Our people
Meet the team helping biodiversity thrive across the Southern Lakes Sanctuary.
Paul Kavanagh
Chief Executive
Paul has a significant background in conservation, and brings extensive experience to the project in protecting and preserving native biodiversity. He is responsible in leading the Sanctuary team and overall project management.
Paul is the primary point of contact for the Southern Lakes Sanctuary trustees and other stakeholders and does a fantastic job maintaining strong relationships.
Matt Hollyer
Operations Manager
Matt is a huge part of the energy and drive behind the Sanctuary. He uses his highly developed entreprenurial and management skills to build or reinforce relationships with our Project partners, Consortium members, and the broader community.
Matt pretends to know nothing about conservation, however has a massive soft spot for our amazing outdoors and the native critters that live there. Matt can often be found leading the way in planting trees, pulling weeds or carrying traps in the Sanctuary.
Katrina Black
Planner Specialist
Katrina has highly-developed planning experience in a number of diverse and international roles. She provides planning advice and guidance in support of all elements of the Sanctuary project.
This includes all aspects of invasive predator control and biodiversity monitoring.
Katrina also plays a key role in fundraising, engagement and long term planning.
Melanie Seyfort
Partnerships Manager
Mel brings over 20 years of experience working at the intersection of conservation and not-for-profit development to Southern Lakes Sanctuary.
She has led engagement and partnership initiatives across both non-profit and corporate organisations and is passionate about connecting people with purpose — whether through building strategic alliances, empowering communities, or sharing the powerful stories of biodiversity in recovery.
Having grown up in the Southern Lakes, Mel is deeply connected to the landscapes and communities that shape this place.
Bonnie Wilkins
Whakatipu Hub Coordinator
Bonnie is responsible for coordinating and collaborating with the Whakatipu community, and supporting the efforts of the Whakatipu Wildlife Trust.
Her role includes assisting with all aspects of biodiversity and predator control, carrying out trap network audits and creating content for their social media channels.. as well as ours!
Bonnie is also a pretty mean skier and can also nail a karaoke challenge.
Greg Whall
Biodiversity Coordinator & Glenorchy Hub Coordinator
Greg is responsible for enabling all aspects of the Sanctuary team. He helps to coordinate field work across Sanctuary hubs, and assists with all aspects of trap-building projects.
Greg’s responsibilities also include sourcing project supplies and assisting in the field with predator control and monitoring.
Sarah Forder
Makarora Hub Coordinator
Sarah brings significant project and biodiversity experience to her role in supporting the Central Otago Lakes Branch of Forest & Bird.
She works to coordinate and enable the extensive invasive predator control efforts in the Makarora region. Sarah also collaborates with Wānaka-based biodiversity and field staff on other Sanctuary projects.
Scott Bewley
Matukituki Hub Coordinator
Scott’s role supports the operations of two dedicated environmental trusts that have established trapping programs in the East and West Matukituki valleys.
Both the Otago Kiwi Recovery Trust and the Matukituki Charitable Trust have teams of volunteers who are coordinated by Scott. He also assists with general biodiversity enhancement tasks in the Wānaka region.
Chrissy Becker-Fifield
Glenorchy Field Crew & Volunteer Coordinator
Chrissy has a real passion for protecting biodiversity. She carries out predator control at the head of Lake Whakatipu but especially loves the species monitoring side of the role. You will often spot her carrying out bird counts in the bush.
Chrissy has recently taken over as volunteer coordinator for the Routeburn Dart Wildlife Trust. She also helps them maintain their website and runs their social media channels and does a lot of this for us too!
Samuel Purdie
Biodiversity Project Coordinator
Samuel loves creepy crawlies. This was alarming to his parents until he went to University and completed postgraduate studies in Science focussing on lizards.
He can frequently be found turning over rocks, looking for interesting species and will be helping Southern Lakes Sanctuary with our planning and monitoring of these cryptic species.
Samuel takes amazing photos of the creepy crawlies in our region and will be helping share information about our species through our media networks.
Philip Green
Technical & Field Advisor
Phil’s passion for climbing and the outdoors includes significant experience in environmental and conservation projects.
His main role with the Sanctuary project is to provide technical advice and support to our staff and community organisations in the Whakatipu area.
Phil can advise on trap types, trapping layouts, baits and lures, use of the database trap.nz and managing trap builds.
