, litigation and dispute resolution. I am also an elder and the chairperson of the eldership at our church, Elim Church Christchurch City. Prior to this I was on the board of a Christian charity working with at risk youth. I was also involved in the advisory group that was responsible for setting up a disability law advisory service at Community Law Canterbury.

I have enjoyed my time on the Board of Trustees, as I consider that Principal Liz Horne has put together an exceptional team at RCS and it has been a real pleasure to assist her in establishing and growing the school. I am particularly impressed with the concept of the "growth mindset" in which failure is not something to be avoided but instead it is something to learn from. I know from my interactions with the Board, Liz and the staff that our values of hope, excellence, love, peace and encouraging Christlike character are not merely words on a page but something we aim to have at the heart of our developing school culture.

I think that RCS has something very special to offer both present and future members of our school and the wider Rolleston community. I would be excited to continue to be a part of the RCS journey as a parent representative on the Board of Trustees. In this role I can offer the RCS community extensive experience of governance in Christian organisations, in-depth legal experience and continuity of leadership.