Sustainable development and women’s empowerment leader Amanda Ellis on her high-flying career
Since graduating with First Class Honours in French and Economics from Otago, Amanda Ellis has travelled the world in high flying roles in government, industry and education. She describes herself as a passionate proponent of climate action, sustainable development, women's economic empowerment and leadership, and radical collaboration. Earlier in her career, Amanda’s roles included New Zealand UN Ambassador to Geneva, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Deputy Secretary, and she was the first woman to lead the New Zealand Aid Programme and New Zealand’s inaugural Ambassador for Women and Girls. She served as Lead Specialist Poverty Reduction and Economic Management for the World Bank Group and founded the global gender programme at the international finance corporation. Today, Amanda is based in Hawaii, and is a globally-recognized leader in sustainable development and international relations, serving on a number of boards and holds dual roles at Arizona State University’s Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory and the Global Institute of Sustainability and Innovation.We caught up with Amanda while she was on a trip back to Aotearoa in October to take part in the Adaptation Futures Conference.
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Editor, author, mother, lecturer – Lynley Edmeades shares her stories
It’s been a busy year for Lynley Edmeades – Lynley is an author, an English lecturer at Otago, and editor of Aotearoa’s longest running arts and literary journal Landfall Tauraka. She is also the coordinator of the new Masters in Creative Writing launched at the University this year, and has just published her fourth book, Hiding Places. Recently, Lynley has helped organise celebrations for Landfall Tauraka's 250th edition. An Otago alumna, Lynley talks to iOU about being a student at Otago, all her day jobs, her new book and how she manages to fit everything in.
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Taking the gondola home
In the winter, Otago MBA and Physical Education graduate Bridget Legnavsky starts her day with a cross-country ski with her dog before work and ends it by taking the gondola home. Bridget is President and CEO of Sugar Bowl ski resort in Tahoe, California, a role she began in 2022 after working as General Manager at Cardrona Alpine Resort and Treble Cone Ski Resort in Wānaka since 2014.Bridget talks about why she and her family decided it was time for an adventure, how she fitted the MBA Online programme around her busy life, her wide-ranging experience in community governance, business leadership, climate change strategy, and fashion. And how she hadn’t expected her new job to be a little like “being mayor of a small town”.
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Riding the electric wave in Africa
At Otago, Law, Chinese Language and Political Studies graduate Josh Whale embraced Dunedin’s university culture – he joined the tramping and rowing clubs, met his future wife Claire at a concert in the student union, and went on two student exchanges. After six years in intellectual property law in China, and influenced by Al Gore’s documentary on climate change, An Inconvenient Truth, Josh decided to make the leap and set up Ampersand, an EV energy tech start-up, in Kigali, Rwanda. Josh began by developing electric motorcycles powered by smart AI optimized batteries suited to Africa’s tough roads. Ampersand has since expanded into Nairobi, Kenya, with more than 5,000 e-motos in operation overall, each one cutting two tons of carbon per year, and delivering life-changing savings to drivers by drastically reducing their operating costs. Ampersand’s fleet now covers a distance equivalent to the moon and back daily, contributing to cleaner air, healthier communities, and a more sustainable future.
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A double life in medicine and writing
Eileen Merriman manages to combine two successful careers into one working day - she’s a consultant haematologist at North Shore Hospital and is also one of New Zealand’s most successful authors. In August, Eileen won the NZ Book Awards Young Adult Fiction Award for her novel Catch a Falling Star. We ask her about her double life, where she gets her story ideas and how her job in medicine and her writing career work together.
from the Alumni team at the University of Otago.Join us as we explore some of the out-of-the-ordinary day jobs of our inspirational, global alumni community.
New Zealand