Erica joined BEANZ in 2016 as a regional representative for the West Coast and in 2020 became one of three BEANZ executive members with a curriculum development portfolio. She now lives in the Wairarapa and is a biology teacher at Solway College. Erica has been a teacher for 14 years, retraining after returning from the United Kingdom with a wealth of knowledge of the biotechnology industry. She has a keen interest in ecology and is kaitiaki of Solway College’s QEII native forest restoration project. By consolidating the work currently underway, Erica looks forward to continuing to connect all biology teachers to BEANZ and each other, regardless of their location in Aotearoa New Zealand. A focus for 2022 and 2023 will be to provide quality resources for all biology teachers to use, as NCEA and NZC changes begin to take effect. This can only be done with the good work of the BEANZ volunteers, both on the executive committee, regional representatives and within the biology teacher’s community.

Chantal is a HOD of Biology, teaching full time in her school in Otago. She joined the BEANZ executive in 2018 and has worked in the junior vice president and president’s role navigating the organisation with clarity, balance and positivity through the NCEA change package, curriculum refresh, pandemic, network of expertise funding rounds and becoming an incorporated society. She has sought to build membership, promoting strong ties with other associated organisations and stakeholders. Chantal is a strong advocate for distributed leadership in a volunteer lead organisation and encourages all BEANZ members to be actively involved in whatever capacity. She has also worked to promote equity, connecting those isolated or new to teaching with support through the offering of scholarships and online resourcing. Chantal continues her work as a BEANZ member and in her BEANZ Senior Vice President’s role she is always carefully looking for the best emerging directives that will support BEANZ members.

After completing a Bachelor of Science majoring in Genetics, Lila decided to pursue her passion for teaching and is now a full-time Biology and Environmental Science teacher at Paraparaumu College. She is particularly interested in finding ways to promote scientific literacy and to support ākonga in developing agency in their learning. Lila is a keen traveller and has experienced the education systems of many different countries before settling in Aotearoa. She is passionate about conservation and biodiversity and is regularly involved in volunteering efforts such as plantings and beach clean-ups. Lila hopes to give back to the Biology community through her work in BEANZ.

Jennie is a full-time Head of Biology at Cashmere High School, Te Iringa o Kahukura in Christchurch. She has worked for over 30 years as a Science Teacher, beginning her career in small rural schools in Kenya. Other experience includes being a Head of Faculty and senior leader in UK secondary schools. Jennie relocated with her husband and young children to Aotearoa in 2009. For the last 3 years, she has also worked in a part-time capacity as a secondary subject lecturer for Trainee Biology Teachers at The School of Education. She is passionate about improving equity through education and enjoys developing plans and curriculum resources that support Science teachers by engaging ākonga with the Biological World and Matauranga Māori.

Allan retired at the end of 2018 from a 46 year teaching career, including teaching science, senior biology and physics, Head of Biology and Head of Science experience, convenor of the 2005 Biolive national conference, holder of a Royal Society Teacher Fellowship in 2007 (sponsored by the Cawthron Institute), and a year in 2001 teaching senior biology and science in a private gymnasiet in Stockholm Sweden. His last 15 years were at Nayland College in Nelson, during which he was the inaugural Regional Representative for BEANZ for Nelson / Marlborough. Allan’s tasks are to relieve some of the more onerous tasks carried out by BEANZ exec members (all busy teachers like you!), including newsletters, recording minutes, monitoring BEANZ emails and responding, membership lists, registrations, payments and such like.

Penny has been an enthusiastic BEANZ member since its inception, becoming an Auckland Regional rep in 2013 with Mike Stone whilst at St Cuthbert’s College and is currently on the curriculum support team of the executive. She was part of the team that wrote the supplementary notes for senior biology when NCEA was brought in. Has enjoyed presenting workshops on various topics over the years, but especially sharing how we can put the fun back into teaching Human Evolution. Now working as HOD Science at Nga Tawa Diocesan in the lovely Manawatu with Dr Heather Meikle and loving acting as the conduit for information amongst Biology educators in the region. She lives in Kaitoke on the outskirts of Wanganui in a wonderful 3 acre garden called Shurinji and hosts open gardens in her spare time. Penny shares this with a menagerie of rescue ducks, doves, chickens, 2 dogs, 3 cats and a husband, Andrew who puts up with it all.

