The Trustees

Lena is from China and is an English teacher graduate of Normal University. Her skills and interests focus on community and social enterprise and she has a passion for communicating with different groups. She continues to teach in English and in Mandarin. Lena is a former chair of Chinese Action Network Bridging Trust (CAN-B Trust) and currently holds the position in CAN-B as coordinator. Her full time employment is Sales Manager of Neway Marketing Development Co. Ltd.
Lena knows how important it is to look after our environment and sees her involvement in Earth Action Trust as a way of doing “her bit” to improve our environment.

Malvinder has a background in project management both in his home country of India and in New Zealand. He is one of the founding members of the Sukhmani Charitable Trust and Sri Guru Harkrishan Sahib Charitable Trust. He was also part of the team who successfully set up the Sikh Temple in New Lynn.
Malvinder has a passion for community work and encourages people to volunteer least two to three hours a week of their time for community work. He has joined Earth Action Trust because he wants to participate in programmes that help combat habitat destruction and global warming. He also sees it as an opportunity to help create jobs for needy migrants and refugees.

Joel is from the Philippines and is actively involved in the community as a trustee in Youth Excel Trust and a member of Christ Commission Fellowship. He currently works for Auckland Council as Project Leader (Strategic Community Initiatives).
Joel has over 10 years’ experience in project development, management and evaluation, both in New Zealand and in The Philippines, focusing on areas such as poverty alleviation and social enterprise. He has joined because he wants to be part of an organisation that uses waste resource to create job opportunities especially for young migrants and refugees.

Ricardo arrived in New Zealand in 2006 as a first-generation migrant from Mexico. He currently works as the Coordinator for Auckland Action Against Poverty campaigning for welfare reform and is interested in the intersections of the climate change and anti-poverty movements. He has done work with the Aotearoa Latin American Community, bringing together the Latin American community with locals, particularly Tangata Whenua.

Takashi is originally from Japan and was a former Board of Trustee for Waitakere Japanese Supplementary School. With more than 15 years of experience in helping people with developmental disorders, he has a strong sense of inclusiveness and diversity. Takashi is passionate about supporting the community and environmental causes to ensure that our future generations can enjoy the nature as much as we do today.

Originally from the Philippines, Rene is a veterinarian and registered nurse. Although in the medical field, he’s a strong advocate for human rights, animal welfare and environment. As president of Partners in Progress Incorporated from 1999 to 2001, he led the development of strategic initiatives and programs including urban resiliency and disaster risk reduction and management. He also managed income generating programs to recover from disaster losses.