OUR BOARD

General Manager

David first joined West End way back in 1978! He was on the WERC Executive Committee for a number of years in the 1980’s, and in the early 2000’s was on the WERC Facilities Committee. From 2012-2014 David was the Chairperson of the WERC Executive Board and in 2014 he was elected as Club Captain and remains in the position now.

In 2017 David was made a Life Member of West End Rowing Club

In August 2022 David was appointed as a full time employee of the Club so he could focus 100% on the future of the club.

clubcaptain@werc.co.nz

Executive Board Chairperson

John came to West End in 2017, having previously rowed at North Shore, Victoria University and Hawke’s Bay Rowing Clubs. Since then, John has proudly represented West End Rowing Club at the Head of the Yarra in Melbourne, Australian Masters’ Rowing Champs at Lake Barrington, Tasmania and many domestic rowing regattas. John was a lawyer, qualified in New Zealand, England & Wales and the State of California, but sensibly abandoned that to develop and operate two gold mines in Vietnam. John continues to be involved in the minerals sector and also holds a number of non-executive directorships. John has been the Chair of WERC’s Executive Board since 2020.

boardchair@werc.co.nz

Club President

Garth first started rowing when he was 14 and continues to row now, nearly 50 years later. He joined West End in 2016, and says it was one of the best rowing decisions he’s ever made. Garth’s had a lot of success rowing masters at West End, including winning the Men’s F4- final at Henley Masters Regatta. Garth has also given a lot back to our sport by coaching at club and master’s level, being an administrator at club and national level and is now an official, frequently holding the title of Chief Umpire at regattas on Lake Karapiro. Outside of rowing, Garth volunteers for a youth suicide prevention charity and is an honorary member of the NZ Dental Association and the NZ Medical Technology Association.

Chief Financial Officer

Liz Forde first joined West End in 2003 in a Corporate Learn to Row programme run by Lew Beck. While at WERC she’s organised crews for Head of the Yarra, been Masters Captain from 2019-2022 and CFO on the West End Executive Board since 2019. Liz has a large bundle of gold medals from Masters regattas and her rowing highlights have been competing in a 200km rowing race in France called Canal du Midi, Head of the Yarra in Australia nine times and rowing from Taupo to Port Waikato three times. While not rowing, Liz is a busy Mum of three grown children, a volunteer driver for the Auckland Cancer Society, a mosaic artist and a crypto enthusiast. She’s currently working for a Blockchain and dApp infrastructure service provider setting up and managing their Crypto treasury, and her side hustle is helping people with their Crypto Inheritance planning. In 2022 Liz cycled from Cape Reinga to Bluff in 30 days as part of the Tour Aotearoa brevet.

School Principal’s Representative

James Bentley is the Principal of St Peters College and was appointed onto the WERC Board in August 2025.

Board Member

Gary has a 25 year career with extensive general and financial management experience across several industries and with multi-national corporations, public companies, private equity-owned companies and in start-up environments.

Board Member

Cordelia rowed at West End in the 1990’s with the Auckland University crew and then the women’s club squad. After a few years racing for Mercantile Rowing Club in Melbourne, Cordelia finished her club rowing in 2002 with her first foray into Masters rowing - a win at the World Masters Games in Ballarat in the A 2x.

Returning to Auckland, the lure of the West End Women’s Masters squad and some of her old crew mates brought Cordelia back to rowing and back to WERC for the 2022 Masters season - after a 20 year hiatus.

Outside of rowing Cordelia has worked in IT in management consulting and now the Insurance industry. She joined the West End Executive Board because she sees the importance of giving back to your community and using the skills that you have for the club.