Mayor Bob Parker
Mayor of Christchurch
Mayor Bob Parker was named 2011 PRINZ Communicator of the Year for his handling of the communication around the 4 September 2010 earthquake in Christchurch. In 2012 he was awarded a Civil Defence Emergency Management Silver Award for his community leadership following the 22 February 2011 earthquake.
He has had an active an high-profile career in local body politics since the early 1990's and was elected to the position of Mayor of Christchurch in 2007 and re-elected for a second term in 2010. Starting out as a member of the Banks Peninsula community board, he went on to serve two terms as the District's Mayor (2001-2006) and after leading the amalgamation of the Banks Peninsula District and the City Council became a Christchurch City Councillor in 2006 and Mayor of the Council in the following year.
Born in Christchurch in 1953, Bob Parker grew up in the hillside community of Heathcote. He attended South Intermediate and Cashmere High Schools before going on to study an intermediate year in Zoology at Canterbury University. A career as one of New Zealand’s foremost television presenters followed, with appearances on Telethons, the Benson and Hedges Fashion Design Awards and the “This is Your Life” series.
In personal time, Parker’s interests centre on family, the Arts; music, movies and the theatre. A love of walking and biking and a passionate interest in anything to do with machinery and how it works, helps him maintain a healthy work lifestyle balance.
A much sought after public speaker for national and international audiences in late 2012 Parker launched his book “Ripped Apart: A City in Chaos,” a critically acclaimed personal account about the Christchurch earthquakes.
PRINZ Conference 2013 Opening Speaker
Christchurch is proud to have been chosen as host city for the 2013 PRINZ Conference.The conference will bring together presenters and attendees all of whom are leading practitioners in the disciplines of public relations and communications in New Zealand. They will focus on a theme that I believe speaks to the increasingly significant place individual and community networks have in communities and nations that enjoy a robust way of life and are rich in spirit.
'Enduring relationships, Enduring communities' this year's Conference theme resonates strongly across Christchurch as it was the relationships within our communities and their extended networks across the city spreading out nationally and across the world that often spelt the difference between despair and seeing the opportunity in every new day. Socially, environmentally and technology-wise we are undergoing dramatic change, therefore it is critical to the future of communities that the practice of communication embraces the values of honesty and inclusivity.
I am looking forward to the opportunity of sharing the evolving lessons being in Christchurch and hearing from the Conference how the future will indeed be a place of exciting debate, dialogue, and exchange of information and ideas.
Mayor Bob Parker was named 2011 PRINZ Communicator of the Year for his handling of the communication around the 4 September 2010 earthquake in Christchurch. In 2012 he was awarded a Civil Defence Emergency Management Silver Award for his community leadership following the 22 February 2011 earthquake.
He has had an active an high-profile career in local body politics since the early 1990's and was elected to the position of Mayor of Christchurch in 2007 and re-elected for a second term in 2010. Starting out as a member of the Banks Peninsula community board, he went on to serve two terms as the District's Mayor (2001-2006) and after leading the amalgamation of the Banks Peninsula District and the City Council became a Christchurch City Councillor in 2006 and Mayor of the Council in the following year.
Born in Christchurch in 1953, Bob Parker grew up in the hillside community of Heathcote. He attended South Intermediate and Cashmere High Schools before going on to study an intermediate year in Zoology at Canterbury University. A career as one of New Zealand’s foremost television presenters followed, with appearances on Telethons, the Benson and Hedges Fashion Design Awards and the “This is Your Life” series.
In personal time, Parker’s interests centre on family, the Arts; music, movies and the theatre. A love of walking and biking and a passionate interest in anything to do with machinery and how it works, helps him maintain a healthy work lifestyle balance.
A much sought after public speaker for national and international audiences in late 2012 Parker launched his book “Ripped Apart: A City in Chaos,” a critically acclaimed personal account about the Christchurch earthquakes.
PRINZ Conference 2013 Opening Speaker
Christchurch is proud to have been chosen as host city for the 2013 PRINZ Conference.The conference will bring together presenters and attendees all of whom are leading practitioners in the disciplines of public relations and communications in New Zealand. They will focus on a theme that I believe speaks to the increasingly significant place individual and community networks have in communities and nations that enjoy a robust way of life and are rich in spirit.
'Enduring relationships, Enduring communities' this year's Conference theme resonates strongly across Christchurch as it was the relationships within our communities and their extended networks across the city spreading out nationally and across the world that often spelt the difference between despair and seeing the opportunity in every new day. Socially, environmentally and technology-wise we are undergoing dramatic change, therefore it is critical to the future of communities that the practice of communication embraces the values of honesty and inclusivity.
I am looking forward to the opportunity of sharing the evolving lessons being in Christchurch and hearing from the Conference how the future will indeed be a place of exciting debate, dialogue, and exchange of information and ideas.