Board members

The Foundation is governed by a Board of Trustees—a group of graduates and friends of the University who bring a wide range of expertise and experience.

Trustees have a fiduciary responsibility to ensure all donated funds are correctly managed, invested, and disbursed.

Souella Cumming FCA, ONZM, Acting Chair

Souella is an independent director and works with a number of boards in the non-profit and government sectors. She was awarded an ONZM in 2022 for her services to governance.

Souella retired from KPMG New Zealand in 2023 where she held a number of leadership roles in KPMG’s Consulting and Government sector practices and specialised in governance, financial and risk management, and assurance services.

Souella is a Fellow Chartered Accountant (FCA) of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand (CA ANZ), a member of the Institute of Directors New Zealand, and of Global Women.

Souella is on the board of Zonta International and the Zonta Foundation for Women. In addition to her role on Zonta’s board, Souella’s board portfolio includes the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons; Hohepa Wellington, an intellectual disability provider, Special Olympics New Zealand Foundation, St John New Zealand Audit and Risk Committee; and the audit committee for the Financial Statements of Government, Land Information New Zealand, and the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.

Souella is a strong champion of diversity and good governance and is passionate about making a positive contribution and improving outcomes for the organisations she works with.

Souella graduated from Victoria University of Wellington with a BCA in Accountancy in 1981.

Alan Judge (ex-officio as Chancellor)

Alan Judge assumed the Chancellorship from 11 February 2025 following election by members of the University Council. He was a member of the Council for seven years, during which time he chaired the University's Finance Committee.

Alan is a Fellow of the Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand (CAANZ) and a member of the Institute of Directors. He is the chair of Habit Health and a director of a number of other private companies. He is a trustee of the Dame Malvina Major Foundation and was previously a trustee and Chair of the City Gallery Wellington Foundation.

Alan was a partner in EY for 29 years and left the practice in 2017. During his professional career, he spent three years as an international tax partner in the London office. Alan was the chair of the New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants tax committee and was heavily involved in tax policy development with the Bolger and Clark governments. He led the Government and Public Sector and Financial Services practices of EY, was the chair of the New Zealand firm, and a member of the EY Asia Pacific Advisory Board.

Alan lives in, and is passionate about, Wellington and the arts.

Professor Nic Smith (ex-officio as Vice-Chancellor)

Professor Nic Smith joined the University as Vice-Chancellor in January 2023. He is the chair of the Te Hiwa, the University's senior leadership team.

Prior to this appointment, Professor Smith held professorial appointments as the Provost at Queensland University of Technology, Dean of Engineering at the University of Auckland, Head of Biomedical Engineering at King's College London, and Professor of Computational Physiology at the University of Oxford.

In all these roles he has continued an active teaching and research practice. This work has focused on the development of unique computational models that have been integrated with patient images and applied in hospitals to improve the diagnosis and treatment of heart disease. He has authored more than 170 peer-reviewed journal publications and 350 conference publications. He is also the lead author on several patent applications for the development of physiological models for specific clinical applications. He is a fellow of the Royal Society Te Apārangi and Engineering New Zealand.

Emeritus Professor Gregor Coster CNZM

Gregor was a Professor of Health Policy and the inaugural Dean of the Faculty of Health until retiring in 2020. He graduated from Victoria University of Wellington with a Master of Science with Honours (1970) and a PhD in Health Policy (2004), and in Medicine from the University of Otago in 1975, becoming the Elaine Gurr Professor of General Practice at the University of Auckland in 1995. He later became Dean of Graduate Studies there for a period of six years until his retirement in 2012.

Gregor helped to establish the University’s Faculty of Health in 2017 which brought together researchers from across the University to focus on subjects such as health promotion, health psychology, health policy and health service delivery, health leadership and management, workplace health and safety, health informatics, women’s health research, and health services research alongside postgraduate programmes for nurses and midwives.

Gregor is Chair of the Parochial District of Makara and Karori West Trust and is on the Board of the Mary Potter Hospice. Gregor has previously held roles as Chair of WorkSafe New Zealand, Counties Manukau District Health Board, West Coast District Health Board, the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners and Deputy Chair of PHARMAC and Health Workforce New Zealand. He has also served as a Board Member of ACC and UNICEF New Zealand.

In his spare time, Gregor has regularly competed in marathons and triathlons, including the World Age Group Championships, and the World Masters Games where he won gold in his category in 2017.

Pania Gray (Ngāpuhi)

Pania Gray (Ngāpuhi) is the independent chair of privately-held Education Services Limited.

Pania Gray was previously the deputy chair of the New Zealand Qualifications Authority and the Academic Quality Agency for New Zealand Universities. She has held governance roles on the New Zealand Film Commission, the Māori Education Trust, Tātai Aho Rau CORE Education Limited, and the New Zealand Council for Educational Research.

