Richard Thompson Chair

Richard Thompson has been a barrister for nearly 20 years and for the majority of that time has had a focus on estate and trust litigation.  He is a member of the Auckland District Law Society Trust Law Committee.  

Richard has also been closely involved with the acting community and is a founding trustee of the Actors’ Benevolent Fund.

Jennifer Ward-Lealand CNZM
Te Atamira

Since training at Auckland’s Theatre Corporate, Jennifer has worked extensively in theatre, film, television, musical and radio for nearly 40 years. Most recently, Jennifer was honoured as the Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year 2020.

 Jennifer was a founding board member of the Watershed Theatre and a co-founder of the drama school,  The Actors' Program. She is President of  Equity New Zealand, Patron of Q Theatre and Theatre New Zealand and serves as a trust board member of the Actors Benevolent Fund. In the 2007 New Year’s Honours List, she was named an ONZM for services to theatre and the community. In 2018 she was named SPADA Industry Champion and in 2019 New Year’s Honours List, she was named a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (CNZM) for services to theatre, film and television and presented with a Woman of Influence Award (for arts and culture) .

Jennifer has been a keen student of te reo Maori since 2008, and in 2017  was gifted the name Te Atamira (The Stage) by Sir Timoti Karetu and Te Wharehuia Milroy.

Jeff Szusterman

Jeff Szusterman is an Equity New Zealand board member and a former Equity Vice-President who has been a proud union member since the mid-90s. As an actor Jeff has over 50 professional credits across stage and screen, and has received awards, nominations, and critical acclaim for his work on stage, in particular.

Jeff is also the Director of AYA Drama (https://www.ayadrama.com/) one of Auckland’s foremost drama schools for young people, and is also a conduit for adults introducing themselves into the profession.

For the ABF, Jeff also produced the highly successful ‘Afternoon Gala’ held at the PopUp Globe which has set a benchmark for ABF fundraisers headed into the future.