Meet the team

Pilots
Mike Parker
				Mike joined the team in November 2012. He has returned to New Zealand having previously been flying in Australia, Fiji, USA and Canada. His flying experience includes mining support, tourism, EMS and construction. Mike is also a current helicopter instructor.
Steve Beck
				Stephen is orignally from Lower Hutt, his full time job out of school was an Apprentice Fitter and Turner at the Lower Hutt railway workshops. Upon completion of his apprenticeship he started learning to fly helicopters in 1989 at Wellington Airport. After a few years he qualified as a helicopter instructor and flew from various locations around NZ including Palmerston North, Wellington, Rotorua, Hokitika and Dunedin. He eventually ended up in Queenstown flying tourists and was involved with heli-skiing, skydiving, filming, long lining and medical hospital transfers. Whilst in Queenstown Stephen had been training for a helicopter Airline Transport Pilot Licence and Helicopter Instrument Rating. This 3 year exercise came to fruition in 2012. In 2008 Stephen took a break from Queenstown and went to Northern Canada where he was based out of a city called Yellowknife. There he was often flying from camps in the arctic circle on mining exploration. This involved a lot of long lining and navigating over flat and featureless terrain.Stephen is pleased to be the Base Manager Pilot with the Taranaki Rescue Helicopter Trust and has been a member of the team since November 2013.
Crewman
Jayden Strickland – Chief Crewman
				Jayden is our first fulltime Chief Crewman and joined Taranaki Rescue in January 2011. Jayden comes to us from the Royal New Zealand Navy where he was serving as a Helicopter Crewman Instructor at 6 Squadron on the Navy’s Seasprite helicopters.Jayden brings a range of land and seaborne operational experience which will only enhance the solid foundations already in practice here at Taranaki Rescue . Originally a Magpie supporter (Hawkes Bay born and bred) Jayden now calls Taranaki home.
Phil Dwyer – Second Crewman
				Phil comes from a surf lifesaving back ground also having done time in the fire service. He has been with the trust for five years as a general SAR crewman and is a member of our specialist marine team. He also is the newest member to our strop/winch team.Phil says “The best thing about this job is you get such a diverse work load, you never know what you’re going to get, and also being able to make a lifesaving difference to someone’s life”
Volunteer Crew
Our volunteer crew bring a wide range of skills and experience to the Taranaki Rescue Helicopter Trust. They come from varied backgrounds and careers and all possess specialist skills that enhance the safety and efficiency of our rescue missions.It should be recognised that our crew contributes in excess of 10,000 man hours, voluntarily, every year. We are proud and privileged to include these exceptional individuals in our operation.

Marine
Andy Cronin – Marine
				Andy comes to the TRHT Marine team from Surf Life Saving (East End Club). Andy holds his current position as Training Development Officer for Surf Life Saving Taranaki. His extensive knowledge of the Taranaki Surf is credited to his dedication as a lifesaver. Andy was a sole marine rescuer of three fishermen in late Dec 2011 off Patea when the fisherman boat was swamped by swells after suffering unknown damage.
Michael Melody – Marine
				Mike joined the TRHT Marine team in 2011. As a current Surf Life Saver for Taranaki’s Rescue Squad Mike has also taken up a pager from TRHT to respond to Marine incidents when needed.
Sean Ziejities – Marine






Alpine
The Alpine team is an elite team of volunteers who dedicate their time not only from their day jobs but also personal commitments to respond to any incident located in mountainous areas within the Taranaki Region. On any given job you may see the Alpine team winched into a tight spot in the bush or trade their hiking shoes for a pair of cramp ons and ice pick and clamber the ice clad slopes of Mount Taranaki to recover a injured or missing tramper.


Peter Lethbridge
				Pete is considered a part of the furniture here at Taranaki Rescue Helicopter Trust. Pete has dedicated many years as a Alpine Volunteer time to TRHT and has a wealth of Alpine experience. Also a member of the Taranaki Alpine Cliff Rescue and an ex volunteer Ambulance Officer for Taranaki Ambulance Service his mountaineering skills and attention to safety is highly appreciated.

Mike Johns
				Mike along with Pete is another item of the furniture here at TRHT. Mike is another long standing member of the Alpine team. He also carries a few other caps with him as the Chairman and active member of Taranaki’s LandSAR (Land Search and Rescue) and a Member of the Taranaki Alpine Cliff Rescue he is also found scaling Mount Taranaki for his day job as a Department of Conservation Officer!
Jeremy Beckers
				Jeremy has lived in New Plymouth for almost all his life, it’s a great place to live. A joiner by trade but he has recently been involved in interior drawings at Fitzroy Yachts where he has worked for nearly nine years. His Interests include photography, tramping, climbing, high and low level search and rescue. He is married to Kate and they have two children, Georgia and Nathan.
Vaughan Smith

