Your community development planners
There are four community development planners at Venture Southland, covering all the Southland District wards. You can find out more about your area's Community Development Planner, and her contact details, below.
We would really love to hear from you about projects or initiatives in your community - please click on 'what we do' in the left hand bar to see how we can support your community, or contact us by email or phone.
Bobbi Brown was born and raised in Gore and has travelled overseas - however as always come home to Southland. With her husband Alasdair, she now dairy farms in Clinton and Invercargill and has a 5 year old son Joshua. Attending the University of Otago for about 8 years, she studied and taught subjects such as languages, business management and tourism policy and development. Bobbi has umpired netball at the top international level for 10 years. This has allowed her to travel extensively all over the world as well as throughout NZ, but all the travel has only reinforced to her that there is no better place in the world to live than Southland. A part of the community development team since 2003, Bobbi claims that the best part of her job is the people. “‘When you work alongside people for years, you gradually become part of their lives and (in a way) their community. Its pretty cool to have been around long enough to see the positive outcomes of planning etc put in place years ago.” Bobbi has been fortunate to work alongside communities in Northern Southland through to Southern Southland. She enjoys working on different and diverse projects as well as providing a link to funders and support for community groups. “You could never say that this job is boring – there is always a new project around the corner, a new challenge.”
Wards Bobbi works in: Five Rivers, Waikaia, Toetoes.
To contact Bobbi:
Phone: (03) 211 1411 or 021 241 7606
Email: bobbi@venturesouthland.co.nz
Diana Zadravec is the Community Development Planner for Te Anau & Tuatapere Wards. She comes from Slovenia, a country only the size of two thirds of Southland, but has lived in New Zealand for over ten years, first in Te Anau where she worked in hospitality and later for the Borland Lodge Adventure and Education Trust before moving to Invercargill. “The variety of groups we get to work with makes this job really interesting and sometimes challenging,” says Diana. Some of the projects she is currently involved with include the Te Anau Bowling Club redevelopment, the Fiordland Aero Club, the Tuatapere Pool redevelopment and the Blackmount School Centennial celebrations and book publishing. Sustainability is a strong interest for Diana, not only in the context of preserving the environment but also the suitability of community facilities, the many community organisations, and rural communities themselves. She has been working extensively with community swimming pool management groups and has also undertaken an audit of several pools. Diana is also currently working on the implementation of the Western Southland Youth Needs Assessment through the Western Southland Youth Focus Group. Diana is a keen tramper, gardener and reader. She thoroughly enjoys such Southland specialities as blue cod, venison and swedes but will draw a line at that New Zealand institution, a breakfast of Weetbix. She thinks she is getting not too bad at rolling her Rs.
Wards Diana works in: Te Anau, Tuatapere.
To contact Diana:
Phone: (03) 211 1408 or 021 516 484
Email: diana@venturesouthland.co.nz
Juanita Thornton
Juanita Thornton is Venture Southland’s newest Community Development Planner and works for the Te Tipua, Waihopai, Wallacetown, Riverton and Rakiura/Stewart Island wards. She said she is “looking forward to working in a role that supports a diverse range of community groups as they undertake their projects and activities around the Southland District”.
Wards Anna works in: Riverton, Wallacetown, Waihopai, Te Tipua, Stewart Island
To contact Juanita:
Phone: (03) 211 1417 or 021 750 107
Email: juanita@venturesouthland.co.nz
Tina Geary, born and bred in Southland, has a Bachelor of Commerce at Otago University. She began working for Venture Southland as a Community Development Planner in 2002 and her usual areas of responsibility are Winton Ward and Wallace Ward. Tina has recently returned to work from maternity leave and is currently working part time in this role.
Tina is involved in a wide range of projects throughout the wards she works in. Larger scale projects include the Edendale Community Centre Development and Rakiura Information and Heritage Centre Development. Example of smaller projects are Riverton Senior Citizens funding assistance, Edendale Promotions street map development, Brydone Heritage Kiosk development. “The best part of my job is working alongside members of the community to achieve their project goals and funding targets and seeing the satisfaction of an initial idea being brought to fruition,” she said.
Wards Tina works in: Winton and Wallace Wards.
To contact Tina:
Phone: (03) 211 1400 or 021 273 2443
Email: tina@venturesouthland.co.nz
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Rex Capil,
Group Manager Community Development and Events
Venture Southland
Rex has been involved with Community Development and Events with the Southland District Council and Venture Southland since 1996. He has an interest and extensive experience with the education, sport and recreation and heritage sectors.
Rex has worked on a wide range of projects since 1996 - including the Riverton Te Hikoi Heritage Centre development, preparation and review of a number of Community Concept Plans, coordinating the establishment of the Invercargill Secondary School Network Trust, coordination and leadership of the Education Southland joint international marketing initiative, project development for the New Zealand Cycleway Project – Around the Mountains and was project manager for the development of the Southland Leisure Strategy to name a few.
Rex is a born and bred Southlander who attended Otago University in the early 1980s – majoring in Economics and History. He enjoys family time with his partner Carolyn and their 5 children, has hosted international students from Thailand, Hong Kong, Germany, Japan and Korea, and is Chairman of Softball New Zealand, Chairman of the Oceania Softball Confederation, Chairman of New Zealand Rugby League South Island Zone Board and Chairman of the Southland Girls’ High School Board of Trustees.
He is an avid sports follower, enjoys reading, travelling and tramping – having completed the Kepler, Milford and Routeburn Tracks over recent years with his family and international students.