The Kate Edger Educational Charitable Trust

Kate Milligan Edger 

• First woman in NZ to gain a university degree (in 1877)
• First woman in British Empire to gain a BA degree
• A trailblazer for women's education
• A role model for and champion of the female suffrage movement
• A vocal exponent for women's contributions to public life
• A committed and compassionate teacher, involved in social work, a family person

Margaret has been with the Trust since 2009 alongside her role as Manager of Scholarships and Graduations at the University of Auckland.   On an annual basis, the university administers more than $40M of scholarships to its students.  With the use of scholarships as a recruitment tool, the office has an important strategic role at the University.

Margaret sees students from their arrival at University from school, right up to their graduation - at undergraduate and post-graduate level.  One of the most enjoyable parts of Margaret's role, she feels, is helping students to complete their education with financial support - and reading the success stories as they graduate.

Margaret graduated with an MBA with specialisations in Corporate Governance and Negotiation, both of which have helped in her role as a trust member.

Hilary Lewis  MBA and Master of Commercialisation & Entrepreneurship

Hilary is now in her second tenure as a Trustee having joined the board in 2018.  She attended Rangitoto College before heading to the University of Auckland to do a Bachelor of Commerce (Accounting).  Hilary subsequently followed that up with a Master of Business Administration and Master of Commercialisation and Entrepreneurship, both also at University of  Auckland.

Her strength and experience is in leading programmes of change, technology, innovation and business process improvement in large, medium, entrepreneurial and social enterprises.  Success has come from clarity of vision, strong commercial imperative, attention to detail, and an ability to communicate to and engage all involved.  This is supported by a strong finance, IT, commercial, strategic and executive background.

Hilary is passionate about a number of issues facing women today, having been involved of Breast Cancer Cure (funding research to find a cure for breast cancer) for 12 years, and Shine (focused on preventing domestic violence) and sees education as being a key driver of greater diversity and equality in our community.

Professor Linda Bryder  MA (1^st Class Hons) (Auck) DPhil (Oxon) FRSNZ FNZAH

Linda has been a Trustee since early 2021. She has taught in the Department of History, University of Auckland, since 1988 and has been Professor of History since 2005. Originally completing her MA (1^st Class Hons) at the University of Auckland in 1980, she was awarded her DPhil at the University of Oxford in 1985, where she held a Research Fellowship and subsequently a British Academy Postdoctoral Research Fellowship at the Queen’s College Oxford. She maintains her links with Britain; since 2007 she has been an Honorary Professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

Since joining the academic staff of the University of Auckland in 1988, Linda has served on many University and Faculty Committees, including Research, Staffing and Library Committees. She has been Head of Department, and has served as Associate Dean Research for the Faculty of Arts. She has been awarded a University Research Excellence Award and a Teaching Excellence Award. The latter was based on her successful record of mentoring and supervising graduate students, particularly at PhD level. She has also mentored in the University’s  Women in Leadership programme. She currently serves on the Auckland Libraries Heritage Trust, and is co-editor of the New Zealand Journal of History.

Dr Jane Horan  BA, MA (first class hons, Auck), PhD (Auck)

Jane is an economic anthropologist with expertise in the analysis of economy and the way this intersects with gender, political economy, and organisational structure. She is an exacting and academically rigorous social researcher and critical thinker. She has worked extensively over the last 20 years in contract research and evaluation, designing and conducting research projects for corporate organisations, NGOs, government, and in academia. She runs her own research company, Plain Jane, and is an associate at BERL, and a collaborator at Play CoLab.

Jane finished her PhD at the University of Auckland in 2012, and was awarded the Dame Joan Metge Post-Doctoral Award from The KEECT in 2013. She volunteered to join the Awards selection committee the following year, and as of April 2023, has been welcomed on as the newest member of the Board of Trustees.

Jane is passionate about social enterprise and the subversive impact this, along with education, can have on inequity. She is delighted to be taking her involvement with the Kate Edger Trust to the next level.