The Board
Rebecca Rawlinson
Rebecca is an Occupational Therapist turned Healthcare Industry Solutions Manager for a Cloud Based Software Company. She has been working in the Disability and Aged Care space since she was 15 as a support worker and then Occupational Therapist. Rebecca now plays a behind the scenes role helping to support organisations like Hōhepa undergo digital transformation to improve their business operations so they can focus directly on improving the outcomes of the people they support.
Rebecca is Christchurch born and bred but spent 12 years in the US, UK and Australia. Now that she’s home permanently in Christchurch, Rebecca wanted to join the board of Hōhepa to build her own sense of community and to hopefully share some of what she has learned along the way about how to make an organisation thrive, even more than Hōhepa already does.
Joseph Tyro (Ngāi Tahu, Te Ati Haunui-a-Pāpārangi, Ngāti Rangi)
Joseph was raised in Ohinehou Lyttelton, close to his Papatipu marae Te Hapū o Ngāti Wheke. Joseph is a registered social worker and for the past 30 years has worked in social services, social work, and health sector in clinical, management and executive leadership roles. He holds a national role as Principal Advisor for Health New Zealand, Adjunct Social Work Lecturer for Open Polytech and runs a small consultancy company. Joseph has masters’ qualifications from the University of Canterbury and Auckland Institute of Technology and is a member of New Zealand Institute of Directors. Joseph serves on a number of hapū, local, regional, national and international governance boards. He is a proud recipient of many community, health, leadership and governance awards. Joseph is driven by the hopes and dreams of his grandparents and is passionate about advancing the aspirations of tangata whenua Māori.
Sinead Horgan
Sinead is a non-executive director and brings a very extensive international financial background, having worked across many regions including Europe, America, Asia, Australia and New Zealand. She is a Chartered Accountant by profession, and then worked in venture capital, strategy, M&A and banking.
Over the past 10 years Sinead has undertaken a range of directorships spanning private companies, publicly listed companies , CCOs and mutuals in sectors of insurance, construction, high tech manufacturing, distribution, banking, contracting, recycling, technology.
Sinead is a passionate advocate for disability and serves on the boards of Maia Health Foundation and Assistance Dogs NZ Trust, in addition to Hōhepa Canterbury.
In her spare time Sinead loves to spend time with her family, travel and is an avid book reader.
John Grant
John joined the Hōhepa Board early in 2023 and his “day job” is Director – Disability and Inclusion at Ara Institute. Prior to this he spent 19 years in senior management and leadership roles across the health and disability sector. This included 15 years as General Manager of a disability service in Christchurch. John has held several governance roles in the sector including President of Inclusive NZ, together with sitting on several government advisory groups, including the Enabling Good Lives Leadership Group. Up until the end of 2022 he was a Director of the Australasian Society for Intellectual Disability, an Australian based research organisation focused on supporting the transformation of research into practice. He has authored several academic papers looking at disability theory, policy, and support practices, with a particular focus on quality of life, education, and employment.
John enjoys spending time with his family in the outdoors, with regular tramping and camping holidays. He also enjoys travelling overseas and the last major family holiday was to Vietnam and Hong Kong. He is a self-confessed “cricket tragic” and continues to play club cricket, as well as football in the winter. Reading is another regular past-time particularly in the areas of history, politics, leadership and social issues.
Nigel Garland
Nigel joined the Canterbury Regional Board in early 2025 as one of the Parents and Guardian Association representatives. His sister Diana has been at Hōhepa Canterbury for 55 years.
Nigel went to high school across the fence at Cashmere High before doing a Bachelor of Commerce degree and moving to Auckland. His whole career was involved with chemical raw material importation and distribution from which he has recently retired. This has provided a great opportunity to get involved in Hōhepa which has been so good for Diana and his family.
Nigel is a keen yachtie and average cyclist.