Ronald McDonald House Auckland Welcomes New CEO

Ronald McDonald House Auckland Welcomes New CEO

Ronald McDonald House Auckland is delighted to announce the appointment of Wayne Howett to the role of Chief Executive Officer for the RMH Auckland Trust.

Wayne brings with him a varied background, including senior financial and management roles both in NZ and the United States. More recently he has held roles within the Abano Healthcare Group, including a period as General Manager of the Orthotic Centre (NZ) limited.  He is also Trustee on the Board of BLENNZ (Blind & Low Vision Education Network New Zealand), a role he will retain alongside this appointment.

Wayne comes to the Trust at the beginning of a new and exciting phase as the Trust has recently concluded the purchase of an additional House site located on Grafton Road which will enable the Trust to care for 79 families over the 2 Houses and Family Room.

“The Trust provides a critical service to families throughout New Zealand who are going through a difficult period.  Our aim is to ensure that we can continue to meet our mission of sheltering and supporting every family who needs to be with their sick child while they receive treatment at Starship Hospital.  Our new Grafton Road site is the next step in that process and I am honoured to lead such a great team in that cause”.

Additional Information:

The RMH Auckland Trust funds and governs Ronald McDonald House® Auckland and Ronald McDonald Family Room.  Ronald McDonald House Auckland is a purpose built, 48 room, accommodation unit located on the Auckland Hospital Site, work is currently underway to bring on stream over 30 more purpose built rooms in the near future.  The Ronald McDonald Family Room is a large respite facility located in Starship itself that provides time out for families of children in Starship, as well as 13 crisis care beds for families of children in intensive care.  In 2009 the Trust cared for 10,472 family members who stayed at one of their accommodation facilities and welcomed 35,000 people who used the Family Room facilities.

As well as accommodation facilities the Trust provides support services and opportunities for families to build positive memories, offering regular shopping trips, visits to local attractions such as The Auckland Zoo or Kelly Tarltons as well as shared family dinners cooked by a fantastic army of volunteers (over 400 volunteers gifted their time to make these services possible in 2009). 

The Trust is made up of the following partners: Auckland District Health Board, Child Cancer Foundation, Heart Children, The Rotary Club of Downtown Auckland, Ronald McDonald House Charities® and two community representatives. The Trust actively fundraises to help cover the total cost to run the facilities, currently in excess of $3,000,000 per year.

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