Jason Myers The new head of the NZ AIDS Foundation has today been welcomed into the organisation with a powhiri attended by staff and gay and HIV community leaders. Jason Myers was accompanied by his family, gay friends and associates from Oxfam, the organisation he worked for before being appointed as Executive Director of the NZAF. Those present at the powhiri included a past Executive Director, Warren Lindberg, board member Vaughan Meneses , Bruce Kilmister of Body Positive, Jane Bruning of Positive Women and Dr Peter Saxton of the Auckland University gay men's health research unit. Meneses acknowledged that Myers, who spoke in English and Maori during the ceremony and who has previously worked as a staff member of the NZAF, has “big shoes to fill” but reassured him “I know you will do well.” Myers has also been a board member of the Cartier Charitable Trust which provides financial assistance for terminally ill people with HIV infection. That trust's founding board member, Karen Ritchie, today described Myers as “a lovely, smart, engaging and humble man who I believe will do well” and someone who comes into the job “with a lot of community support.”
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Monday, 18th July 2016 - 7:20pm