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Board Members

Kristin Sutherland

President
Kristin is the Lead Project Manager at UniServices, the commercialism arm of the University of Auckland. She leads a team of project managers and research assistants who use health technology to solve public health problems such as cardiovascular disease and addictions. She has a background in health graduating with a BAppSc in Medical Radiation Technology. She then worked in the public health system for 5 years, completed her MBA in London and moved into health services management.

Kristin got into property at 22, purchasing an investment property in Sydney with her brother. She is mainly a buy and hold investor, but has experience in renovations, subdivision, trading, and multi-unit building development. The majority of her portfolio was in Christchurch at the time of the Canterbury Earthquakes, so she has vast, enforced, experience in insurance claims and settlement. She worked as a loss adjustor for EQC for a period of time following the earthquakes where she learnt a lot about how the insurers mind works.

She has been an active member of her local property investor association for 10 yrs, firstly in Canterbury and now in Auckland. Kristin enjoys learning from other investor’s experiences at networking events, and loves learning from their mistakes so that she doesn’t have to make so many herself. She is passionate about running a property investment portfolio as a business. Issues related to tenancy tribunal are also close to her heart, having attended the tenancy tribunal on multiple occasions.

Outside of property Kristin’s other passion is family and travel. She and her husband love taking their two sons on adventures to far flung places around the globe. She believes it is an invaluable life lesson for young Kiwi’s to see how other children in the world grow up and how fortunate we are to live in such a safe and beautiful place.

Monique Moss

Vice President
Monique has been an APIA member since 2018 and joined the board in 2020. She is a digital project manager, overseeing website builds and helping clients develop and market their brands online. Monique graduated with a Bachelor of Business Studies degree, a double major in International Business and Entrepreneurship from Massey University.

Monique started her property investment journey in 2014. During this time, she immersed herself in the industry, learning everything she could and navigating all the challenges of property investment. She has a portfolio of new build properties in Whangarei, Auckland and Taupo.

Monique wants to help show others, particularly younger generations, that they can be successful no matter their background and support them in their journey. She is a passionate APIA member and believes the organisation provides any investor with the best non-biased platform for support and learning within the property investing arena. 

Outside of work, Monique is a keen skier in winter and loves boating, fishing and scuba diving in summer.

Amanda Watt

Treasurer
Amanda is a Director and Co-Owner of Shortland Chartered Accountants based in Auckland CBD. With over 20 years of experience as a Business Advisor and Chartered Accountant, Amanda advises and works with many clients from various industries with a specific interest in property, construction, manufacturing, advertising and professional services.

Amanda works alongside clients to guide and help them develop and implement strategies that suit the business’s goals.

For Amanda, it’s all about achieving client goals and aspirations. This includes the basics of ensuring their accounts and tax structures are accurate to the more complex and long-term goals in ensuring their strategy is correct and relevant for the direction of their business.

Amanda is passionate about property being a keen investor herself. She enjoys travelling, vintage champagne and spending time with her family.

Amanda is very enthusiastic about being a Board member of APIA and working to build the association’s membership. Amanda is also a Board member (and Treasurer) of NZPIF.

Therese Bisquera

Secretary
Therese is a wife, mother to two young children, and a full time employee in the organisation she’s been working in for over a decade where she is able to fulfill her passion for helping people. She migrated to New Zealand with her parents when she was in her teens and half of those years, they were tenants; now able to relate how it feels to be recipients of the service she now provides. 
Gratitude is something that Therese tries to practise regularly and her extended family is one of the groups she is most grateful for – for their help and inspiration and because of which, she has now been able to pay it forward by inspiring friends and family to start investing in property.

Therese started investing in 2015 when she bought her first residential home with her husband Adrian, with the help of her parents-in-law. She planned and coordinated the house overhaul which they have since onsold. The profit from this first property became their seed capital to finance their first rental property, together with help from her angel investor, her brother.

She and her husband decided that life is busy on its own to go through the school of hard knocks, so they invested heavily on their education by paying for a property investment mentorship. Her mentor, a long time APIA member, recommended APIA for a month and it was an easy sell for the membership was worth its weight in gold. She’s been a regular APIA attendee and contributor having twice been a guest speaker on some of their events.

Therese believes that property investment is primarily a people business. Having a rental far away from home, (in Whanganui East), requires careful collaboration with the property manager to tend to the needs of their most important asset, the tenant. She uses her people skills to coordinate her current project – renovating (again) and subdividing.

Outside of work and property, Therese enjoys spending time with extended family travelling or at home baking treats with her kids. In the interest of personal development, she’s taken on the hobby of reading or listening to books (something she felt was a chore growing up). Lastly, she keeps herself extra busy by volunteering to help at church, coordinate events, or teach others a new skill.

