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Welcome to the new and returning New Zealand Bridge Board Members. With 7 candidates standing for 4 places, there will be some disappointments. New Zealand Bridge really appreciates the level of interest shown and hopes that those who were not successful this time may choose to stand again in the future.

Two from the North and two from the South Island. Let’s start with the new faces.

Anna Kalma lives in Cambridge and plays at many of the clubs in the Waikato Region. She only started playing bridge in 2012 but comes from a large bridge playing family. She has been on the Waikato Bays Regional Committee since 2015, teaches, directs, scores and regards with greatest satisfaction helping in the revival of the Te Aroha Club, her home club, from almost closing its doors to now a 60+ member twice a week very active club.

She runs a dairy farm and is involved in agribusiness consultancy projects and has a background in marketing and rural banking.

Sam Coutts from Dunedin is the current NZ International Youth Team Co-ordinator, a role he has fulfilled since 2019. He is a former NZ Youth Team representative himself, on several occasions. He runs a business which produces farm maps from satellite and aerial imagery providing hard copy prints for every day use on farms.

With a background and qualifications in Geographic Information Systems and Land Planning and Development, his passions are in Pipe Band organisation, tutoring, snare-drum playing and last but by no means least bridge.

And a welcome back on to the Board to:

Karen Martelletti Karen has been giving to the bridge community for nearly 30 years, whether to her home club, Tauranga, on her Regional Committee or in the last 6 years as a member of the New Zealand Bridge Board. On the Board, she has been particularly involved on the Congress Committee and also has chaired the Teaching Committee responsible for the Beginner through to Intermediate level lessons available for all. In particular, she has excellent knowledge on website development and management and has huge passion and commitment to bridge at all levels.

Now retired (much more time for bridge administration!), she worked for a dairy farmer co-operative, Livestock Improvement, for 37 years. She is a Life Member of the Tauranga Club. When she is not working for the Board, she will be still helping, organising at her local club and provides technical support and advice to clubs in and beyond her region.

John Skipper from Christchurch has been on the Board for three years. In that time, he has been involved in the rewrite of the NZB Constitution, is the Board member on the International Sub Committee, and with his involvement in the Regulations sub-committee has been involved in the recent manual rewrite. He is also part-way through a project to develop a National Grading System to replace the current Rating Point system.

He has been a member of the Christchurch Bridge Club since 1980 and was President during the most stressful period of the Christchurch earthquakes when the present superb club-rooms were built. He is a business mentor and Justice of the Peace and is devoting much of his semi-retirement to bridge administration.

We have here four people passionate about our game bringing a variety of different skills to the Board. They join Board Chairman, Allan Morris, Anne Barrowclough and Sue Brown as members of the Board. I am sure all New Zealand bridge players wish them well.

Richard Solomon

 

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