Medics
When Taranaki Rescue Helicopter receives a job of a medical nature St John supplies one of the below personnel. Taranaki Rescue Helicopters job is to provide a professional emergency medical platform to enable these medics to arrive at the scene and transfer the patient/s back to hospital in the least amount of time. By utilising a Helicopter over a road Ambulance we can deliver a medic faster and transport a patient back in a stable comfortable environment.
Steve Orr - Megan Stewart -Leon Strauss -Roger Blume
Flight Nurses
The Flight nurses manage medical patients on inter-hospital transfers. The flights are usually Taranaki Base to Waikato Hospital along with flights to Palmerston North, Wellington and Auckland.
Sue Deakin
Sue Deakin is a member of the Flight Nurse team. She is based on ICU/ CCU at Taranaki Base Hospital, Sue she takes great pride in the way the service has grown and developed. Personally, she enjoys keeping fit with running/walking/gardening. She belongs to a book club, loves travelling to different parts of the world, and she is interested in other cultures. She lives on 5 acres on the outskirts of New Plymouth which she has planted in about 200 trees. She loves socialising and a glass of wine.
Angela Morgan
Angela is one of the original team of four nurses that setup the flight service in 2002 in response to the need to transfer Taranaki District Healthboard patients to tertiary hospitals for specialist care. She has been actively nursing for 30 plus years with her focus on the Intensive Care/Cardiac Care setting for the majority of them. Her special interest is Cardiac Care but she enjoys the variety of clinical work that her ICU/CCU and Flight nursing roll offers
Carolyn Jackson
An original member of the Flight Nurses team- Carolyn has an extensive longterm Intensive/Cardiac Care background, currently working ICU/CCU/Flights and also undertaking the Cardiac Drug Trials at Base Hospital. Born and bred in rural Taranaki, trained in Palmerston North, married then returned “home”. Carolyn enjoys being able to use her mixed job skills for the benefit of Taranaki residents.
Clazina Hagenson, Shane Wilkinson and Aileen Kirby
Trustees
Chairman, Bryce Barnett
				Bryce joined the Trust as Chairman in November 2012 and is currently the Managing Director of KCL Property, a property investment group that operates throughout New Zealand and Australia. Bryce’s home town is New Plymouth where he spends part of his week along with his business interests and in Auckland for the balance of the week. Bryce is Taranaki born and has spent most of his life in Taranaki, even though a considerable amount of his working time is spent out of New Plymouth. But it is because of his passion for New Plymouth and the environment of Taranaki that he still calls this home. He is also Chairman of the Puke Ariki Charitable Development Trust and has a great passion for supporting events and causes within the province to enable Taranaki to be a special place in which to live.Bryce is a Chartered Accountant by background, however no longer practices in this but uses this training as some of the basis of his business decisions. In joining The Trust it is with great passion and vigour that he wants to ensure that there is a greater communication at all levels, but particularly with the sponsors and strategic partners who make this Trust viable. He acknowledges the challenges ahead of him but is determined to see a viable sustainable rescue operation that can be and will be, maintained in a great province.”

Richard Williams, Trustee
				Richard was invited to become a trustee in 2002 and accepted with pleasure. He strongly believes that because of the onshore and offshore geography of our province, the TRHT fully dedicated service is crucial to the safety the people of Taranaki and the many visitors we invite here.
John Flowers, Trustee


Evan Cottam, Trustee
				Evan was appointed to the Board of Trustees in March 2011. He brings to the Trust his extensive financial and management experience, including 30 years in public practise as a Chartered Accountant and the last 19 years as a Financial and Investment Adviser. Evan has always been active in the community having been a member of Lions Club for 17 years and now a member of Rotary, a long standing Treasurer of the Woodleigh Sports & Social Club, New Plymouth Golf Club, and New Plymouth Chartered Club. He has been a long term supporter of the Taranaki Rescue Helicopter Trust. Evan has been married to Judith for over 36 years and they have two children, Michelle and Sarah, and one grandchild, Penny. He is a keen follower of all sports, being a past representative in cycling, softball and rugby, and still enjoys recreational cycling.

David Wickham, Trustee
				David is Secretary of Philips Rescue Helicopter Trust and is a director in a chartered accountancy practice in Taupo. He has played a major role in the financial operations of the Philips Trust since 1987. He gained considerable insight into health-related issues as a former director on both the Lakeland Health board and the Health Waikato board and is a trustee on the board of Ambulance New Zealand – an organisation that represents the general ambulance sector.






Administration Staff The trust has one administration employee and four volunteer part time administration person. They are responsible for a wide variety of admin duties, funding and marketing that ensure the on-going day to day operation of the financial and administrative aspects of trust business. Also responsible for the management of our substantial telemarketing program, our administration staff ensures that this significant undertaking operates in a smooth and efficient manner.


Michelle Zehnder – Administration
				Michelle joined the Trust in June 2010, she is Taranaki born and bred. Her role is multi-tasked, it includes accounts, grants, Corporate and Community funding/telemarketing, managing TRHT website, fundraising and sponsorship coordination and marketing. She offers the Trust a wide range of administration skills due to her 8 years in varied admin roles and also owned a business for 4 years. She has two children, is on the Bell Block School PTA and enjoys playing netball and particpating in local events.
Bruce Gilmour – Administration volunteer
				Bruce completes the accounts as well as one off projects and loves giving everything a go. He enjoys organising fundraising events.