Belinda Sutherland
Belinda was appointed as a Board Member (parent) in 2021.
Belinda is a Glendowie College Alumni (1983 – 1987) and has been a part of the Glendowie/St Heliers community for most of her life.
Following gaining a BA (Geography) she held many roles in Customer Services for a homewares and printer importer, Retail of homewares in London, Personal Assistant at a design practice in London, Office Administrator, Event Manager, Business Development & Marketing Manager for an Auckland design practice then Resource Planning Advisor and currently a Finance Coordinator for Jasmax where she has worked for over 16 years. It is interesting to see how each opportunity taken has led to more opportunities that interrelate.
Whilst at GDC with her two siblings, her mother was an active member of the PTA and her father was on the Eastern Schools Board, which covered Selwyn College, Penrose College (now One Tree Hill College), Metropolitan College (closed) and Glendowie College. So she observed and understands the roles of governance vs management – as board members we are there to set clear policy to guide our teaching staff so they can focus on creating the very best learning environment for our children. And she continues to attend NZSTA Professional Development courses to improve her effectiveness in this area.
Belinda has two daughters, one in year 8 at St Heliers School and one entering the University of Auckland Engineering Faculty. She's currently enjoying a hiatus from the rowing squad and eagerly awaits to see if her younger daughter takes this up, having been a Rower for GDC too and recently restarted with Auckland Rowing Club (ARC) Masters.
Belinda hopes that through her skills of financial acumen, strong organisation and process, HR experience, volunteer management, is a good listener and able to ask good questions, will be strong attributes to assist the Board reach its goals.
Belinda strongly believes in providing a variety of learning opportunities to enable developing well rounded individuals who can find their place in our community and the wider world.
Gordon Robertson
Gordon is a long-serving staff member of Glendowie College and has been appointed as Principal in August 2020.
Gordon started teaching in 1983 at Queen Elizabeth College in Palmerston North. Since arriving at Glendowie College in 1986, he has had a range of responsibilities being a Dean and the Head of Social Sciences Faculty. Gordon has been a member of the Senior Leadership Team at the college since 1997.
Gordon started teaching as a Geography and History teacher. His qualifications include an M.A (Hons) Auckland and a Diploma in School Management. He was fortunate to be awarded the Woolf Fisher Fellowship in 2007 and used the opportunity to study Professional Learning practices in Canada, the United States and Britain.
Gordon is passionate about providing a quality holistic education for the students of Glendowie College. Gordon considers that the college has a responsibility to prepare young people for whatever career or educational direction they want to pursue as well as giving them the skills to be positive, caring and engaged members of society.
Gordon and his partner, Jo, have two adult children, both of whom work in education. As both a parent and teacher, Gordon has been actively coaching, managing, refereeing and scoring a wide range of sports. Occasionally he is able to make it out onto the golf course.
Elizabeth Studholme
Liz (also known as Libby) was appointed as a Board Member (parent) in 2022.
Originally from Christchurch, Liz moved to Auckland 8 years ago for a work opportunity. With no prior knowledge of Glendowie College, Liz feels very lucky to have found they were zoned for such a great local high school. Liz has two children at the college in Year 12 and Year 10, and a school leaver, who is studying at Canterbury University.
In Christchurch, Liz was a member of the Sumner Primary School board. Liz’s career is in marketing management. Over the last 6 years, Liz worked for BOMA, a marketing software tool for accountants as Content Marketing Manager providing accountants in NZ, UK, and AU with tools and content to market their firms. She is now PR and Comms Manager at realestate.co.nz.
Liz believes that the college years should provide a motivating and supportive environment for students to build their confidence, establish friendships and enjoy learning, whatever their talents are. Liz looks forward to contributing to the school, in support of the students and Glendowie College staff.
Stephen Sutherland
Steve was appointed as a Board Member (parent) in 2022.
Steve's family have been residents of Glendowie/St Heliers for most of the past 25 years. Steve and his wife have 2 children attending Glendowie College and he is looking to continue a role supporting community schooling which began at St Heliers School over 13 years ago.
Steve has previously been a volunteer school sports coach for 6 years. At the same time, he was an active member of St Heliers School PTA for 10 years, culminating in 2 years as PTA Chairman. This involved working closely with the Board and Principal, and included working on 3 school fairs and multiple fundraising events that raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to support improvements to school grounds, buildings, learning environments and investment in digital learning assets.
Steve is continuing his school involvement now that both his children are at the college, and brings his previous school experience plus over 25 years of marketing, sustainability and business strategy knowledge to his Board role. Glendowie College is an outstanding college and Steve looks forward to this opportunity to work with the Board, the Principal, the children and community to assist with its future success.
Jo-Anne Knight
Biography to follow.
Bain Hollister
Bain has been appointed as a Board Member (parent) in 2024.
Bain is a Glendowie College Alumni (1986 – 1990) and his extended family have a long association with the College.
Bain is a graduate of the University of Auckland, University of Canterbury and of Harvard Business school. He is an engineer working in information technology and is co-founder and Director of local companies ClearPoint and Alphacert systems. He is an ex Underwater Hockey International, has been a member of the Institute of Directors, and holds various governance roles.
Bain lives in Auckland with his wife Karyn and three children the eldest of whom is in Year 13 at the college. He believes a supportive, high quality educational environment alongside broad extra-curricular opportunities offers our college students an excellent start. Supporting young people to develop a positive, curious and energised outlook on life equips them well to take advantage the opportunities that lie ahead. He believes that children are our future, we should teach them well and let them lead the way. Also, a sense of pride to make it easier.
Murray Stevenson
Murray has lived most of his adult life in Auckland and for the past 18 years in St Heliers. Murray and his wife, Rachael, have two boys at the college in Years 11 and 13.
Murray is currently the CEO at Spencers, a facilities management company specialising in social housing maintenance; providing services in Northland, Auckland and Wellington. Murray has served as the CEO at Spencers for the past eight years and previous to that as the company’s CFO for six years. Prior to Spencers, Murray’s working career has been in finance starting out at Ernst and Young.
Murray attended university in Auckland, and has a BCom and MBA and is a Chartered Accountant.
Murray is looking forward to serving on the Board and sees this as an opportunity to give back to his local community and support the school in achieving its goals.
Go the Blues and up the Wahs!
Bridget Rothbart
Bridget has both primary and secondary school training and experience. As well as lecturing business management at a tertiary institution. This means that she has an understanding of the educational flow and some of the challenges faced by students at each level.
She has taught at Grosvenor Girls’ High School (South Africa), Technikon Natal (South Africa), Howick Primary, Kadimah College and has been part of the Glendowie College staff since 2007. She teaches Economics and Enterprise and is the Teacher in Charge of Year 13.
She is married with two daughters who also attended the school.
Braxton Savage
Braxton is a Year 12 Student at Glendowie College, and was elected as Student Representative in September 2023. As the voice of the student body, he is responsible for advocating for the student's needs and concerns as well as delivering the opinions and voices of the students within the college to the Board.
Actively involved in the community, Braxton participates heavily in multiple aspects of school life at GDC, including volunteering opportunities, co-curricular activities and clubs, organising and executing fundraisers and Campus Vision. Outside of school, he enjoys participating in scouts and academics such as political and history studies. In the past, he has been committed and involved within the community, participating in tree-planting, gardening and civil engagement.
Braxton is committed to influencing and delivering positive change on the Board and ensures that he will take every possible opportunity to do that. He is looking forward to having the opportunity to make a difference for the student body of GDC, and looks forward to seeing what the future holds this year for the college and the Board.
