Meet the leadership team

Close-up of a white rescue chicken standing on grass, looking into the camera. There is a pile of wood and a blue hose in the background.
Image credit – Jinki Cambronero.
Marianne smiling holding a white rescue chicken.
Marianne Macdonald
Executive Director

Marianne has thirty years of experience working as an animal advocate both in the UK and Aotearoa.

She holds a Batchelor’s degree in Life Science, specialising in Ecology, from the University of West London and a Master’s in Marine Biology from Bangor University in north Wales.

Marianne ran her own business for over 20 years in Auckland, as a Neuromuscular Therapist and Mind Coach. She spent four years as a Therapeutic Massage Diploma tutor at Wellpark College and worked for three years as the Executive Officer of industry body Massage New Zealand.

She has worked with several animal organisations including as a researcher and campaigner for the National Anti-Vivisection Society in London, and as a Campaigns Manager and then Head of Campaigns with SAFE for Animals. Marianne also spent seven years on the governance board of SAFE.

Mona smiling holding a white rescue chicken
Mona Oliver
Campaign Director

Mona has a background in political campaigning. She has worked on four election campaigns for the Green Party in New Zealand and Australia.

​She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Public Policy, and in 2019 completed a Certificate of Proficiency in Animal Law.

As an animal welfare campaigner, Mona worked directly with the legal team who won a ban on farrowing crates at the High Court. She assisted with research, Statement of Claim and witness statements in that case. She also worked on the live export petition in 2019 that received over 30,000 signatures in support of ban.

Animals Aotearoa board and advisor

Board

​Dr Roz Holland, Veterinary Science Advisor

Debbie Matthews

Elaine McNee​​

Advisor

Mandy Carter, Ex Global Head of Campaigns of Compassion in World Farming


Close-up of a brown feathered rescue hen moving through some foliage

Thank you for helping Animals Aotearoa!

Logo of the Centre for Effective Altruism - three blue circles inside on another.

A huge thank you to the Centre for Effective Altruism Animal Welfare Fund for grants awarded for 2021, 2022 and 2023.

Logo of the Open Wing Alliance - A solid black line drawing of a hen with her wings outstretched

A huge thank you to the Open Wing Alliance for grants awarded for 2021, 2022 and 2023.

Farmwatch logo - the word Farm and Watch on a black background

Thank you to Farmwatch for investigating the conditions on factory farms and allowing us to use their footage and images. 

Close up of a brown feathered hen's legs and feet, and the lower part of her body, being cradled in a person's arms.

Thank you to photographer Jinki Cambronero for allowing us to use her beautiful animal photos on our website and social media channels.

Logo of the Altruistic Agency - The letter A repeated four times, behind one another - in green, yellow, light orange and dark orange.

Thank you to the Altruistic Agency for ongoing tech support.

Rowan smiling with the ocean behind him.

Thank you to Rowan Lund who interned for us for four months in 2022.

Logo of Rebel Co, with rebel in black and Co in yellow, with the infinity symbol forming a heart in the top circle. Tag-line "design with heart".

Thank you to Gerrah Selby of Rebel Design for creating our logo.

Logo of Neat Photography. The letters NEAT in black in a white hexagon, bordered with black shapes to form a circle.

Thank you to Matthew Ariano of Neat Photography for graphic design work on the A-team graphic.

Logo of the Community Comms Collective. Name in teal, with tag-line "helping people help others" in orange.

Thank you to Ashwini Chaskar for a website audit via the Community Comms Collective.

Thank you to Alf Jamieson of Media5 for providing digital billboards.

Thank you to Sentient Media for training in writing for Search Engine Optimisation and a website audit.


N.B. Animals Aotearoa is separate from Animal Agenda Aotearoa, which does excellent work putting animals on the political agenda and helping voters make informed choices on animal issues in elections.


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