Pania is a graduate of Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington with a Bachelor of Commerce and Administration (1994), Bachelor of Arts (1996), and a Bachelor of Arts with First Class Honours (1999).

Dr Ruth Harley CNZM OBE

Ruth is currently the Chair of NZ On Air Irirangi Te Motu.

Ruth has a long international career in the screen industry. She was formerly the Commissioning Editor for Television New Zealand (1986–1988) and the inaugural Executive Director of NZ On Air (1989–1995). Ruth was CEO of the New Zealand Film Commission (1997–2008) and Screen Australia (2008–2013).

In 1993 Ruth was awarded a New Zealand Suffrage Centennial Medal and she has been acknowledged as a World Class New Zealander.

Her contribution to the Kiwi screen industry was recognised with an appointment as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1996 New Year Honours for her work in broadcasting, and in the 2006 New Year Honours, she was made a Companion of the NZ Order of Merit (CNZM) in recognition for her service to the film industry in New Zealand.

Raphael Hilbron

Raphael is a founding partner of Agite Consulting Limited where he advises a range of private and public sector clients to successfully manage reputation risk. Before joining Agite, Raphael was Managing Partner for a leading communications firm where he worked for 15 years.

Prior to that, he was head of corporate responsibility at Vodafone NZ and was seconded to Vodafone Group in the UK for two years. In the early 90s, Raphael worked as a reporter for The Dominion newspaper and as a press secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister.

Raphael holds Law and Arts degrees from Victoria University of Wellington and a New Zealand Certificate in Journalism.

Tim Pankhurst

Tim was Chief Executive of Seafood New Zealand from 2013 to 2020, following roles as the General Manager of the Communications and Media Industry Training Organisation (CMITO) and Print NZ and Chief Executive of the Newspaper Publishers' Association.

He was previously the editor of four major New Zealand daily newspapers: The Dominion Post, Waikato Times, The Press, and The Evening Post—and had a long career as a journalist in New Zealand and Australia.

Tim is a member of MetService’s Moana Project management group, which monitors and analyses ocean temperature changes and conducts kai moana research. He is a Big Brothers and Sisters mentor and incoming chair of Predator Free Wellington.

He is the author of Roughy on the Rise—a history of the orange roughy fishery—and Every Effing Inch, an account of completing the 3000km Te Araroa Trail with Dame Kerry Prendergast and his wife Sue.

Brooke Roberts

Brooke Roberts is the co-founder, director and 3EO (co-CEO) of Sharesies and a mother of two. At Sharesies, their vision is to give someone with $5 and $5m the same money opportunities. Sharesies is a wealth app with over half a million investors who’ve collectively invested billions of dollars. Sharesies also partners with NZX and ASX listed companies so they can know and communicate to their retail investors, support capital raises, and provide staff share schemes.

Brooke is passionate about creating equal opportunities and business being a force for good—she puts a lot of focus on making sure Sharesies has a positive impact on people, customers, communities, and the environment. Brooke was the co-winner of the 2020 Women of Influence Business award, alongside co-founder, Sonya Williams. Brooke was also awarded the 2022 NZ Hi-Tech Inspiring Individual and 2022 EY Services Entrepreneur of the Year New Zealand, alongside co-founders Sonya Williams and Leighton Roberts.

Tricia Walbridge

Tricia was appointed as the first Executive Director of the Victoria University of Wellington Foundation in 1990. She had worked in the not-for-profit sector in New Zealand since moving from her native UK in 1981. During her time at the Foundation, Tricia was instrumental in leading fundraising efforts to establish some of the University’s most iconic institutions such as the International Institute of Modern Letters and the Adam Art Gallery. Her work also enabled the First Light Solar Decathlon project, partnership Chairs at the Wellington School of Business and Government, and numerous student scholarships and prizes, many of which are still offered today. In 2018, Tricia was awarded a Hunter Fellowship by the University Council for her many years of service.

Tricia is now an Adviser and Secretary to the Board of the Te Mana o Kupe Trust, supporting disadvantaged youth and families in Porirua by providing devices to children in decile 1 schools with the aim of making digital technology accessible and affordable.

Tricia has been supporting the funding efforts for the Living Pā as part of the fundraising Steering Group and has been appointed as an Ambassador for the project.

Liban Ali—VUWSA Student Representative

Liban Ali is the 2025 President of the Victoria University Student's Association—Te Aka Tauira.  He has completed a Bachelor of Arts degree majoring in Criminology with minors in Sociology and Social Policy.

Liban is driven by a deep commitment to creating a student experience that is fair, supportive, and empowering for everyone. His focus is on building engagement, fostering collaboration, and ensuring student voices are front and centre in decision-making spaces.

He is determined to advocate for meaningful solutions — from addressing the cost of living, to improving campus services and enhancing support for our diverse student community, making sure every student feels seen, heard, and empowered to succeed.