Jo Tilson
Biodiversity Coordinator
Jo has extensive experience in planning and implementing biodiversity monitoring work across Aotearoa New Zealand.
She is particularly focused on the practical training of others to monitor protected species and invasive predators.
Jo has a wealth of project experience, including the Paparoa Wildlife Trust monitoring the Roroa Great Spotted Kiwi.
Will King
Whakatipu Field Crew
Will is our very own action man and plays a mean game of football. He is a machine when it comes to hauling equipment up hills, is reliable and up for any task that comes his way.
Will was initially part of the Tucker’s Beach Restoration Project and did a fantastic job clearing weeds and planting. The area is now seeing many braided river birds coming back as a result.
Will is now carrying out predator control across many of our hubs as well as track clearing and pest monitoring.
Michelle Coe
Administration & Coordination
Michelle’s role at the Sanctuary is to keep us all honest. Her primary responsibility is to ensure the smooth operation of a number of critical operational and governance ‘back-of-house’ functions. Michelle does this with the minimum amount of fuss, despite our best efforts to make her life difficult.
She loves waking to the sound of our native birds, and is always keen for opportunities to get into the field to better understand our conservation efforts.
Paul Millis
Wānaka Field Crew
Paul is responsible for undertaking trap servicing and building, maintenance on existing trap lines, installing new traps, helping with biodiversity monitoring and carrying out general field work as required.
Paul feels he is doing a worthwhile job which he loves, in a place that he loves. He spent his childhood in the forest which is why it is his happy place.
Paul’s favourite thing to do is visit his children as they take him on many adventurous walks.
Our Trustees
The Trustees of the Southern Lakes Sanctuary bring a wealth of experience to their strategic and governance roles. They are all passionate advocates for a sanctuary within this area of spectacular mountains, lakes and rivers, protecting thriving ecosystems and abundant wildlife that are enjoyed by people who treasure this whenua puiaki.
Greg Lind
Co-Chair
Greg Lind recently retired from DOC after 32 years in a number of roles, the most recent being operations manager for Te Anau District, managing Fiordland National Park. He brings extensive experience in leading large-scale predator control programmes such as Battle for our Birds. In addition to this Greg has had much involvement with community groups and commercial businesses engaging in conservation, including on Rakiura/Stewart Island and in the Whakatipu basin. Greg has recently become a trustee of the Routeburn Dart Wildlife Trust, is an conservation advisor to the National Parks and Conservation Foundation, and is active on conservation projects around his home town of Cromwell.
Leslie Van Gelder
Co-Chair
Leslie Van Gelder holds a Ph.D. in Place Studies and Experiential Education and is a Professor of Education with specialisation in global and indigenous education at Walden University. She has worked in the conservation sector since 2006 developing an international global leadership network which linked together conservation and heritage professionals from 55 countries. Her work as an archaeologist answering questions about human responses to climate change has allowed her to bring together and manage diverse teams, government agencies, and traditional landowners towards common goals. In the Queenstown Lakes District she recently served on the mayor’s Vision 2050 taskforce and locally chairs the Glenorchy Heritage and Museum Group. Leslie has also served as a committee member of the Central Otago Lakes Branch of Forest and Bird and currently co-directs the Glenorchy Dark Skies Sanctuary project.
Jo Booker
Soho Property Ltd
Jo has grown up in the mountains, and has witnessed the transformation of the four properties which make up the Mahu Whenua Covenants from traditionally farmed sheep stations to high country properties being restored to their natural condition. Jo has a passion for conservation and when she’s not working can often be found in the hills beyond Arrowtown, removing wilding pines or clearing tracks. She is part of the management team of Soho Property Ltd.
Geoff Hughes
Routeburn Dart Wildlife Trust
Geoff Hughes was formerly a hospital doctor, taking early retirement four years ago. He has considerable experience in organisational management and governance in the health sector. At the time of retirement Geoff was an executive clinical director with budget responsibilities for $200 million and 1000 staff across two hospitals in Australia, having been a clinical director in NZ before that. On retirement Geoff changed direction and focussed on making a contribution to conservation and was appointed as a part time executive officer to the Routeburn Dart Wildlife Trust in 2016.
Margrethe Helles
Mātakitaki Conservation Group
Mags has been involved in establishing and running various conservation projects in the Wānaka area. She has a passion for behaviour change and motivation psychology to help drive change in the conservation space. Having worked in project management and marketing for non-for-profit organisations, she has extensive experience in establishing and managing relationships as well as community and volunteer engagement. With a background in psychology and research, she is currently working as a Sleep Therapist in Wānaka.
