PERSONAL STORY
Alister's personal story has several distinct elements and phases.
His natural habitat is around people and water (he has a beautiful home on Waiheke Island).
His roots are in the South Island of NZ, with a pretty normal but rather conservative upbringing. He came from a loving family and thoroughly enjoyed his school years in Christchurch. Alister's father was a WWII vet who was mined and badly injured, but made a full recovery, and enjoyed the simple pleasures of life. His mother could trace her family back to the first 4 ships, and her mother was on the Legislative Council when NZ had an Upper House. Both his parents were very keen sports people, so he was introduced to all sorts of sports and outdoor pursuits throughout his childhood. Alister has a sister who still lives in Christchurch.
The second phase of his life started when he graduated with an Honours Degree in Civil Engineering, and married his wife Marilyn who was from Wellington. That started a phase of exploring new horizons, travelling extensively and learning about the world. They worked in London (which included a large port development project in Saudi Arabia), Sri Lanka, Singapore and Thailand, over a period of about 8 years.
It was the time they spent in Thailand which launched the third phase of his life. Alister went to Thailand to work on a NZ Aid Project, involving Small Scale Water Resource Development Projects, based in Chaiyaphum, a province of about 1million people in North East Thailand, ten of whom spoke English.
As well as learning Thai, he also learnt that to be effective he needed to be much more than an Engineer, and needed to understand Agronomy, Village and Provincial Politics, Sociology, Buddhism, and to develop a strong empathy for others. These traits he has carried forward with him ever since.
The fourth phase of his personal development came when he and Marilyn were back in NZ, bringing up three girls and was introduced to the material of Human Synergistics, Achieve Global’s Interpersonal Management Skills and Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits. This further developed the people leadership skills he was increasingly embracing, learning the importance of listening, focusing on constructive thinking styles, and the power of positive reinforcement. Alister believes this made him much more effective in his professional career and also in his home life.
Through all this he has taken a strong interest in the wider community, and in particular NZ's young people. He was an active Rotarian for over 20 years, being awarded three Paul Harris Fellowships. He started a Charitable Trust within the plumbing industry which has over a 13 year period raised over $1.5m for Youth at Risk initiatives and he is now the Trust’s Patron. Alister was also one of the founding Trustees of The Stellar Trust and is now Deputy Chairman. The Stellar Trust was established in 2008 to educate the community, and especially young people, about the perils of the scourge of Methamphetamine. Both these Trusts are enduring today.