Hastings lawyer Iain Taylor has been appointed the new Chairman of the Hawke’s Bay Community Fitness Centre Trust (HBCFCT), replacing Sir Graeme Avery.

Iain is a senior partner at Gifford Devine and brings a wealth of business acumen, strong community connections, along with commercial and sport governance experience.

He was the chair of New Zealand’s largest credit union, NZCU Baywide, chair of Hawke’s Bay Hockey and Central Districts Hockey, and is a current trustee of Central Districts Cricket Charitable Trust.

Outgoing chair Sir Graeme Avery, who founded the Trust along with Bruce Mactaggart, is thrilled to be handing over the chair position to a local leader that is well respected across the community as well as around New Zealand.

“Iain is passionate about Hawke’s Bay and creating opportunities for youth to reach their potential. He has been an advocate in the development of EIT Institute Sport & Health and his commercial and community relationships will guide us through the next exciting stages of opening the Regional Aquatic Centre, the 60 bed hostel and extension of the indoor sports hall in 2022.

Iain joins Bruce Mactaggart, Prue Younger, Dan Druzianic, Aayden Clarke, Robyn Kiddle, Grant Russell and Professor Natalie Waran on the Trust.

Iain said it is unprecedented to see how quickly Sir Graeme’s vision has come to reality in the development of a nationally recognised world class facility at the Mitre 10 Regional Sports Park in Hastings.

“Sir Graeme has made an immense contribution to the well-being and development of youth, both at high performance and at community levels in Hawke’s Bay. His vision, passion and energy has created a fantastic community facility that is regarded as the best of its kind in New Zealand along with delivering youth development programmes that are making a positive contribution from Dannevirke through to Wairoa,” said Iain.