Peter Lewis

Board Member
Peter has been a residential landlord since 1991. Starting out with one Auckland house he has steadily increased his portfolio over subsequent years. He has always fully managed his own properties and since 2013 has been a full-time residential landlord. Peter was named the runner-up to the NZPIF 2015 Landlord Of the Year. He also sits on the Executive Board of the New Zealand Property Investors Federation, the umbrella organisation for all of the country’s property investors associations, as their Northern Area Representative and was elected NZPIF Vice-President in 2018.

He has a special interest in the economic, social and political environment in which the landlording business operates. To this end he has commented through and appeared in the media on such subjects as insulation subsidies, water charges, tenancy legislation and tax matters. In a number of overseas trips he has studied the residential housing and rental markets in Canada, Ireland, Europe and Scandinavia. He is the author of the monthly blog ‘Life as a Landlord’ in the PropertyTalk.com forum.

Extensive travel throughout the Pacific Islands and Asia have given Peter an insight into the needs and social mores of tenants who emigrate from these countries into New Zealand.

With a lifelong interest in aviation history, he is a licenced pilot and a published author and photographer within the New Zealand aviation scene. Compiler of a comprehensive database on such matters and with well over 130,000 relevant photographs, he frequently supplies material on a commercial basis to magazines, books and company histories.

Sonny Lemalu

Board Member
Sonny has been an APIA casual guest since 2003 and became a member in 2008 joining the Board in 2011.  He is an independent director of a telecommunication and water bottle company in the pacific islands. He is also a member of the New Zealand Computer Society.

Sonny owns an IT Company serving the corporate enterprise market and government organisations both New Zealand and the pacific, and a shareholder in various businesses. He graduated with a BSc degree double major in operations research and financial modeling from Auckland University. His passion for technology took him to become both a Microsoft System Engineer (MCSE) and Cisco Design Expert (CCDE)

Sonny became an accidental property investor when he was searching for a place to rent in Wellington during the recession in the late 90’s. He was on his way to work when he saw a bungalow with a big back yard. The landlord suggested that he could purchase it on a lease to buy option, which he did and the rest is history. It’s from this experience that he saw the world of property investing from a different perspective.

Sonny is passionate about property and a keen investor with an investment portfolio consists of both residential and commercial. He enjoys the strategic and creativity side of both business and property investing and the challenge of taking an asset and adding value to it. He is also enthusiastic about passing on his knowledge and skills to assist new and young investor’s whenever he can.

Sonny is enthusiastic about APIA and a true believer as an independent organisation. He believes APIA is the preferred organisation for members to collaborate, network and learn about property investment. We are living in a globalised world with information technology the forefront of that change and Sonny believes APIA need to stay current and relevant by providing value added offerings for it’s members through innovation by adopting new and current technologies and by focusing on members needs.
   
Outside of work, Sonny enjoys spending time with his family and 3-year-old daughter. He loves general fitness especially that feeling after your lungs have been given a good old thumping from an intense workout which helps clear the head. Enjoy reading autobiographies and non-fiction. Paddling in a single canoe in big swells and surfing the waves.

Rafiq Moses

Board Member
Rafiq is an Organisational Excellence Manager at the New Zealand Defence Force, specialising in developing and delivering training, facilitating workshops, and coaching individuals involved in process improvement and innovation projects across government and commercial sectors. This dynamic role seamlessly combines interpersonal skills with technology and creativity.

A graduate with a Master of Technical Futures from Academy EX, Rafiq is a lifelong learner currently pursuing postgraduate studies in Digital and Collaborative Learning with the Mind Lab at Academy EX. Networking events and serving as an MC occupy much of his spare time.

A third-generation New Zealander, and family ties to India and Australia. Rafiq garnered invaluable skills during his 21-year service in the Royal New Zealand Navy. Combining full time employment with a love of property, procuring his first rental property in 2012 demanded meticulous planning, especially during international deployments. Supported by adept property managers and a team of trusted professionals, Rafiq finds the journey both challenging and enjoyable.

A member of APIA for over a decade, Rafiq thrives on learning from fellow investors during networking events and conferences. Hearing about others’ experiences, both positive and challenging. These stories guide him, hopefully avoiding costly mistakes and inspires him to take strategic actions, particularly in the realm of tactical renovation to provide quality housing.

Beyond his professional endeavours, Rafiq indulges his passion for Theatre, Food, Gardens, and Architecture, finding equal enjoyment in bustling cityscapes and serene rural landscapes. With a global appreciation for food cultivated through years of travel, including a penchant for spice, Rafiq’s enthusiasm extends to the helping in the kitchen or the bar at social events. A devoted gardener, he takes pride in cultivating the garden at his home at the end of the Whangaparāoa Peninsula, drawing inspiration from the structure and formality of Japanese and English gardens

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