About Christina

I’m a philanthropic consultant and learning partner based in Aotearoa New Zealand. I’ve spent over 30 years working across the philanthropic, community, government, and academic sectors and bring this eclectic range of skills and experience to my consulting practice.

In my 20s I worked at the coal-face, in hands on community-service roles. Experience in volunteer mentoring led to amazing opportunities: establishing a community volunteer centre and then creating Aotearoa’s first Resource Worker programme at Child, Youth and Family Services (now Oranga Tamariki). Returning to study, I completed a PhD in social psychology at Massey University, and lectured at the Open Polytechnic.

Following a 5-year interlude in public sector evaluation and strategic information analysis, I found my ideal job in philanthropy – working for the Todd Foundation.  After being promoted to the Executive Director role in 2015, I led an organisational transformation that positioned the Foundation as a proactive, systems-focused funder.

Since 2020, I have worked as an independent consultant supporting philanthropists and funding organisations across Aotearoa to strengthen how they give, learn, partner, and change.