About COMET

Bernardine Vester, Chief Executive

Bernardine worked as a secondary teacher and Assistant Principal in the Waikato and Hawkes Bay regions before coming to Auckland in 1996. She was Junior Vice-President of the secondary teachers’ union PPTA for three years and represented the Executive on the Principals’ Council.  She was appointed to COMET in January 2000.  Bernardine’s achievements include the development of an intergenerational family learning model that is international best practice; building community awareness and action to improve participation in early childhood education; the development of a service model for youth transitions in Manukau; and engagement of the business sector in education through innovative programmes and events. Bernardine was named New Zealand’s 2002 Eisenhower Fellow; and was awarded the University of Victoria Holmes Prize in Public Policy in 2006 for her research on the relationship between local government and education.

Susan Warren, Manager, Centre for Literacy

Susan has a Masters in Education with first class honours, focussing on cognition and instruction. Prior to joining COMET, Susan worked for the Ministry of Education, working with school leaders, boards and teachers in Manukau to help them raise student achievement in literacy and numeracy. She also designed and led the Pasifika Schooling Improvement project, a national project to improve the effectiveness of interventions for Pasifika students. Susan has authored a variety of educational resources for World Vision New Zealand including books, DVDs, photo packs and interactive internet sites to help NZ children learn more about the developing world.

Alison Sutton, Project Leader

Alison is a consultant, researcher and evaluator in adult literacy, tertiary education and life long learning, and the local government and schooling sectors.  She has been the principal researcher in over 20 major literacy, language and numeracy projects since 1993 for the Ministry of Education, the Tertiary Education Commission, and other agencies.  She has an understanding of the complex and diverse structure of the adult literacy, language and numeracy (LLN) and adult community education (ACE) sector, and has extensive networks both locally and internationally in this field.  Alison has responsibility in project development for COMET’s families and communities in schools work, a part-time position.

Panetuku Rae, Facilitator Maori Engagement

Ko Taupiri te Mâunga, Ko Tainui te Waka, Ko Waikâto te Awa, Ko Waikâto te Iwi,
Ko NgatiHine me NgatiTiipa oku Hâpu, Ko Maurea me Mangâtangi oku Marae,
He Piko He Taniwha, He Piko He Taniwha, He Piko He Taniwha, Waikato Tâniwharau
Ko Panetuku Rae tôku ingoa. Nau Mai Haere Mai.

Panetuku’s career spans education (ECE since 1983; Adult Education since 1995) and support for Adult Learners with disabilities at Manukau Institute of Technology since 2003 and has been a Literacy and Numeracy tutor since 2008.  She has worked in the Women’s Prison at Wiri and presently as an ESOL volunteer.  Pane is currently a student at ATU University pursuing the Master of Literacy and Numeracy Degree. Ko au facilitator Maori Engagement. Pane’s role as Facilitator Maori Engagement is to develop opportunities for COMET to engage with Tangata Whenua across the city of Manukau to identify aspirations for education of whânau, hapu and iwi.

Ofa Nai-Saulala, Project Officer

For over 15 years Ofa worked with the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences at the University of Auckland as an Administrator in the Goodfellow Unit, as a PA to the Directors of Pacific and Maori health research, and as a Pacific Student Support and Academic Administrator for the Maori and Pacific Admission Scheme (MAPAS). Ofa supports the families involved in the Manukau Family Literacy Programme, and is the Project Officer for Pasifika SmartCentres, which enables Pacific early childhood education centres to engage with their families using new technologies. Ofa is fluent in Tongan and English.

Linda Hu, Financial Administrator

Linda trained as mathematician at FuDan University, Shanghai, China, worked as a programmer and for a number of years had responsibilities as a Statistician and IT Manager at the Guangling Statistics Bureau. When Linda arrived in New Zealand in 2003, she retrained as an accountant, gaining three prizes for gaining top marks at the Manukau Institute of Technologies Diploma in Business courses and graduating as top student. Linda works part-time at COMET, runs her own accounting consultancy, and continues to enjoy study.  She has responsibility for COMET’s financial management systems.

Glenda Plaisted, Administration Assistant

Glenda trained as a secretary and shorthand typist and has used these skills in a variety of support roles in business and as a medical receptionist.  Glenda has been with COMET for the last seven years providing office and accounts support services and general administration.