15 Years on Waiariki Council Comes to End

Tuesday, May 4 2004

15 Years on Waiariki Council Comes to End

Last week saw the end of an era following the resignation of Gifford McFadden after fifteen years as a member, and former Chair, of Waiariki Institute of Technology Council.

Deryck Shaw, Council Chair paid tribute to the outstanding service that Mr McFadden had given Waiariki over a number of years. He served as a councillor from 1989 to 2004 including being chair from 1994 to 1998. He was also a former chair of the Finance and Policy and Planning committees of Council. Mr McFadden’s resignation was accepted with regret at Council’s meeting last week.

“Mr McFadden has been an extremely dedicated and passionate member of Council and during his time on Council had seen the organisation significantly upgrade its policies, financial systems and implement stronger risk management procedures,” said Mr Shaw.

Mr McFadden’s involvement spanned 15 of the institute’s life of 25 years and had seen the organisation grow from a small community college to an institute of technology with around 3,000 equivalent full time students and develop national reputations in areas such as forestry, tourism and health.

“Waiariki has been through some challenging times in the past and through this time Mr McFadden had been unswerving in his commitment to future of the institute,” said Mr Shaw.

Mr Shaw also noted that Mr McFadden had left a significant legacy at Waiariki and that over his involvement he had become a knowledgeable and respected friend of many Councillors, staff and students.

“While I am sad to go, it was the right time with other commitments. A new person from the rural sector was to be appointed to Council shortly,” said Mr McFadden. He also wishes Waiariki well for the future and congratulated it on its recent successes as outlined in the 2003 annual report.

ENDS

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