Jenny Hickson
Jenny was both an academic and a sports woman. She gained an A Bursary in 1990, was on the senior school council and captained the Girls’ Hockey 1st XI. She went on to study at Waikato University, graduating in 1994 with a Bachelor of Management Studies (Hons) and then gaining her Chartered Accountancy membership in 1998.
Upon completing her degree, she remained in Hamilton and undertook a management cadetship at Sealed Air. After gaining her CA Jenny went to London on her OE, and worked in various contract roles in between travelling (and the pub!). She left London in July of 2000, spending three months in a campervan around Europe and then another three months on a truck tour from Nairobi to Cape Town. On her return to NZ in 2001 she headed to Christchurch and worked at Goughs Cat, then in 2003 joined Meridian Energy where she had a number of different roles over the following 13 years. A highlight of her time at Meridian was being involved in preparing the financial information for the IPO (Initial Public Offering), and this inspired a move to Deloitte in 2016 when she joined the corporate finance team.
Jenny lives in Christchurch with her partner Shaun, their two daughters Sarah (10) and Tabitha (9), a cat and a dog. Shaun also has two older children who live just around the corner and they spend a lot of time with them. The weekends are pretty busy with the kids’ various sporting pursuits, as well as home renovations and gardening jobs. They try to get up to Lake Coleridge when they can, where they enjoy the river and walks in the surrounding hills. Jenny also likes cycling and tries to bike to work most days and get out for longer rides in the weekends.
Jenny commented that it has been interesting and challenging living through the Canterbury earthquakes. She was in Wellington for work on February 22, and because the airport shut she and her colleagues had to get the ferry across and drive through the night to get home to their families. She considers herself very lucky that her friends and family were all ok, and her house suffered only minor damage. Six years on the city is really humming with the rebuild, and it is exciting to be a part of it!