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Diane Robertson

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New Zealand community leader

Dame Diane RobertsonDNZM
Robertson in 2015
BornDiane Elizabeth Coburn
(1953-05-11) 11 May 1953 (age 71)
Waipukurau, New Zealand
EducationTararua College
Palmerston North Teachers' College
OccupationAuckland City Missioner
Spouse Wilfred Holt ​(m. 1975)​
ChildrenThree

Dame Diane Elizabeth Robertson DNZM (née Coburn; born 11 May 1953) is a New Zealand community leader. She was the Auckland City Missioner from 1998 until 2015, and was the first woman to serve in the role.

Biography

Robertson was born in Waipukurau in 1953, the daughter of Joan Lois Coburn and her husband Alexander Lawrence Coburn. She was educated at Tararua College, and then studied at Palmerston North Teachers' College where she gained a Diploma of Teaching. She met her husband, Wilfred Holt, when she was teaching at Waiouru Military Camp and he was serving in the army, and they married in 1975. They would go on to have three children.

In 1998, Robertson was appointed the Auckland City Missioner, having previously been a teacher, counsellor and involved in youth work and a manager of a social services agency. She was the first woman and first non-cleric to hold the role. In September 2015 she announced that she would step down from that post at the end of 2015.

Robertson is chair of the Data Futures Partnership, chair of the Goodman Fielder Cares Foundation and a member of the Vulnerable Children's Board.

Honours

Robertson was awarded the New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal in 1990. In the 2015 Queen's Birthday Honours, she was appointed a Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to the community.

Robertson is a Paul Harris Fellow.

References

  1. ^ Taylor, Alister, ed. (2001). New Zealand Who's Who Aotearoa 2001. Auckland: Alister Taylor Publishers. ISSN 1172-9813.
  2. Dastgheib, Shabnam (20 September 2015). "Sunday profile - Diane Robertson". Auckland Now. Retrieved 14 October 2015.
  3. Miller, Corazon (12 September 2015). "Nothing impossible for City Missioner". New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 14 October 2015.
  4. "Dame Diane Robertson leaves Auckland City Mission". 3News. 12 September 2015. Retrieved 14 October 2015.
  5. "Queen's Birthday honours list 2015". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 1 June 2015. Retrieved 14 October 2015.
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