Alumni

• Chris Toki
• Roger Oed
• Stephen Butler
• Jan Thornborough
• David Rainey
• James Driscoll
• Grant Robson
• Willy Muyila
• Graham Gaylard
• Helen Skedgwell
• Nita Harding
• Paul Bowker
• Matthew Cooper
• Gill Lawrence
• Diane Drummond
• Miles McConway
• Lyndon Hemi
• Carmen Simmonds
• David Downey

Wayne Walford

In a room full of suits, the new CEO of Waikato’s Chamber of Commerce is easy to spot. He’s the one with ponytail and earring. He was Bob Clarkson’s campaign manager in Tauranga, he’s managed a gentleman’s club and he’s spent many years working in the health sector.

“We were living at the Mount, I was doing my study, life was good and then a friend suggested that if I wanted a challenge I should apply for the CEO’s job at the Waikato Chamber. So I’ve reversed the trend, I’ve moved over this side of the hill, and what’s more I’m lovin’ it. There’s a really positive feel to the Waikato right now and it feels a privilege to be in the thick of it.”

The size of the new job has made study-time more difficult to come by but Wayne has almost completed his Postgraduate Diploma of Management Studies through Waikato Management School and plans to go further. “I want to have my MBA before I’m fifty.

“It may be serendipity, or coincidence, but I’ve found with each module I’ve done for my diploma, it’s immediately had some relevance at work. Everything we study is so applied, the marketing case study I use all the time, and who’d have thought economics could be interesting? I’m with a good group of people and it’s interesting to see how we’re all growing and changing as we progress through the course. It’s a confidence boosting thing.”

On the job front, people are keen to find out what this new bloke at the Chamber is all about. “My job is about creating value for our members, to support businesses in a region that’s in growth mode, despite what the doom and gloom merchants say. The Chamber can make a difference; it’s my job to see it does.”