Al graduated from Lincoln University with a Diploma in Horticulture.
Now retired, Al’s career was predominantly in the primary sector, where he held a range of executive management positions within, and supporting, the horticultural and arable farming sectors, as well as the dairy and meat industries. Since retiring, he has remained active in the sector as a Director of Hill Labs – Inspection and Certification and as a member of Environment Canterbury’s Biosecurity Advisory Group.
Al has a lifelong passion for basketball, with more than 50 years’ involvement in the sport. He played National League basketball for the Canterbury Rams and has coached a range of age-group representative teams, winning five National Championships along the way.
Al has also been a Special Olympics volunteer in Canterbury since 1999. He has attended three Special Olympics World Games, twice as Head Coach of the New Zealand basketball team, in Athens in 2011 and Los Angeles in 2015, and later as Head of Delegation for the New Zealand team at the 2019 World Games in Abu Dhabi. Drawing on his extensive Special Olympics experience, Al is a member of the Asia Pacific Advisory Council and a Technical Delegate for basketball in the Asia Pacific region.
Al has been a Board member since 2017.
