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School Board

Mark Sandelin

Mark Sandelin ’75 – Chairman

Mark has been Board Chair since 2019 and is a barrister at Mills Lane Chambers, specialising in commercial and contract litigation, and relationship property disputes. He also holds numerous directorships including Chair of Sleepyhead Group ltd, Board member of the Electricity Authority, and Chair of Trinity Hill Wines Ltd.

As Chair of the Board Mark is a member of each of the Board’s committees and has had an ongoing interest in the School’s Development programme as a previous Chair of this group.

Mark’s two sons have followed in his footsteps, with Jamie ’11 having completed his studies at the University of Sydney and Jack ’17 also studying at the University of Sydney.

Grant Trethewey

Grant Trethewey ’76 – Deputy Chairman

Grant is an Auckland Grammar Old Boy, who attended the School from 1976 to 1980.

Grant joined the Board in 2022 as the Old Boys’ Association representative. Grant was President of the Association during the School’s 150th year in 2019, and was involved in the fundraising for the Te Ara Capital Project, and has also been a member of the Headmasters Council.

Grant and his wife Ginny have owned and operated Early Learning Centres in West Auckland for the last 15 years. Prior to his involvement in the Early Childhood sector, he worked as a town planner and solicitor

Grant’s son Hamish ’15 finished his tenure at the School in 2019.

Mark Malpass

Mark Malpass

Mark was appointed to the Board in 2016 and is Deputy Chair, while also being Chair of the Succession and Remuneration Committee, and member of the Finance, Development and Property Committees.

Mark is CEO at Steel and Tube Holdings Ltd. He has significant executive and governance experience in NZ and overseas.  He worked with ExxonMobil Corporation for over 19 years, previously Managing Director of Mobil Oil NZ, and was Chief Executive of Fletcher Building’s largest division, Infrastructure Products.

Mark has three sons who are current students or recent leavers of Auckland Grammar School: Max ’14, Oscar ’16 and Felix ’19.

Frances Hay-Mackenzie

Frances Hay-Mackenzie 

Frances has taught Latin and Classics at Grammar since 2004 and is Head of Classics. Frances was Teacher in Charge of Latin and Classics at Epsom Girls’ Grammar School, until she took a break from teaching to train as a lawyer.

Frances subsequently practiced Litigation and Employment Law for 15 years at Minter Ellison Rudd Watts. However, her love of both the classroom and the ancient world, together with an opportunity to teach at Auckland Grammar School brought her back to teaching.

Simon Holdaway

Professor Simon Holdaway

Simon is Professor of Archaeology at the University of Auckland, and is Associate Deputy Vice Chancellor – Research. He was educated at the University of Otago before taking up a Fulbright Travel Scholarship to study at the University of Pennsylvania.

He first lectured in archaeology at La Trobe University, Melbourne, before returning to take up a lecturing position at the University of Auckland in 1999. He has research interests that cover the archaeology of Australia, Egypt, and Aotearoa.

Simon is the University of Auckland representative on the Board.

Jodie King

Jodie King

Jodie joined the Board at the beginning of 2022, and is a member of the Succession and Remuneration, Disciplinary and Enrolment, Development and Education Committees, as well as chairing the Digital Technologies Committee.

Jodie has a management consulting background at KPMG in London and Europe. She was Chief People Officer at Air NZ from 2016-2020, and is currently Chief People Officer at One.NZ, where her remit includes Corporate Affairs, Human Resources, Property, and Health and Safety.

Jodie is proud of her whakapapa to Ngai Tahu, is a Trustee of the Te RouRou (One.NZ) Foundation, is a member of Global Women and a member of the Auckland University Business School Advisory Council.

Jodie has three children, daughter Francesca, and sons Louis and Freddie, who are in Form 5 and 7 respectively at the School.

Kerin Russell-Smith

Kerin Russell-Smith

Joining the Board in 2019, Kerin serves as a director on boards within the Russell Group of Companies. She has 30 years domestic and international experience in Finance, Construction and Property.

In her role she works across Strategy, Finance, Compliance, Human Resources and Property and Investment.

Kerin is a chartered accountant, a trustee of the Keystone Trust, a founding member of Family Business NZ, a member of NZIOB, Global Women, and the Property Council’s People Awards Panel.

Kerin has three children, a daughter and two sons who are Old Boys (George ’17 and William ’18), and her brother Brett is an Old Boy from the class of 1980.

Nelson Wang

Nelson Wang ’90

Nelson is an Auckland Grammar Old Boy, who attended the School from 1990 to 1993.

He is the CEO of Zino Ventures, an investment fund focuses on combining capital along with specific Asian market expertise to help NZ technology companies expand and scale into Asia.

He was awarded Fellowship FCA from Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand in 2022, and has over 20 years’ experience in helping multinational businesses from Asia successfully establishing their investment and operation in New Zealand.

Nelson has two children (Matthew and Hayley), with Matthew currently in Form 5 at Grammar.

Daniel Wong

Daniel Wong

Daniel was elected to the Board in 2022 and sits on the Discipline and Enrolment Committee as well as Finance, Property and Tibbs House.

Daniel has significant governance experience in the not-for-profit sector, including being a former board member of Kohia Terrace School and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. Daniel has been a trustee of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra Foundation since 2016.

Daniel is a co-founder of, and practising lawyer at, Flacks & Wong, a corporate law firm and winner of ‘Boutique Law Firm of the Year’ at the New Zealand Law Awards 2019.

Daniel has two children, Alexandra and Henry who is in Form 4 at Grammar.

Headmaster Tim O'Connor

Tim O’Connor

Tim became the 11th Headmaster of Auckland Grammar School in 2012.

Educated at Palmerston North Boys’ High School, Tim obtained a Diploma of Teaching at Palmerston North Teachers’ College and graduated from Massey University with a Bachelor of Education.

Tim was previously Rector of Palmerston North Boys’ High School for 10 years, starting his tenure in 2002.

He was awarded a Woolf Fisher Fellowship in 2007 and in the same year was made a Sir Peter Blake Trust Emerging Leader. Further details are available here.

Tim’s eldest son Finn ’11 was a Senior Prefect in 2015 and was Captain of the 1st XI Hockey team, while his youngest son Jack ’17 is a recent leaver from 2021.

The administrative functions of the Board are professionally carried out by Dauniika Puklowski.

All Board members bring a wide range of skills and disciplines that gives assurance to the Grammar community that the governance of the School is in very capable hands. But above and beyond this, each of them has a huge passion for Grammar and a desire to ensure that we achieve and maintain our vision of pre-eminence in boys’ secondary education.

The School is privileged and honoured to have a group of such talented and committed people making such a huge contribution to our School.