DEFENCE
Will 2022 be the Year New Zealand finally joins up the dots for our Veterans? Jennie Vickers sat down recently with RSA CEO Marty Donoghue to talk about the RSA’s ambitions for better industry engagement in 2022. A selection of questions and answers follows. JV: What are the moments of 2021 which make you excited about joining the dots in 2022? MD: Tough question because despite the challenging year, we have been progressing on a number of fronts. But… I want to start with exciting and very relevant news. Just last week we received an update about one of our Invictus family, Nu Filo. He has been competing and representing New Zealand at the World Para Powerlifting Championships held last week in Tbilisi Georgia. Nu messaged us to say: “Sunday went well with two PBs of 140kg and 150kg in the Para-Bench (Powerlifting PB is 166kg). I finished 16th from 20 in the World which is ok for the biggest competition I have been to. Today it’s
back to the gym again working towards another PB and the Commonwealth Games 2022.” Nu is a former New Zealand Army Soldier who lost a leg in a training accident in Waiouru in 2006. Nu retrained as an IT analyst, worked into an IT role with Government and has thrown himself into his sport. Nu got to Tbilisi with support from RSA, from the Auckland RSA and from KPMG. He is the embodiment of a 21st Century kiwi veteran, working through adversity, re-training for a new profession and then being ‘the change we want to see in the world’ as an Invictus medallist and now on a World sporting stage. When we join the dots in 2022, we will see more people like Nu transitioning from service to industry,
Marty Donoghue is Chief Executive of the Royal New Zealand Returned and Services Association (RNZRSA). He has a 35-year track record of building and managing teams and mobilising volunteers in New Zealand and internationally across defence, sport, science and in the not-for-profit sector.
New Zealand World Para Powerlifting Championships representative Nu Filo.
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Line of Defence
