Steve has been connected with Leadership Lab from 2015 when he was a member of the 1st cohort of LinC participants. Since then, he has been a passionate supporter of LinC as a member of the LinC Steering Group (2016 – 2019) and from 2018 as an ALG Facilitator.

Steve derives satisfaction from seeing the growth people experience through the LinC course, and how this benefits the communities they work in. Steve is proud of his ‘born n bred’ farming background that provides him with the practical skills and a “get it done” attitude to achieving outcomes.

His next career spanned 22 years as a New Zealand Police Officer, achieving the rank of Sergeant, and culminating in leading the Riccarton West Neighbourhood Policing Team that contributed to successful community development and reduction in crime in the Riccarton West neighbourhood. The Neighbourhood Policing experience created his passion for community and led him to resigning from the Police in 2017, and initiating and leading the Shirley Village Project in the role of Community Activator. He is proud that his six year involvement the Shirley Village Project has activated Community-led change that is making a positive difference in people’s lives and enabled Shirley to become one of 18 communities across the county that is participating in the DIA Community-led Development partnership programme. Steve now shares his knowledge and experience by providing mentoring and coaching services for people working in community development.

Steve likes being a problem solver, who weaves holistic and ‘outside the box’ approaches to activate individual and community ownership. He is a people person, who is good at building good relationships and developing collaborative partnerships between residents, community groups and agencies so they can work together with purpose and passion to address the underlying causes of social issues in their community.