Jamie Fitzgerald strives for success in everything he does, and has carved out an international reputation for understanding, and teaching, high-performance in extreme and business environments.
After returning home from becoming the first ever Kiwi to reach the South Pole unsupported on foot (alongside fellow adventurer Kevin Biggar), Jamie turned his focus to providing support to others wanting to take their own performance to another level. He is one of the country’s most demanded keynote speakers and has spoken to over 130,000 New Zealand students between 2004 and 2007. Interestingly, it was this time spent with Kiwi kids that led to Jamie creating The Big Walk.
Jamie also holds the world record after winning the Trans-Atlantic Rowing Race in 2003 (again with Kevin Biggar), he has owned his own business, captained New Zealand rowing crews against Cambridge and Oxford Universities, and has moved between various jobs within the banking sector, including one role as a bank manager -a big step from his days as a fencing contractor!
He is now a consultant for ON-Brand Partners. Working both locally and globally with organisations to help them understand and commit to their strategy, and perform better. Jamie continues to inspire and engage audiences through his keynote speaking and facilitated workshops.
Graeme Dingle is one of the world’s leading outdoor adventurers and has achieved hundreds of ‘firsts’ in mountaineering, rock climbing and adventuring throughout the world. He is Executive Trustee of the Foundation for Youth Development, which he co-founded with partner Jo-anne Wilkinson, to give young New Zealanders a combination of community skills, wilderness experiences and mentoring to prepare them for a rewarding life.
He has more than 30 years experience in outdoor activities and has received numerous awards including: an MBE for services to outdoor pursuits, the Award of New Zealand for services to recreation and sport, the Antarctic Service Medal of the United States, the Deloitte Top 200 Companies Visionary Leader Award and Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit. He is also a life member of the New Zealand Alpine Club.
Graeme has been involved in the production of more than two dozen adventure films, written numerous articles and 11 books.
Jo-anne Wilkinson is co-founder and executive director of FYD and began her career in law after gaining a LLB from Victoria University, Wellington.
She played a key role in the successful introduction of the Kiwi Can and Male Youth New Directions programmes into FYD.
Jo-anne is a veteran of outdoors adventures including: 1200km sea kayak and mountain traverse around the New Zealand coast; 4000km traverse of Alaska and the Bering Sea. She has canoed down the Yukon River, undertaken a high altitude circumnavigation of Cordillera Huayhuash in Peru and ascended to 5700m in Western Himalaya.
ON-Brand partners are very excited to be involved with The Big Walk. Jamie is a key member of our team and we were right behind him and FYD when he conceived the idea for his latest adventure.
The Big Walk represents a unique opportunity to galvanise New Zealand around ‘growing great kiwi kids’, and creating a cohesive strategy to address the critical challenges around youth development. ON-Brand Partners is helping with the design and delivery of the learning and development and, in particular the analysis and sense-making from the experiences of the students and other stakeholders. We hope this will set the foundation for a more integrated focus towards youth development across the youth development, corporate and government sectors.
We are a passionate NZ based company working with organisations all over the world, helping them shape and implement their vision and strategies. We are really passionate about those organisations that look for a ‘purpose’ beyond just financial performance. More and more, we are becoming involved complex ‘economic development’ issues and, in the past year, we have been privileged to be involved with the World Bank in helping to shape a 10 year global strategy to reduce road deaths – especially in developing countries.
ON-Brand Partners. Shaping Conversations. Changing Mindsets. Aligning Behaviours www.onbrandpartners.com
Sir Peter Blake MERC is a charitable trust and an incorporated society based at Long Bay Beach on Auckland’s North Shore. MERC was established to offer marine-based outdoor education programmes and wilderness adventures to a wide selection of children in the community of various ages. Attending MERC provides the individual with an opportunity to undertake marine-based outdoor education and wilderness activities that develop social, physical and life skills that will aid them throughout their life. MERC has now been in operation for over 16 years and in that time more than 160,000 people have used the facility. In recent years MERC has hosted over 16,000 young people per year, all participating in the outdoor programmes.
MERC Programmes are important for children as it involves life skills such as:
• Exercising, with an emphasis on water safety,
• Working together, taking on challenges and learning as a team,
• Goal setting for the individual and team
• An opportunity to lead and make decisions with the support of co-operating team members
• Encouraging children’s individual skills and talents enabling them to reach for greater achievements than they first thought possible
All of these skills are vital for adulthood and can be learnt as a child if the child is given an encouraging environment such as MERC. Students participate in outdoor recreation activities including climbing, abseiling, archery, kayaking and sailing, which not only challenge the students but also offer opportunities to develop and lead team members.
Sir Peter Blake agreed to become MERC’s Patron in 1998. He believed that MERC endeared itself to a philosophy and commitment that was similar to his ethos for life. We are grateful to his wife, Pippa Blake for reconfirming the Patronage of Sir Peter Blake’s name after his untimely death in 2001.
Sir Peter Blake MERC is currently the largest wilderness provider for Project K, founded in 1995 by New Zealanders Graeme Dingle and Jo-Anne Wilkinson.
The Big Walk is an opportunity for all MERC instructors to see the results of many wilderness and community challenges that faced their groups and to see and experience first hand the achievements that are possible for the youth of today once given the insight, and the tools to forge ahead with. www.merc.org.nz