Tom Gregg has been a JP since 1988 in both a Ministerial and Judicial capacity. He volunteered for a decade of Judicial work.

There is a little “bit of Irish” in Tom. Since 1999 he has played in a Band called “The Jamesons Irish Band”. He is their lead vocalist and plays twelve string guitar. The band plays every Tuesday evening at “The Bog Irish Bar” here in Christchurch attracting an enthusiastic, participating audience. One of the other band members is our very own John Syme, another Justice of the Peace who generously gives his time on our service desks and who is a great friend of Tom’s.

Tom has an interesting background commencing his University degree in 1965. In 1970 he joined the Royal New Zealand Air Force rising to Wing Commander. He retired from the RNZAF in 1986 and then went on to become Registrar at the Christchurch College of Education and then the Chief Operating Officer of the University of Canterbury. Ironically, one later role was helping to merge the College of Education into the University. He has also been involved with New Zealand Red Cross for 4 years, and is currently The Chair of the Red Cross Area Council for Canterbury North.

Tom owns his own business called Fermoy NZ Ltd (yes named after Fermoy in Ireland) and, since 2007, he has done contract work for various clients. One current client is Campus Living Villages (CLV) which works to build and operate student accommodation on campuses in partnership with universities …….currently CLV has 61 partnerships and 45,000 beds in four countries. Tom has been contracted as CEO and Chairman of CLV in NZ in the past, and is now Director of University Relations for NZ and Ireland. Tom and his wife travel to Ireland each year, and this current contract also gives him the opportunity to do some business in Ireland during the NZ winter. It also means he can spend quality time with his son, daughter-in-law and grandson, who live in Ireland.

Knowing Tom plays in an Irish band and visits the country regularly I asked Tom what he loved about Ireland and he replied “ the people; the music; and Ireland is beautiful: like our own country really. And from a work perspective Ireland’s seven Universities are similar to New Zealand universities”.

Tom is a great local ambassador for the Emerald Isle. And while he is in Ireland, I have no doubt he is a great ambassador for New Zealand.

He has been married to Kate for forty nine years and they have three children and nine grandchildren.

Music continues to be very important in their family with their daughter teaching music and their two sons both active musicians and having been in two successful bands.

Tom is an incredibly nice man who is always willing to help. It is such a pleasure having you on our JP service desks. Thanks Tom.