Our Board of Trustees

Paul Gregory, Chairman
Paul has a background in senior roles in financial services in New Zealand and Australia, and is currently part of the executive team for the Financial Markets Authority as Director External Communications and Investor Capability.  Prior to working in financial services he was a newspaper and magazine journalist. He is married to Tess and has three young children.

Allister Jennings, Treasurer
Allister joined the Board in February 2019 as our Treasurer.  He is a Chartered Accountant by trade and has held several senior financial and governance roles in Australia and New Zealand for many years in both commercial and non-commercial environments.    Allister currently works for the University of Auckland managing the University’s Foundations.

Elisa Slaat, Secretary
Elisa has a Masters Degree in Special Education, is an ABA therapist and has worked for the Centre for Autism and Related Disorders (CARD) for four years doing intensive ABA training with children.

Hugh Ammundsen
Hugh has over a quarter century of experience in analysis, corporate finance and consulting. Hugh is married to Vicki and has two children, one of whom has Asperger’s Syndrome. In his “spare time”, Hugh enjoys working on his vineyard in the Far North.

Sally Clark
Sally has over 25 years experience the Food Industry and is an experienced General Manager.  Sally has 2 daughters, one of which has Autism and the other has ADHD.

Kerry Butler
As Head of People, Performance and Culture, at KPMG, Kerry brings to our Board a wealth of experience from a diverse career across varied industries including roles in executive and HR management.

Sophie Cousso
Sophie has over 17 years experience in the NZ banking/finance sector and is passionate about building and developing successful, collaborative teams.

Advisers to the Children’s Autism Foundation Board of Trustees and Staff: 

Deborah Ross
Originally from Scotland, Deborah has lived in NZ for 20 years. Deborah’s academic background was business and marketing however she became qualified as a trainer and assessor in 1995, has worked as learning and development manager in NZ for Telecom, for ASB and for KPMG. In the past ten years Deborah has become a well-respected Leadership and Culture coach and remains passionate about leadership behaviour and making a difference to workplace culture. Deborah has been interested in autism for over 20 years and had a role in Scotland as learning and development manager for The Scottish Society for Autism. In NZ, Deborah has volunteered when possible and is delighted to be an advisor to the CAF Board.

Dr Paul Taylor (Children’s Autism Foundation Board Advisor)
Dr. Taylor is an experienced consultant pediatrician. During his 34-year career as a specialist, he developed a strong interest in Autism Spectrum Disorder and enjoyed working directly with countless young people with autism, their families and their schools. Paul has worked as a Pediatrician in Northland.

Shane Cortese – Children’s Autism Foundation Patron
Actor Shane Cortese became our patron in November 2011. We are very grateful for his passionate and generous support.

“Your involvement in the Children’s Autism Foundation will allow the organisation to help make positive changes to the lifestyles of many families and children, affected by autism”
Shane Cortese, CAF Patron