The AA Driver Education Foundation (AA DEF) is a Charitable Trust governed by a Board of Trustees. Board members have long experience as senior AA office holders and/or are recognised experts in New Zealand driver education or the motoring industry
Chairperson
Mike Noon, AA General Manager Motoring Affairs, Wellington
Robert Lester
AA Past President and Life Member, Tauranga
Robert Lester founded the AA DEF with the aim of expanding the AA's role in the community to assist with driver education. Robert was instrumental in merging the New Zealand Regional Automobile Associations. He has more than 30 years' experience in car club and Motorsport Association affairs. He raced with great success over many years, and was involved in the design and construction of the Manfeild Circuit. He was the New Zealand Chief Marshal MotorSport NZ Inc from 1998 to 2003, and is a Licence Examiner and Driving Instructor for MotorSport NZ. He received a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit award, for services to New Zealand Motorsport and Road Safety, in 2003. Robert has also been a senior office holder for the Order of St John over a number of years, is Vice President of the Tongariro National Trout Centre and is a Tongariro Taupo Conservation Board Member.
Jacqui Madelin
President, New Zealand Motoring Writers' Guild, Auckland
Jacqui Madelin represents the New Zealand Motoring Writers' Guild, which has about 40 members who contribute to printed, internet and broadcast media throughhout New Zealand, and beyond. The Guild provides a wide range of expertise and experience to AA DEF matters, and represents an opportunity to better channel driver education information into the specialist media. Jacqui Madelin, a long-standing member of the Guild executive, has a long-running professional interest in driver education that has led to journalism awards for articles on driver education topics.
Bob Maxwell JP
AA Past Board Member and National Councillor, New Plymouth
Bob Maxwell served in Taranaki from August 1983 as District Commander, Traffic Safety Service, until the merger with New Zealand Police in 1992. He became Administration and Planning Inspector for the Taranaki District. Bob is a qualified firearms range inspection and certification officer and holder of the Diploma of Police Studies. He is President of the New Plymouth Rotary Club and was made a Paul Harris Fellow in 2001. Sporting interests: rugby, boxing pistol shooting and basketball.
Graeme Nind
AA Past President, Timaru
FACHSE (Fellow Australian College of Health Service Executives), AFNZIM (Associate Fellow of New Zealand Institute of Management), JP (Justice of the Peace). Health Consultant and Chairman of Aoraki Primary Health Organisation, Timaru. AA Past President and Life Member
Graeme Nind has been a strong supporter of AA DEF since its creation, and has supported a range of initiatives to improve road safety. Having been involved in the health service for many years, Graeme is keen to see a reduction in needless road trauma with its human cost, and continuing drain on the national health budget.
Peter Sheppard, BEM FCIT
From having a long association with the driver education environment both within NZ and internationally, Peter is looked upon as one of NZ's leading professional specialists in driver education and transport safety management. Following six years as the Chief Executive of the AA Driver Education Foundation he moved to the DEF Board. He is a Board member and current past chairman of Tranzqual Industry Training Organization, a position he held during the organization's first 13 years of operations. Prior to the AA Driver Education Foundation, Peter spent 15 years with Shell NZ finishing as the principal road transport consultant. His Shell career followed a 25 year stint as a transport officer in the NZ Army. Currently, his responsibilities include a part time CEO position with the NZ Institute of Driver Educators.
Peter's work in fleet safety management, fuel efficiency and driver education has involved promoting new driver education initiatives through developing incentive programmes for young drivers and participating in "world first" research (in conjunction with Waikato University) aimed at adolescent drivers frontal lobe development. Peter has presented a range of papers on adult driver education and crash causation, arranged conferences and seminars with some of the world's leading researchers in driver behaviour and workplace road safety. His time has also been spent upskilling driver educators, designing driver training interventions, developing programmes for parents to teach their families to drive and providing governance for driver education interventions such as Students Against Driving Drunk (SADD).
In 2007, Peter was voted NZ Personality of the Year for his work in Road Safety and driver education, receiving the prestigious Neil Nelson award from the NZ Motor Writers Guild.
In 2008, Peter was seconded to the Ministry of Transport as a project manager for the Ministry's Fleet Commitment Fuel Efficiency Programme. In 2009, Peter has been developing the UK Fuel Efficiency Programme to meet NZ conditions prior to it's implementation into the NZ vehicle fleet. Peter was also the coach of the 2008 winning TradeMe team in the Energy Wise car rally.
Peter is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport.