Farewells to Neil and Simon - Annual Report 2025

From the Momentum Waikato Annual Report 2025 - see full report in PDF.

Neil Richardson: 13 years of Momentum!

Neil Richardson retired as Chair of the Momentum Waikato Board in December 2025, the last of the founding trustees from 2013 to leave the table.

Since arriving from Australia in 1990 Neil has made his mark on the Waikato across the commercial, government, academic and not-for-profit sectors, at the local, national and international level.

A couple of years after joining the inaugural Board in 2013, Neil was elected as its Deputy Chair, and then in 2020 as its Chair.

“My thirteen years have passed in a flash of time,” says Neil, “and being a Trustee, then Deputy Chair, then Chair, were three distinct phases.”

“As a Trustee, I brought a strategic mindset in managing significant project and organisation risk and complex business and legal issues. I hope I added value with those skills and experience.”

Neil stepped up to Deputy Chair when Leonard Gardner became Chair in 2015, and the Board’s decision to commit to the Waikato Regional Theatre project followed soon after.

“We saw a huge gap that needed to be filled for Hamilton and the Waikato. And that we were one of the few organisations who could take a leadership role and work out how to manage the risks in conceiving and actually delivering a solution. We were clear that a part of Momentum’s role was to fill such gaps, so we took on the Theatre project.

“I am proud so many people saw the value in what we were doing, and the new Theatre as something worth backing.”

The key moment was when, during Covid, the Waikato Regional Property Trust wanted to approach Foster Group about building the Theatre, where Momentum Chair Leonard Gardner was Chief Executive.

“I supported Leonard through an extremely complex situation. We ran very robust processes and ensured that potential conflicts of interest, which exist in every business role in a country the size of New Zealand, were well managed.”

Neil then stepped into the role of Chair in early 2020.

“We've built an organisational resilience through building a balance sheet that will protect Momentum against the inevitable shocks the world faces.

“We have a reputation of being apolitical and able to work closely with people of all political and cultural persuasions, at both a local and national level, and get things done in a manner that is positive and caring.”

Neil will miss his visits to the Momentum team.

“The human element of Momentum has been great fun. Walking into the office, I always got a bounce, there’s a sense of collegiality and compatibility, and I could always have a joke and a good laugh, and then comfortably move on to being totally serious,” says Neil.

“I'm really chuffed as a departing Trustee and Chair that the values and culture of the organisation are those I think to which we as a community can and should aspire.

“I have every expectation that in the year 2050, Momentum will will be bigger and stronger and a more integral part of the community.”

Simon Rickman – Trustee

We also thank Simon Rickman for his energetic and astute service as a Trustee of Momentum Waikato.

Simon retired from the Board in December 2025, after eight years that saw him involved in many of the organisation’s biggest developmental decisions.

A successful company director, as a Trustee Simon was able to blend his advanced level of commercial acumen with a solid understanding and appreciation of Momentum’s role as a community foundation.

We wish Simon well in all his future endeavours.