Upcoming Events
Anna Galvan
Purpose-led executive and former Silver Fern
Anna is a purpose-led senior executive with extensive experience leading values-driven organisations across New Zealand’s food and fibre, health and leadership development sectors. Proven in working with and on Boards, building trusted partnerships and translating strategy into disciplined execution.
Anna is a former Silver Fern and Commonwealth Games medallist with 17 years of elite sport experience, bringing a deeply embedded performance mindset, resilience under pressure, and a strong commitment to developing others.
She is recognised for integrity, collaboration, and the ability to unite diverse stakeholders around shared purpose. Some examples of these projects include the rooftop helipad on Christchurch Hospital and the Netball Sports Centre at Ngā Puna Wai - a 10,000 sqm community, indoor sporting space.
Anna is strategic, grounded and values-led, known for building high-trust relationships, lifting organisational performance, and developing leaders who create impact beyond their roles.
She has three "children": her eldest, a lawyer in Auckland; her middle son, an NZ U23 rower in Cambridge; and her youngest, head girl at St Andrew's College this year. Anna and her husband Hugh live in Tai Tapu on 4 hectares with sheep and cows, although Anna spends a lot of her time in Gisborne and Auckland.
Friday 12 June 2026
Show Gate Lounge - Riccarton Park
RSVP by 29 May 2026
Note: Ensure your guests are aware of the dress code "tie and jacket'
A $15.00 extra payment will apply for luncheon payments not received within 2 days of the date of each luncheon.
Our last Event
Brett Naylor went along with his older brother to swimming lessons in an attempt to improve his asthma. He showed no promise but slowly moved through the ranks.
A coach from Australia moved to Southland and after a couple of years saw the perseverance that Brett showed that other athlete didn’t have. The coach introduced log books to record heart beat and your times and wrote supportive comments. Over time Brett started to see his own improvement.
Within a year or so started to break Provincial records then NZ records. Swimming 20Km a day over 100km a week Brett didn’t turn up to school until 11 o’clock in the morning and would fall asleep in class.
Because he wanted to make the Olympics his coach suggested he go to Duncan Laing for coaching. He was ranked 6th in New Zealand and needed to be challenged by working with better swimmers. Duncan challenged him a lot and Brett made the 1974 Commonwealth Games as a 16 year old.
One day he got a call from the University of Iowa for him to attend the University on the swimming team. He said yes if a couple of friends from other countries came with him. Brett hadn’t realised how poor the swimming team was in the Big 10. They were bottom. They would train 1500m in a day in a10 minute warm up compered to Brett’s 20km in a day.
It wasn’t just about swimming academic achievement required a C+ average and as Brett had gaps in his education he had to do some serious study to stay in the team.
After recruiting a better coach who introduced “WIT” What It Takes, brought in Bio Mechanics and exercise Physiologist specialists to contribute to their training performance. Within 4 years they won the Big 10 that had been dominated for 21 years by Indianna with swimmers like Mark Spitz, Jim Mont, Garry Hall and other Olympian swimmers.
Brett coached there for a year then returned to New Zealand where he worked in a Timber yard and did some relief teaching. He became the Avon Aquatics swimming coach at QE11.
His dream to have a purpose built swimming complex happened in 1988 at a cost of $1million, Aqua Gym. Interest rates were 21% and penalty interest was 34%. All swimming complexes now follow this design.
Research has shown that the under 3’s brain develops differently to the under 5’s their speech is improved along with spatial awareness and are smarter with water activities. It is not about swimming it is the immersion in water doing water activities.
Brett Naylor