First woman Christchurch City Missioner
We are proud and excited to announce that Corinne Haines, who has been filling in as our Interim City Missioner for the past two months, will now continue as our new Christchurch City Missioner.
She is the first woman to be Christchurch City Missioner in our 93-year history and becomes the 11th Missioner to serve the Christchurch community. Corinne is the former Trimble Navigation Managing Director and took on the interim role after former City Missioner Matthew Mark left.
Nalini Meyer, who chairs the Anglican Care Divisional Committee which oversees the City Mission, said the recruitment process for a new City Missioner had been completed and she was delighted that Corinne had agreed to formally step into the role of City Missioner. “Corinne brings us the expertise, skills, passion and commitment that we need. She has been doing a wonderful temporary job leading the Mission and it was obvious the work of the Mission has stolen her heart.”
Corinne said she was thrilled to take over the role. She had planned to enjoy a retirement after 40 plus years with Trimble, but the Mission’s people and work had moved her deeply and inspired her to want to say yes to staying on and to contribute to making Christchurch a better place. “I've got a few ideas, and as an interim, I felt it wasn't right to make changes. These ideas are about how we might be more efficient and how we could be more strategic about what we're doing. So I'm full of enthusiasm and optimism."
On being the first woman City Missioner, she said that was a milestone, "but I was the right person available at the right time. The City Mission has always had wonderful strong, caring woman leaders in many positions over the decades and really I just want to do my best for the people of Christchurch. I hope I can be a role model for others aspiring to leadership roles".
Corinne is Christchurch-born and was Managing Director of Trimble in New Zealand and led the Trimble finance team in New Zealand, Australia, Singapore and Thailand. In 2016, she was made a Fellow of the Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand, and the same year received the national accolade of Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for her services to business.
She is also Chair of Otākaro Limited, which delivers post-earthquake Crown-led anchor projects such as the Te Pae Christchurch Convention Centre, Bus Exchange and Parakiore Recreation and Sport Centre.
Corinne is deeply involved with the St Barnabas Anglican Church and recently she was appointed to the Christchurch Diocesan Standing Committee and is a Diocesan Nominator.