Kain Thompson Wellington policy analyst and political aspirant Kaine Thompson has been voted on to the New Zealand AIDS Foundation Trust Board. Four candidates were in the running for two Trust Board positions which are elected by the membership of the NZAF and 55 votes were received. Current chair Alastair Cameron will continue in the role after claiming 41 votes. Thompson gained 28 votes, OUTLine General Manager Vaughan Meneses 22 and NZAF volunteer Andrew Riley received 8 votes. Thompson will join Cameron, Deputy Chair Paul Bohmer and Trust Board members Hamish Allardice, Kathryn Leafe, Cherry Sonderer and Andrew Sweet when he is officially inducted in February. Nominated by Charles Chauvel and David Hollander, he believes he has the right skills, energy and personality to contribute to the board, saying he is inspired by the Foundation's passion for improved awareness and education in working towards a world without AIDS. "I want to build relationships with Maori, Pacific and new New Zealand Communities throughout the country and particularly in Auckland where immigration continues to diversify our communities." Thompson spent five years working as Senior Political Advisor in the previous government and has also had other senior public service roles. "I have developed a keen sense of the mechanisms of government into which an organisation like ours can tap into," he says. "Using those mechanisms effectively not only reduces how much resource we put in to reporting, compliance and explanation, but maximises the potential of our positive results. We can do this because it means our best people can focus on what we are all about, better education and greater awareness in our communities." NZAF Trust Board Chair Alastair Cameron has thanks NZAF members for re-electing him for a second term and says he looks forward to continuing to serve the communities most affected by HIV as a NZAF Board Trustee. "The Trust Board warmly welcomes Kaine Thompson to the Board. All the candidates were of a very high calibre and it is exciting to see that people are prepared to volunteer their time and talent to the NZAF at this level."
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Sunday, 28th November 2010 - 1:17pm