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Jade has been an out and proud member of the Rainbow community for a number of years and is very thankful to all the people that have supported him through his journey. He has had a huge amount of support over the years and wants to show his support in return which is why he has joined the WIPP Board. Jade is a lawyer by trade with experience in both a corporate and regulatory environment predominantly in the fields of commercial, consumer and privacy law. He was lucky enough to lead Contact Energy through its Rainbow Tick journey which ignited his passion to do more in this field. He has participated in the WIPP for the last two years and thought being on the Board would be a natural next step. He feels incredibly privileged to be part of such a wonderful and vibrant event and gives thanks to everyone that helped him here.
Having been born and raised in Upper Hutt, Simon has been a prominent and outspoken member of the Wellington rainbow scene since the early 2000s. A graduate of the Victoria University School of Law, Simon brings extensive legal and political knowledge to his role at WIPP as previous Secretary for the past 2 years. He has now transitioned into WIPP’s Entertainment director and this will be his third Parade. As an “old school gender illusionist” and former Miss Drag Wellington, Simon also performs under the stage name of Mia Slapper and is an international award-winning star of stage and screen. Launching WIPP’s new fundraising shows this December, Simon brings his extensive show production history to the forefront with our innovative new plan to provide an opportunity to guarantee the ongoing success of the future parades and of WIPP as a sustainable event-based organisation. His goal is to help WIPP in pivoting towards a larger Parade and more prominent queer presence in our Capital for 2021
Tamsin is a very out and proud trans woman. Though originally from Auckland her “coming out” story began in Wellington almost 30 years ago, so Wellington holds a special place in her heart. Tamsin has resided in Upper Hutt for the past 11 years with her transgendered partner Michelle both of whom have very public profiles in the wider community. After attending WIPP in 2018 she decided she would like to become more involved and applied to be a volunteer, she enjoyed the role so much she applied again in 2019 and was given the responsibility of ” volunteer coordinator”. It was the perfect fit considering her paid employment for the past 10 years has been in volunteer management for a large humanitarian-based charity. She also became one of WIPP’s members in 2019 and after attending some meetings gravitated more so to the events and the passion and enthusiasm of its board. She believes she can add to the board’s diversity by bringing a transgendered voice to the table. Tamsin is very proud of WIPP’s achievements within a few short years and looks forward to learning and excelling in her role and adding to WIPP’s ongoing success.
Art has been a rainbow activist for forty years in both Aotearoa and in The States, including volunteering as an early HIV/AIDS counsellor, marching in the first ‘gay rights’ parade in Washington DC in the 80s, working for the NZ AIDS Foundation, participating in Auckland’s Hero and Pride Parades and Our March as well as in the Wellington International Pride Parades and Hikoi, organising a network of rainbow workers in New Zealand’s largest trade union, and advocating for rainbow equality within the Anglican church and at the parliamentary level.
He is honoured to be part of the WIPP Board and sees pride parades as a valuable expression of the many communities which make up the Rainbow whanau. Art hopes to see WIPP continue to grow in an inclusive and respectful manner giving our communities a platform to share our talent and joy, to share our important contribution to the greater community, to challenge the vestiges of discrimination which remain, and to make all our voices heard.
Heather was brought up in rural New Zealand, born in Morrisville and growing up originally in Puriri, then Hauraki, later moving to the Far North living in Peria. She is a mother of three children and seven mokopuna. She lives in Wellington with her wife Helen and their whānau is their greatest pride. She has been an advocate for wāhine toa, whānau rangatahi and tamariki throughout my 35-year career on human rights, child abuse, domestic and sexual violence sectors. In the last five years, she has been working in the grief, loss and trauma space. This had led her to work with suicide and in it’s broader scope more general mental health issues and needs. This has helped her be more aware of our LGBTIQ+ communities’ vulnerability in this space. Her career choices have been about a personal journey, a commitment to helping the lives of others and about making a difference. She began her career working as an advocate for Rape Crisis and Women’s Refuge and in the late 70’s she later became a qualified Senior Social Worker and has held positions at Child Youth and Family as a Senior Social Worker, Evidential Interviewer, Practice Consultant and Senior Advisory Officer. Working for the Commissioner for Children for a couple of years she then returned to work fulltime as CEO, she has held positions in Child Abuse Prevention Service for five years, then joining The National Collective of Independent Women’s Refuge for over 10 years as their Chief Executive. After which she resigned to take up her current position as Chief Executive at Skylight Trust.
