Welcome To Our May Newsletter.

CEO

In March, we farewelled our CEO Barbara Bridger as she took up her new role as CEO of Central Lakes Trust. In her 9 years at OCT, Barbara oversaw substantial growth in the value of the trust investments, strategic repositioning of the Trust’s priorities and significant investment in the community through grants. Highlights included support of cycleway development in Central Otago and the creation of the Tamariki and Rangatahi Strategy and funds. The Trust sincerely thanked Barbara for her service and wished her well in her next venture.

The Trust is now recruiting for a new CEO with the support of Sheffield.

Granting

The Trust’s granting activity continues with our April board meeting, the first of our financial year, seeing over $1 million in grants to 26 organisations across Otago. Prior to this, the Trust provided grants of $1.7 million across its February and March meetings to wrap up the 22/23 financial year.

Chair

At the April meeting, the Trustees of the Otago Community Trust elected Andy Kilsby as their new Chair.

Andy looks forward to working with staff and board colleagues and to ensure the Trust continues to make a positive contribution to the Otago community. He thanked outgoing Chair Diccon Sim for his service to the Otago Community Trust and said the Trust would miss his leadership and wisdom at the board table when Diccon's time as a Trustee comes to an end later this year.

Investment Consultant

The Trust has recently appointed Mercer NZ Ltd as its investment consultant. The selection of an investment consultant is an important decision for the Trust and one that the Board deliberated at length. The Trustees determined that Mercer provided the proposition most suited to the needs of the Trust, and looks forward to developing our working relationship with them. As guardians of the Trust portfolio, the Board understands the importance of supporting our community and ensuring the real value of the portfolio is sustained into the future. We would like to thank our outgoing consultant Russell Investments for their service to the Trust, and for their role in the growth of the Trust’s capital base and portfolio evolution over the past 29 years.

Looking Forward

I trust you enjoy reading this newsletter and hearing about the things we have funded and been involved with in recent months. Should you have any questions regarding funding, please feel free to contact me or any member of the Trust team. We are always happy to help.

Ngā mihi

Andy Kilsby, Chair