Director of Implementation appointed
Mark Fitzpatrick is our new Director of Implementation at The Aotearoa Circle, starting with us on February 19th. He has significant experience in both the public and private sector over a 17 year career, most recently as Senior Manager Strategic Partnerships at the Department of Conservation, where he worked for five years. He has also worked as the environmental business manager at Ravensdown. Mark trained in environmental and marine science and postgraduate qualifications in strategic leadership.
We spoke to him briefly about who he is and what drives him.
Why the Aotearoa Circle?
I believe in the power and potential among the partners; such a significant suite of partners representing a powerful part of the community in New Zealand that can influence nature related outcomes into the future. I’m keen to bring my experience to the table to help that work. It’s an opportunity I can’t turn away from.
My personal “why” is to bring people and organisations together for better environmental outcomes” and this role very much is that.
The Circle has a lot of work underway in 2024. Are there any workstreams you are particularly looking forward to?
I listened back yesterday to Sir Jonathon Porritt’s recent talk to the Circle, and he discussed the duel existential crises we face (nature and climate, his talk can be found here). As someone who trained and worked as a scientist in this space for a couple of decades, my awareness of the gravity of the circumstances we face as humanity is really heightened, as is my awareness that nature is the solution. If nature is healthy then people are healthy because nature provides the fundamentals of what we need to survive. So, the work I am most excited to be involved in is anything that will make a step change towards restoring natural capital, so that we can reverse the imbalance that we have caused in the biosphere.
TNFD is huge. Anything in that workstream, but all of them to be honest with you. I’m excited about sitting down with the immense expertise that sits around the table amongst our partners for The Aotearoa Circle to ask what next, what are we going to do here, what are the possibilities. What’s needed?? And to close some of the key gaps we must address.
Tell us about you as a person. What do you like to do in your spare time?
Get into nature, particularly the ocean. My whole family is connected to nature and the ocean – Alicia my wife is a marine mammal scientist. We met through humpback whales. And my kids Reef (12), Finn (11), and Taj (8) are all passionate about nature, so we go to the beach, we surf, we hike, we fish and go to the mountains to hike and hunt. We also love music, my son is a drummer. I like to play guitar and sing really badly, so sometimes we jam. He’s way better than I am!