She has been an Advisory Member of WIPP since 2018. Her passion is around good
governance and management. “I am committed to ensuring a high standard of accountability to our supporters, communities and funders.”
Adam grew up in Wellington (many years ago) and was active in the rainbow community from a young early age. He was fortunate to be part of a group of young LGBT that worked alongside the council to start a social group for Wellington youth. That group went on to put a float in the parade and endured abuse, threats and eggs thrown at them along the parade route. He believes this to be the catalyst that made him want to be more visible for others, to see people like himself living as their true selves despite any hate that others try to reflect on them.
He has been involved in LGBT/Inclusive sports teams, Melbourne Pride, Auckland Pride parade in a management capacity as well as helping organise his workplaces float, the main parade float and lending a hand to the creative director where he could.
He enjoys the ever-changing world we live, where individuals are free to change and challenge the status quo. He wants to make sure he is present and able to lend his skills where they can help the most in creating a Wellington International Pride Parade that is one we can all benefit from.
Wellington International Pride Parade Board is made up of an egalitarian group of individuals, whose focus is to deliver an inclusive and diverse Parade to Wellington on March 16th 2019. We work to promote Wellington and its many Rainbow Groups. We have both operational and advisory Board Members.
Registered Society
Wellington International Pride Parade Incorporated is a registered society – registration 2679175.
It is bound by its rules held by the Companies Office and any amendments lodged or in the process of being lodged.
WIPP’s objectives as a non-profit organisation are to:
(a) Provide a platform built on diversity, love and creativity to inspire, allow for safe expression, boost acceptance, form everlasting inclusiveness and relationships in our LGBTIQ Plus Community
(b) facilitate and promote the delivery of a Wellington International Pride Parade for the LGBTIQ Plus Community;
(c) provide opportunities for the LGBTIQ Plus Community to create and participate in events and activities under the umbrella of Wellington International Pride Inc.
(d) foster an environment through Wellington International Pride for the LGBTIQ Plus Community to celebrate sexual orientation and gender identity; form partnerships with other organisations that share similar values, aims and objectives to WIPP;
(e) do anything necessary or helpful to further the above objectives
Representation and consultation
All board members will actively consult with members of the community and bring those viewpoints and opinions to the board for consideration. Any individual board member will not present an opinion to represent the WIPP Board or organisation unless requested by the Board.
Proxy Voting
WIPP appreciates that not all board members can attend all meetings. Proxy votes maybe be registered in advance to Simon so that he can record these prior to any meeting. The quorum for all board meetings is 50% of board members. 75% of votes is required to pass motions.
Financial
The bank account is to be managed by 2 members of the board – currently this is Fraser and Richard. Any 2 board members may approve expenditure up to $250.00 – any amount above this must have full board approval.
A budget will be presented to the board and reported against at every board meeting highlighting any variations and income to date.
As we are an Incorporated Society Board, members are not liable for any financial debt that may be incurred, but as a governance board we will ensure that the society does not enter into any agreements that may incur a debt.
Media
Only the spokesperson will deal with the Media – this includes Social Media. The only exception to this is that all board members may actively promote the Parade and the other events being held by the Pride Festival
Health and Safety
The Board will follow the Health and Safety guide issued by WorkSafe and the Institute of Directors. Our due diligence will be carried out by:
a) Being aware of Health and Safety Risks
b) Considering Health and Safety in all activities WIPP undertakes.
c) Ensuring all contractors have relevant policies and qualifications before approving appointments
d) Verifying all plans have covered off potential risk and how that risk ins managed