A chartered member of the Institute of Directors, Richard works in governance with a special interest in roles pertaining to climate change adaption and mitigation.

Prior to governance, Richard had a long career in chief executive roles across a range of sectors in New Zealand.

His role is to lead Cool-Safe in its product stewardship of fluorinated gases.

A mechanical engineer with an MBA, Sameer has extensive experience in management and leadership roles across several industries in various countries around the world. In 2021, he became a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM) for services to business and trade relations between New Zealand and India.

Sameer has worked in the refrigeration and air-conditioning industry for 26 years, including 20 years as CEO of the biggest refrigeration wholesaler in New Zealand 

Sameer is passionate about the environment and his role within Cool-Safe is to advise on strategy and investments.

Linda Mulvihill is the Head of Energy and Climate at Fonterra. In this role she is responsible for leading the strategy and programme of work to improve energy efficiency and reduce carbon emissions across the manufacturing sites, while also ensuring that the company has an economic and secure supply of energy. Linda has a legal and science background, and in 2016 won the NZ Energy Excellence award for the Young Energy Professional of the Year. 

Linda grew up on a sheep and beef farm in rural New Zealand, which embedded a passion for looking after the planet that stays with her today. Outside of work, she has two young children and a farm where their focus is on creating a great product, minimising the environmental impact of beef production, and leaving the land in a better state for future generations to enjoy. 

Linda is excited about the opportunity to apply her breadth of sustainability and commercial knowledge and expertise towards the objectives for the Trust.

Matthew is a business owner, leader and advocate of the HVAC&R Industry. He provided us with this overview of why he wanted to become one of our trustees:

"Refrigeration is at the heart of a thriving New Zealand way of life, and it’s with pride I can say it’s been at the heart of my family since Dad first picked up the tools over forty years ago. Dad was one of the best in the game and he taught me to value the people you work with. I’ve taken that into my own family business and while growing it nationwide I’ve learnt:

• We’re up against some of the largest refrigeration multinationals in the world, yet we deliver industry leading technology to some of New Zealand’s biggest companies.

• We know we’ve got it right when customers see refrigeration isn’t “just a cost we have to incur” but a serious competitive advantage.

• Getting it right for the customer + reducing environmental impacts = true success.

New Zealand has so much to offer – we live in a truly spectacular landscape and I believe New Zealanders are always looking to protect that. I’ve been involved in the outdoors from an early age and want to design refrigeration systems that minimise our impact on the environment and since having kids , I feel that’s  even more important. But we don’t just support large organisations. We have some of the best people in the industry whose design skills and install knowledge have seen refrigerated display, coolstore and cooling systems help NZ businesses of all sizes create new markets, develop new products, reduce costs and increase product and brand premiums."

An emerging director, Emily is a trustee of Consumer New Zealand and independent director at Clean Planet Franchise. As the GM of Climate Club, she now works with businesses, councils and leadership teams to engage decision makers around long-term climate impacts.

From a software & IT background, Emily spent a decade working in hypergrowth global startups across the world, and brings knowledge of AI, technology and data governance to the board.

In her free time she campaigns for faster climate action, including successfully campaigning to get coal out of schools and closing a loophole in the ETS.

Emily is excited to have been appointed as an Associate Trustee to gain more exposure to governance practices and governance of organisations with direct GHG emissions reductions goals.

Michelle Kazor is a seasoned leader and advisor with over 20 years of experience in the climate, waste and resource efficiency sectors.  She has worked across government, corporate, and non-profit sectors in New Zealand, Australia, and the United States. Prior to joining the board, Michelle held several senior leadership roles, including as a Director at EY, and most recently as Director of Waste Investment at the Ministry for the Environment. There she developed the government's waste levy investment strategy, and operationalised policy to deliver large-scale resource recovery infrastructure projects and co-investments with the private sector.

She is recognized for her strategic leadership, commercial acumen, and ability to navigate complex public policy and regulatory contexts. She also brings a strong grasp of the machinery of government and policy drivers relevant to the Trust, including product stewardship. Michelle is passionate about sharing her knowledge through good governance, to help New Zealand's transition to a low-carbon, circular economy.

