Top job landed after part-time role

Tina Jennen moved here from the US as a single parent with four children. Photo / George Novak

Tina Jennen has become a well-connected member of the Bay of Plenty entrepreneurial ecosystem since arriving in Tauranga from the US in 2010 as a single parent with four children to begin an MBA at the University of Waikato.

This month, she was appointed chief executive of the Plus Group of agri-tech companies controlled by well-known businessman Steve Saunders, after working with the group in a part-time executive capacity for 18 months. "I need diversity, which exists at Plus Group, which is why I love working with Steve," she said.

Born in Minnesota and raised in South Dakota in the American Mid-West, Ms Jennen got her first taste of international experience at 17 as a Rotary exchange student in Majorca, Spain, and subsequently spent time in Mexico. She went on to get a bachelor's degree in international affairs and Spanish at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln while working full-time representing non-profit lobbying groups.

"My first career was in community activism and the core of that is still present in a lot of the work I do, it's just being applied differently," she said.

Ms Jennen switched tracks, becoming a licensed stockbroker for a year with American Express in Omaha, then joined her then partner, Richard, in Lincoln, Nebraska, where they spent the next dozen years running land development and landscaping companies.

By now married with two children, the couple decided to explore new horizons and, in 2002, visited New Zealand.

"We travelled around for three months and fell in love with New Zealand," she said.

In November 2002, they relocated, buying a 24ha lifestyle block in Golden Bay, where they had planned to create an affordable, environmentally-friendly subdivision, but were eventually stymied by land use restrictions. They had two more children but, after five years, returned to the US and moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota, when Ms Jennen became an accountant for the Association of Waldorf Schools of North America, the training and accreditation body for Steiner education in Canada, Mexico and the US.

The couple divorced and Ms Jennen decided to return to New Zealand, in part driven by the appeal of completing an MBA at Waikato and the good reputation of the Tauranga Waldorf School, in Welcome Bay, for the children's education.

"Once we'd done research, the Bay of Plenty was the obvious place to come," she said.

She arrived in January 2010 with four children and five suitcases and began her MBA a month later. After six months, she set up a consulting business.

"This was my time to reinvent myself," she said. "I'd done quite a lot of different things, but didn't really know what I wanted to do in the next iteration, so I used the MBA and the consulting business to put a whole lot of things in the funnel." As her networks developed, an introduction to Bill Murphy, executive director of start-up funding group Enterprise Angels, led to a part-time role as venture manager for Plenty of Innovation, the group's entrepreneurial boot camp programme, and she picked up other start-up projects.

A year-and-a-half ago, she began working with Plus Group as an executive in the innovation space, a role that has over time led to her taking the chief executive role, freeing up Mr Saunders to take on a more strategic role in Plus Group and other businesses. Although, she gave up the Enterprise Angels role in February, she remains the national facilitator for Startup Weekend this year.

She is also involved in serial entrepreneur Simon McDonald's Zap Cap startup fund, and his Hawaiki Rising Voyaging Trust, which is centred around using a 22m traditional Polynesian ocean-going double waka to help at-risk youth.

"Tina has a wonderful combination of sharp business acumen, a warm personality and an abundant supply of energy," said Dr McDonald.

"She just gets things done."

Inspiring women

Tina Jennen's current main non-work focus is as a volunteer for Tauranga's Tarnished Frocks and Divas, the biennial retro theatre on the catwalk show that celebrates women over 40. This September's event will raise funds for charities, including Homes for Hope. Tarnished Frocks and Divas aims to encourage self-discovery, inspiration and creative expression in women.

"Two years ago, I danced in front of 5000 people and I'd never been on a stage before," she said. "It was a really empowering experience."

While completing her MBA, Ms Jennen became involved in the local yacht racing scene as part of the Women on Water group, culminating in a foredeck role on a Mumm 36, and hopes to return to racing next year.

"I decided to learn yacht racing while I did my MBA because the principles, dynamics and decision-making of learning how to sail are similar to what you need to do in business. It's really great for skill-building."

Her two sons and two daughters with her former husband are now 16, 15, 12 and 10, with both teenagers having completed their Year 10 studies back in the US. "It gets the blinders off and they've really grown from that experience," she said. She lives with her new partner, Bastiaan Kramer, general manager of the Restorative Justice Trust and chairman of the YMCA. The couple recently bought a half-acre section.

Tina Jennen

Role: Chief executive, Plus Group

Born: Minnesota, US

Age: 42

First job: Community organiser

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