Tony Patterson
Whakatipu Wildlife Trust
Tony’s love for Queenstown, both for its people and its natural beauty, has been a lifelong affair. In fact, it started before he was born; his extended family had a much-loved and visited bach in Frankton and later built in Dalefield, where they were part of a fantastic network of people. Tony has carried this sense of community throughout his life, and is deeply passionate about working for the mutual benefit of local people and environment. A key way this manifests for him is respecting our beautiful backyard, and exploring sustainability solutions that will protect and enhance our native wildlife for years to come.
Andrew Penniket
Central Otago Lakes Branch of NZ Forest & Bird Protection Society
Andrew has been involved in predator trapping and conservation in the Wanaka/Southern Lakes area for over 25 years, reflecting his life-long interest in nature and conservation. After completing biology degrees Andrew moved to Dunedin to join the TVNZ Natural History Unit making wildlife films. He spent over 30 years filming underwater for many overseas networks, including work on several BBC flagship series. In Wanaka he helped establish the Makarora trapping network as well as instigating live capture trapping networks around Makarora and Matukituki Rivers. Andrew managed Te Kakano Aotearoa’s community plant nursery for 12 years and also initiated a high altitude trapping line around Roys Peak and Mount Alpha. He continues to be in awe of our wonderful wildlife.
Kris Vollebregt
Predator Free Wānaka
Kris Vollebregt worked as an exploration geologist in Australia and Indonesia for 8 years, before settling in NZ to raise a family. She “retired” from geology and became heavily involved in working and volunteering on conservation projects. She currently resides in Wānaka, working as Nursery Manager at the Te Kakano Aotearoa Trust community native plant nursery. One of her conservation efforts was establishing the Wānaka Backyard Trapping group in 2018.
Bruce Jefferies
Conservation Management and Planning Systems
Bruce has worked for over four decades as an advisor, consultant, and practitioner and has knowledge and experience in both the theory and practice of conserving large, complex landscape-scale systems. Bruce’s expertise encompasses a range of conservation planning, management, monitoring/evaluation systems, and training experience, acquired in New Zealand (NZ National Park Service for 25 years), Pacific Island countries and states, Papua New Guinea, Tonga, Nauru, Samoa, Tuvalu, Marshall Islands, South and East Asia (Nepal, Bhutan, Philippines, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Thailand, China, Timor Leste), and several other island nations.
Ross Sinclair
Conservation Biologist
Ross has lived or holidayed in the Southern Lakes Sanctuary landscape since childhood. He started his career in conservation as a Wildlife Ranger for DoC in the early 1990s and has worked in conservation in over a dozen countries, mostly in the Asia Pacific. Ross has a PhD in conservation biology and provides technical advice on conservation, protected areas, nature-based solutions, and environmental and wildlife health. Across the dozens of landscape-scale projects he has been involved in worldwide, Ross has seen few as compelling as the Southern Lakes Sanctuary.
Amanda Hasselman
Temple Peak Station, Glenorchy
Amanda has farmed in Glenorchy for over 40 years now alongside husband Mark and has enjoyed exploring the surrounding hills with family and friends. Originally from Suffolk in England, Amanda graduated with a degree in Geography and set off to see the world, eventually ending up in stunning Glenorchy. She works on the farm which is now Carbon Zero certified, and confirms it is a lifestyle where the focus is on living within the constraints of the environment. Amanda says that being a part of the Trust is a great opportunity to help make a difference to local biodiversity and contribute towards Predator Free NZ.
Estelle Pura Pera-Leask MNZM
Ngāi Tahu, Whakatōhea, Ngāti Ruanui
Estelle has a Bachelor in Environmental Management and is currently an Awarua Rūnaka rep on the Whenua Hou Komiti and Te Tapu o Tāne Ltd. She is also chair of the Bluff Hill Motupōhue Environment Trust, a trustee for PFNZ Trust, Te Puka Rakiura Trust (PF Rakiura) and a mana whenua representative at the Southland Regional Council.
Estelle recently took on the role of Tumu Kaupapa Atawhai ki Murihiku (formally DOC Pou Tairangahau) and works on behalf of Ngāi Tahu and Department of Conservation ki Murihiku on strategic partnership kaupapa.
In 2022, she received a Queens Birthday honour of Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM) for services to conservation and Māori!