Over his 37 years in the industry Brent has seen the removal of CFC refrigerants and is excited to play a part in the management and removal of high GWP F-gasses throughout NZ. With a background in service and design of commercial and industrial refrigeration systems, including in his current role as  service manager with Active Refrigeration, Brent provides industry knowledge regarding all refrigerants and their applications. Brent has past trustee experience within the industry and has a Diploma in Business Studies.

Nick has 25 years of experience in the Air Conditioning and Refrigeration sectors, ranging from consumer electronics and residential customers to his current role as General Manager, of McAlpine Hussman, a multi-national company.

Nick is proud of the sustainability focus and direction of the businesses he has been involved with and the change they have managed to impart on the New Zealand environment. Especially the advocacy and push for energy efficiency and the reduction of synthetic refrigerants through the passionate promotion of natural refrigerants.

As an active member of the Institute of Directors, Nick brings strong governance experience to the Trust and is excited about the opportunity to make a significant and positive difference for the future of our environment.

Ian is the General Manager for a national multi-disciplined facility services business, Aquaheat, providing HVAC&R, Plumbing and Electrical solutions to a wide-ranging customer base. Having over 35 years-experience in the trade services industry, both in the UK and NZ, Ian has worked on large scale commercial and infrastructure projects to single line service delivery and maintenance.

Ian is delighted to join Cool-Safe and looking forward to contributing to the Trusts objectives of reducing the environmental harm caused by the industries use of synthetic refrigerants.

Janine brings a wealth of leadership skills and experience in change management and stakeholder engagement to her role as Chief Executive, having led WasteMINZ as CE for three years. Previous to that she was General Manager at Business North Harbour and served as an Executive Board Member with the British New Zealand Business Association.

Building strong and collaborative relationships with our partners is one of Janine's key priorities.

Contact: janine@coolsafe.org.nz
021 337 870

Megan Dinsdale-Jones joins us as General Manager, Operations. She has 17 years experience in the refrigeration industry, including as a qualified refrigeration engineer. 

With a solid foundation in business principles obtained through a Bachelor of Business, Megan effectively translates theoretical knowledge into practical, impactful leadership. 

 She is passionate about advancing sustainable practices within the HVACR sector and continuously seeking ways to integrate green technology and reduce environmental footprints.

Contact: megan@coolsafe.org.nz
022 496 7942

Luana brings an extensive background in marketing, communications and stakeholder engagement that spans Government, private sector and NGO worlds. She has run her own businesses and worked on some of the most complex programmes across Government in conservation, infrastructure and Māori development. She is passionate about the impact Cool-Safe has on our safeguarding our environment.

The focus of Luana's role is creating opportunities for Cool-Safe to connect, collaborate and communicate across the sector.

Contact: comms@coolsafe.org.nz
022 0126 238

Matthew joins us with extensive technology, account management and client services experience, gained through dairy exporting, local government support services and tourism sectors.

His experience is underpinned with science, ICT and business qualifications.  Matt can interpret complex technical information with ease.  He enjoys using his broad tech and business skills to help individuals companies find solutions to challenges they face.  Joining cool safe presented an opportunity to do what feels like meaningful work.

Matt has joined Cool-safe to have a measurable positive impact on our environment and leave our world better off.  

Contact: matthew@coolsafe.org.nz
027 253 9255 

With a background in the financial services industry, and most recently a role working in refrigeration and air conditioning, Maria is the perfect fit to support the ongoing development of some of our key Cool-Safe projects. 

One of Maria's key roles will be helping pay your bounty payments - so she is someone you will want to know!

Contact: admin@coolsafe.org.nz

022 684 3029

Katrina joins the team as our Customer Service Coordinator. She has extensive experience in customer services across a number of industries in New Zealand, including running her own businesses.

Katrina is passionate and committed to creating strong relationships. Her role will focus on offering support to the industry on bounty payments, our Coolest Courier service and any other queries you have.  

Contact: cs@coolsafe.org.nz

0800 134 410

PWC are The Trust for the Destruction of Synthentic Refrigerants' administrator.