Kenneth lives in Auckland and is currently the Curriculum Leader of Science at Ormiston Senior College. Kenneth joined BEANZ in 2017 as part of the exam writing team for BEANZ. In 2018, he joined the BEANZ exec as our Assessment Coordinator with the oversight for the production of all assessment resources produced by BEANZ. This includes the annual BEANZ Biology Level 3 Exams, BEANZ Scholarship Biology Exam, NZQA QAAM Tasks and more recently, CB AS92022. He brings his wealth of experience and knowledge from his involvements with NZQA, the ministry, tertiary institues and initial teacher education.

He steps into the Presidency role in 2024 and hopes to continue connecting and maintaining the strong network BEANZ has established between BEANZ exec, the regional representatives and all Biology teachers of Aotearoa. A key focus for 2024 and 2025 will be to consolidate the progress that BEANZ has previously made and to continue producing high quality teaching, learning and assessment resources for our members. 

Dr Nic Rawlence is the director of the Otago Palaeogenetics Laboratory. His research projects include:
* Impact of humans and climate change on New Zealand’s terrestrial, coastal and marine fauna
* Evolution and phylogeography of New Zealand’s extinct avian fauna
* Southern hemisphere biogeography
* Fisheries induced evolution

Peter had a teaching career spanning nearly 40 years, in a variety of schools in various parts of the motu, mainly teaching Biology and Science but also Physics, Computer Studied and Education for Sustainability. The last 20 years he held positions of Head of Faculty for Sciences at two of these schools, the last being Marlborough Boys College. In addition this core business he has also had a variety of roles including timetabler, network manager, national biology moderation panel member, NCEA marking panel leader and participation in a variety NQF and NCEA assessment guide writing groups. Since retiring from full time teaching in 2015 Peter has been working in the digital fluency professional development space, firstly for Microsoft and currently as PLD facilitator. For the last eight years Peter has been the BEANZ treasurer over an exciting period during which the organisation has matured from an energetic standing committee of NZASE, to a well-structured and resourced independent professional association that has become increasingly effective at supporting the biology teachers of Aotearoa.

Ben is a full-time Biology teacher at Woodford House. In his spare time he develops  his own website for Science & Biology Teachers – www.pathwayz.org (voted Interface Magazines Best Digital Resource 2015).  Ben is passionate about teaching Biology and was awarded a runner-up prize in the 2014 Warehouse Stationary NZ’s Most Inspiring Teachers competition. Ben also chairs the Hawkes Bay Science and Technology Fair and enjoy riding Vespas and collecting Lego in his spare time.

Ko Gerd Banke toku ingoa. He kaiako ahau i te kura tuarua o Neirana no Whakatū. I am a senior Biology teacher and the regional rep for BEANZ in the Nelson Tasman region. For years I have also been involved in the regional science fair as a judge and as a committee member. In 2022 I was fortunate to become a participant on the Royal Society Te Apārangi science teaching leadership programme. Being a Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert (MIEE), I am a keen user of IT in my teaching. I enjoy the challenges of being a science teacher in a busy classroom, and I welcome change and is an early adopter of most initiatives especially around Nature of Science and Mātauranga Māori. 

Jessica has been teaching since 2016, returning to her former high school in Taumarunui as a new graduate before taking on the role of Science Expert-in-Residence in 2018 and becoming effectively a sole charge Science teacher. She became the BEANZ Central North Island rep at the end of 2021 and has joined the executive for 2023, with the hope of being better placed to support beginning teachers and those who are at small, rural, and/or isolated schools. She lives with her fiancé Tyler and their two cats, and often an SPCA foster kitten or two. They aspire to one day have chickens and a pet sheep.