OUR BOARD
MIKE BISHOP
CHAIRPERSON
Mike is an experienced and accomplished Chief Executive and Director / Trustee. Mike's core skills include Leadership, Financial Management, Marketing, Strategy, Governance, and Workplace Health and Safety. He has considerable experience in Business Growth, Stakeholder Relationships, Change Management, Culture Change and Financial Growth and Sustainability and is adept at building high-performing, focused and successful teams.
In addition to his current role as Chief Executive of Harbour Sport and previous Chief Executive roles in sports over 28 years, Mike has held Board and Trustee positions in a number of organisations. He is a passionate advocate for the disabled community.
JIM HOGG
TREASURER
Jim is a well-known local business owner, who has served in many volunteer roles over the years, including as treasurer for Athletics New Zealand, and several board roles for Athletics Auckland.
GRANT SHARMAN
board member
Following the recent announcement about the building of the new Rehabilitation facility to replace the Otara Unit, he wants to play a small part in ensuring that Disability Sport Auckland had the best possible facility and access in order to continue its proud history of supporting people with disabilities.
PHILIP STEVEN
board member
Philip joined the Disability Sport Auckland Board in 2017 and has been involved with a variety of sports clubs in governance, recreational participant and parent support roles. Sports include tramping, skiing, tennis, jogging and cycling and he also co-founded Padel New Zealand Society Inc. He initially became involved with Disability Sport Auckland through his daughter’s participation in a junior para-athlete development programme leading to a variety of overseas events with High Performance Sport New Zealand and Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.
He is a Professional Project Manager with extensive experience consulting for organisations within both the public and private sectors on project establishment, procurement and completions mainly in transport and property-related fields.
RACHEL GRUNWELL
board member
Rachel is an award-winning journalist and author with 30 years of experience in the media industry. She is a skilled communications specialist. Since becoming an author, she has also become comfortable on the other side of the media i’e’ she appears on TV, radio or in magazines regularly as a wellness specialist, and is the director of Inspired Health.
Rachel joined DSA as a board member in 2022. She has also been an ambassador for a decade for the NZ arm of the global charity, Achilles. Many of her 25 marathon finishes were dedicated to guiding athletes with disabilities throughout New Zealand, Sydney and New York. Rachel has a long history of helping other various NZ charities too in the social media space.
LEE TANIWHA
board member
Lee is a Peer Supporter with Spinal Support New Zealand and is based within the Auckland Spinal Rehabilitation Unit. Having had first-hand experience with Spinal Cord Injury as a C4/5 Asia B break he has had almost 16 years experience of wheelchair life and the challenges of navigating the journey.
At the age of 16, he took up Target Shooting under the guidance of Mike Johnson and was an original member of the Parafed Auckland Shooting Club as well as playing a small part in the establishment of the Mt Eden Shooting Range.
He has held many advisory roles within the community with organizations such as ACC, Health Quality and Safety Commission, Auckland Transport, Counties Manukau District Health, Humans of South Auckland and Te Roopu Waiora Trust.
LINCOLN JEFFERSON
board member
Lincoln is the CEO of the Warriors Community Foundation, which connects, educates and inspires the community through the mana of the One New Zealand Warriors. The Foundation tackles social issues with programmes and community initiatives that support mental health, anti-bullying, literacy and other wellbeing skills that support the success of tamariki, rangatahi and whānau.
Recently, the Warriors Community Foundation collaborated with DSA and other rugby league organisations to deliver Wheelchair Rugby League at the Spinal Unit in Otara. He is passionate about the DSA community and the opportunity to add value to the DSA board is an exciting one for him.
He has also worked alongside organisations such as Physical Disability Rugby League NZ, Special Olympics, Boccia NZ and Halberg Foundation.
NATHAN HART
board member
Nathan Hart has developed his media career over the past 23 years, working in senior roles for some of the largest media companies in New Zealand and the UK, including Bauer Media. His expertise and skills include commercial sponsorship and promotional strategy, creative content creation and production within digital, print and radio media.
His daughter (aged 7) has Cerebral Palsy so his passion for people/families with a disability is personal and passionate. He has seen first-hand how powerfully positive having access to activities, therapies, sports, people and programs like those provided by Disability Sport Auckland can be.
Nathan wants to use his skills, connections and experience to help develop the great work that is already happening to reach more people, creating more connections and helping people from Auckland excel.
OUR CO-OPTED
BOARD MEMBERS
ANDRE LUBBe
Andre is a respected Barrister and Solicitor who has a long association with both Disability Sport Auckland and Paralympics New Zealand, serving in a number of volunteer roles for both organisations.
KELVIN PORTER
Kelvin has been involved with DSA through his son Kyle who won Youth of the Year in 2022. Kyle is currently 9 years old and attends various DSA activities on a weekly basis and in some cases attends two or three events a week. Through these events, he has come to know the organisation well. From this, he has developed a huge amount of respect for what DSA is, what they represent and what they have to offer.
In return, Kelvin would like to offer his services. He already has a good relationship with a number of parents with whom he interacts regularly, so he can offer the voice of the combined group.
On a professional basis he manages a team of 9 to 13 engineers across AU and NZ so has a skill set of team leadership, process review and management, and risk analysis. Kelvin would like to be involved in keeping DSA on the right track and ensuring it continues to grow and be the community family Aucklanders currently enjoy.