Board Members
Bernadette Doube
Grant O’Brien
Alan Grainer
Paul Bennett
Matthew Peploe
Bernadette has been involved in the Health sector throughout her career moving from a clinical role to management and on to governance. She has a strong interest and involvement in the disability sector. Not only has Bernadette been Chairperson of Webhealth Board since November 2004, she is also a Trustee of two other organisations which provide services for people with intellectual disabilities, Hamilton Residential Trust and Spectrum Care.
Bernadette is also a Trustee of Trust Waikato and a previous Chair of the Waikato DHB Disability Committee. Bernadette is proactively involved and interested in the improvement of our health and social services to respond to the needs of the community.
Grant O’Brien has been a part of Webhealth Linkage Trust since it first began as a joint venture in 1998. He has been a trustee since it became a Charitable Trust in 2001.
Grant trained as a social worker and spent many years working in community and mental health settings. Taking on management roles while developing an interest in research lead to a Masters Degree in Public Policy and a shift in emphasis to strategic management within the District Health Board. Taking on the role of Change Manager with the Common Purpose project allowed him to focus on working in an environment which needs to change in order to meet future health expectations. This challenging role involves a joint working relationship between Waikato Primary Health and Waikato DHB as two key stakeholders in health service delivery, development and funding.
Alan Grainer is the Chief Information officer for the Waikato District Health Board. Alan commenced his involvement with Linkage Trust Board in 2006. He is currently the Chair of the National DHB CIO Forum and a member of the DHBNZ Information Portfolio Group and the DHBNZ Value For Money Steering Group.
Paul Bennett is currently CEO of Braemar Hospital Ltd, one of the largest private surgical hospitals in New Zealand. He has strategic and operational oversight of two private hospitals in Hamilton and has recently led a $30 million hospital construction project.
Paul has held CEO or general manager positions in several different industries, both profit and not-for-profit, in New Zealand and Australia. His experience covers plastic manufacturing and exporting, the export meat industry, public and private health sectors and the cordage industry.
He is a Member of the Institute of Directors and sits on the Waikato/BoP branch committee.
Matthew Peploe is a Senior Associate with the law firm Harkness Henry. He began his legal practice in 1997 and since that time he has acted for a wide range of individuals, businesses and not-for-profit organisations. He acted as the Trust's solicitor for a number of years before accepting an offer to join the board of Linkage Trust as a trustee in 2009. Matthew's commercial and legal experience is a valuable addition to the board of trustees and he appreciates the opportunity to use his experience for the benefit of the wider community.
