Meet our Trustees
Tuutakina ngaa kaitiaki
Sarah Thomson
Sarah is an experienced elected member with Hamilton City Council. She has practiced as both a commercial and community lawyer. She has a passion for equity, environmental protection and housing affordability. Sarah is focused on solutions and working collaboratively to get positive outcomes for the city and across our region. She brings a strong strategic focus to the board of Community Waikato.
Carolyn Eyre
Chairperson
Carolyn Eyre serves as the Chairperson of the Community Waikato Board of Trustees. Alongside her governance role with Community Waikato, she is an elected Western Districts General Ward Councillor for the Waikato District Council and a member of the Rural-Port Waikato Community Board. With deep roots in the rural Waikato district, Carolyn is dedicated to local representation, rural community advocacy, and supporting capacity and capability building across regional community organisations.
Yvonne Wilson
Yvonne is the Housing Manager - Korowai Manaaki at Te Runanga o Kirikiriroa. Yvonne is an experienced community advocate and researcher with a proven track record in community-led housing, whānau wellbeing, and non-profit capability. With deep ties to Kirikiriroa and a background working alongside urban Māori organisations and regional providers, she brings a grounded, strategic, and equity-focused lens to the governance of Community Waikato. Yvonne is passionate about strengthening grassroots leadership and ensuring community organisations across the region are well-equipped to support their people.
Liam Mylchreest
Liam is an Audit Manager at PKF Hamilton – Chartered Accountants. He has a practical, needs focused approach to audit which delivers suitable and value-added recommendations to his clients. He has worked in audit since graduating from the University of Waikato in 2019 and has strong knowledge of the challenges faced by the not-for-profit sector. He has worked with clients across the country which are all unique in their size, industry and sector and is familiar with the problems that they face.
Liam has joined Community Waikato as he wants to share his experience and expertise with the community he has grown up in and to offer help to those who need it in a professional friendly way.
Endine Dixon-Harris
Endine is a dedicated community and environmental leader with deep ties to Waikato-Tainui. Bringing broad experience across iwi resource management, freshwater restoration, and collaborative governance, she focuses on strengthening grassroots capability and ensuring authentic whānau and hapū representation across community-led initiatives in the Waikato.
Liaquat Changezi
Liaquat Ali Changezi is an established community advocate, intercultural leader, and governance professional dedicated to social cohesion, equity, and inclusion across Kirikiriroa and the wider Waikato region. With deep experience championing the voices of ethnic, migrant, and refugee-background communities, he brings an authentic, cross-cultural perspective to the Community Waikato Board.
Liaquat has contributed extensively to regional community development, having served in leadership and advisory capacities with organisations such as the Waikato Multicultural Council, local ethnic advisory panels, and grassroots community networks.
Martin Gallagher
For more than four decades, Martin Gallagher has served Hamilton City and its people with distinction and unwavering commitment.
As a long serving Hamilton City Councillor, Deputy Mayor, and Member of Parliament, Mr Gallagher has shaped the city’s direction and strengthened its democratic foundations.
Renowned for his integrity, humility, and respect for tradition, Mr Gallagher is known as a guardian of civic memory and a champion of progress, inclusion, and collaboration. Known for being a mentor and historian, he has enriched Hamilton’s civic life, by ensuring the city’s heritage and values are carried forward for future generations.
Though retired from formal office, Martin continues to devote his time generously to the community. Among some of his roles, he serves on the Waikato Health Trust, a National Board Member of Parent to Parent, and a Trustee for Community Waikato. He was recently awarded a Hamilton Kirikiriroa Medal for civic service.