Peter is an extraordinary and accomplished New Zealander.
Peter was educated at Victoria University in Wellington gaining a Bachelor of Arts (Economics) and Bachelor of Laws with Honours. He qualified as a Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court in 1972 and clerked for the Chief Justice of New Zealand for 18 months.
Peter first went to the US from New Zealand in 1973 to pursue post-graduate studies in law at the University of Virginia as a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar. After his career in private legal practice in New Zealand with Watts and Patterson, now Minter Ellison, he returned to the US in 1992 to take up a position with the World Bank as a senior international attorney. After 16 years, he retired from this position in 2009.
Peter was inducted into the Rotary Club of Wellington North in 1976 and is currently a member of the Rotary Club of Capitol Hill, Washington, DC and he served as the District Governor of District 7620 in 2013-14. He has served on many Rotary International and Rotary Foundation committees including Alumni, Partnerships and Rotarian Action Groups. He has chaired the Rotary Peace Centres Committee for the past three years and chaired the Peace Symposium in Sao Paulo in 2015. He has also served as an International Assembly Training Leader, RI Representative to the World Bank, COL Delegate and is a Board member of WASRAG.
Peter has received the Global Alumni Service to Humanity Award together with the Service above Self Award and the Citation for Meritorious Service. He and his wife, Margaret, live on the West River in Maryland in a home designed by Margaret and close to their two children and two grandsons.
Peter will be our guest speaker, the theme of his talk will be discussing 'Peacebuilding'.
The talk will cover how Rotary was instrumental in creating the United Nations and its strong partnership with the UN today.
Peter will talk about his journey representing Rotary at the UN and other institutional organisations.
There will be insights into Peter involvement with Rotary’s Peace Initiatives and he will detail Rotary’s historical role as a Peace Building organisation.
Beach Clean up
Our group will be hosted by the National Aquarium of New Zealand to clean up litter along an area of Napier’s Marine Parade. The Aquarium is a participant in the nationwide litter intelligence programme that will involve us as “citizen scientists” collecting and categorising litter from the beachfront, contributing to a national database. The staff will give an insight into what type of litter is found on our beaches and how we could form our own monitoring sites becoming citizen scientists to help solve the problem of marine litter.
Grab Bags Emergency Kit Assembly
Our recent history has shown that environmental disasters can hit us at any time and happen more frequently. There is an awareness in the community that we need to be prepared, but don’t always know how.
Grab Bags is a Rotary First Light Community Group Growth Plan project meeting this need by providing emergency kits to families in the disaster-prone areas of Hawkes Bay and Tairawhiti.
We invite you to participate in the assembly of the bags at avenue near the Napier Conference Centre. Hear how our local Rotary Clubs have come together to make this project a reality and the opportunities for the project to be replicated in other regions. Enjoy the chance to fill emergency kits with essential items ready for distribution to vulnerable families.
