Heart Children

Alistair Munro

Alistair grew up in Wellington, but for the last 20 years he has lived in Auckland with his wife, Tracy.  Together they have two children, Sarah and Matthew.  Matthew was born in 1996 with Sick Sinus Syndrome and since he was 2 1/2 has been living with a pacemaker.  Alistair and Tracy have supported Heart Children ever since Matthew was born.  Alistair's contribution to Heart Children has been predominately at the camps, having helped out at all of the Camp Brave Hearts that Matthew attended and he has been Camp Dad at the last two Camp Teen Beats.  In the past he has also provided technology consultancy support to HCNZ as well as running public speaking sessions at National Heart Children Branch Seminars.  Alistair is also on his local high school, Pakuranga College Board of Trustees, runs public speaking training courses via his longterm involvement with Toastmasters and coached both his children's cricket teams over a 5 year period.  Since 1995, Alistair has run his own computer support and database development company.

Auckland:

Donna Jujnovich, Chairperson
Lives in Auckland and is married to Malcolm with two children, Daniel and Nicholas and is the daughter of Nana Marie, volunteer Family Support Worker on Ward 23B.  Nicholas, the youngest was born in 1991 with Tetralogy of Fallot.  Nicholas had an emergency Blalock Shunt at 2 months and a major TOF repair in 1993.  In September 1997, because of arrhythmia he had a pacemaker inserted.  In 2004, Nicholas had a Pulmonary Valve replacement, Tricuspid Vale repair and an upgraded dual chamber pacemaker inserted.  In 2005, due to a broken wire, Nicholas had a new pacemaker inserted.  He will require further surgery in the future. 

Donna has been an active committee member of Heart Children Auckland since 1991 and Chairperson from 1993 to 2007; an Inaugural Board Member of Heart Children New Zealand representing Auckland since 1994 and Chairperson 2008 to 2010 and a Trustee of Heart Children (1995) Trust since 1998.  Donna has held the HR Portfolio for HCNZ Inc. since 1999.  This Portfolio is responsible for the hiring and managing of the CEO and assisting with the employment of senior staff at HCNZ Inc.  Donna is a Procurement Advisor at Air New Zealand Limited.

By Appointment

Ross Pickett

Born and educated in Wellington, now lives with his wife, Jill in Auckland and has two adult children, both living overseas.  Mark is married to Kathryn and lives in Brisbane working for Rio Tinto.  Kelly lives in Toledo, Ohio (USA) with her American husband, Chuck.  Ross' interest in Heart Children began with a coporate sponsorship through DTZ 3 years ago and is pleased to be able to contribute further on the Board.  He is Chairman of Super Liquor and a trustee of The Lion Foundation.  He has had several senior management roles with Lion Nathan and, more recently, two CEO roles in the property industry.  Ross love all sports - as a player in golf and tennis and a keen supportor of the Hurricanes and Warriors from sidelines!

Sheree Dodson

Lives in Papamoa and am married to Bryan with two children, Mikaela born July 2000 and Nathan September 2004. Daughter, Mikaela was diagnosed at 5 months with an ASD and pulmonary stenosis; at 8 months she had surgery to repair the ASD and a PDA. Mikaela has an amazing outlook on life and loves to get out there and give things a go.  

Sheree was part of a very enthusiastic group from the Bay that set up Heart Children Bay of Plenty as an affiliated branch of Heart Children New Zealand, holding the Chairperson role from 2001 until March of 2005. She has been on the board since 2005 as representative of the Central North Island. Prior to this she was involved in the Shaping our Future working party and have seen some significant growth and development of our organisation, and is very proud to be part of such and inspirational group. 

She works in the banking industry and have done so since 1986.

Graeme Mann

Rob Lutter

Rob is married to Maureen, who was Chairperson of Heart Children Hawkes Bay for 8 years and they have 3 boys, youngest of who is Zac, their Heart Child.  Zac was born with multiple heart defects. The major faults were L-TGA, Pulmonary Atresia.  He has had multiple heart surgical procedures including Pacemaker replacements and many months in hospital, Hawkes Bay, Greenlane and now Starship through the years.  At this moment he is going really well but will require ongoing surgery in the future. Rob is a Director of Bay Business Solutions, a business consulting firm which provides business planning for Companies and Organisations in Hawkes Bay.  He also currently serves as a Napier City Councillor.  What he brings to the Board are skills and passion to make a difference in shaping an organisation that provides a great service to you and your children when you need it most.

Jessamy Neilsen

Jessamy is a 26 yr old `adult heart child' with a single ventricle.  She has had two open heart surgeries (at 6 yrs and 21 yrs), numerous smaller operations and in 2007 had an Internal Defribrillator `implanted.  Jessamy has been appointed to the HCNZ Board to represent the large and increasing number of adult heart children support by HCNZ.  She has a Bachelor of Arts Degree in English and Social Anthropology and is currently undertaking a Graduate Diploma in Teaching (Primary) at Massey University.   Prior to studying this year, Jessamy worked fulltime for almost 3 years at Ronald McDonald House, Auckland.  During this time she met and made connections with numerous heart children, heart teens and their families.  Jessamy has an interest in the not-for-profit section and has spent extended periods of time training at Youthline and volunteering for Refugee Services NZ.  Since she was 19 yrs old, one of the highlights of every year for her has been attending Camp Brave Hearts as a helper.  In 2008 HCNZ helped to support Jessamy to volunteer as a helper at two American Heart Camps - Camp del Corazon in Los Angeles and Camp Odayin in Minneapolis - she had an amazing experience!

Lives in Christchurch with wife Suzie and Children Bradley and Grace. After many years in Auckland, Suzie became homesick and the family moved to Christchurch, where they enjoy a relaxing lifestyle. Grace was born with Hypoplastic Left Ventricle. Grace has had a Norwood Procedure, a Bi Directional Glenn and a Fontan Procedure. So far Grace is doing very well and enjoying life to the full. Ross works in Credit Management for MARAC Finance Limited and am actively involved with Heart Children Canterbury, both on the Committee and the Business Committee.

Suzanne Crosado

Suzanne is a Registered Nurse currently working as an Administrator/Practice Nurse for a busy General Practice in Dunedin.  She has been involved with Heart Children since son Alex was diagnosed with multiple complex heart defects at 8 days old.  Alex has undergone 5 lots of surgery on his heart and despite giving us a couple of major scares with broken pacemaker wires, he seems to be doing pretty well.  She is married to Brynley who has also been on the Board of HCNZ and involved with the Otago Branch over previous years.  She has been on the Otago Branch for 8 years, including time as Secretary and now as Chairperson and on the HCNZ Board since November 2006.  Outside of work she enjoys silk painting, card making, beading, reading, gardening, walking and slightly dubious skills as a home handyperson.