In Bev we Trust

Promoting gender equity has always played a large part of Beverly Cassidy Mackenzie’s personal and professional life and as the new CEO of The EEO Trust, she is now in a position to make real change.

Who is Beverly Cassidy Mackenzie?
The 43-year-old mother of one is from a large family in the west Auckland suburb of Henderson and her iwi is Ngati Porou. “We visit family who live on the East coast at Tokomaru Bay as much as we can as it’s such a beautiful part of the country. I live in west Auckland with my husband, our ten year old daughter, mum and a couple of dogs.”
Bev left Kelston Girls’ High School and began working in accounts at an Auckland law firm in 1987. She then ran a small family business and learnt to be resilient during tough financial times. “I then had an opportunity to do some contract work for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs where I focused on branding and marketing. I realised to continue with my career I needed to [attain] a degree.” Bev describes her time at Massey University’s Albany campus as busy due to the fact she took her baby daughter to lectures as well. “It was different being an adult student as during breaks I would go and tutor students who were completing a WINTEC equine course. I didn’t know much about horses! My role was to tutor the teenagers on how to conduct themselves in interviews, write a CV and communicate.” Bev would run tutorials while her daughter lay in her carry cot beside her desk. After three years, Bev graduated with a Bachelor of Business studies majoring in Communications and Marketing.
Bev and her husband took turns being the primary caregiver of their growing girl and this flexibility gave her the opportunity to work for the Auckland Chamber of Commerce as marketing, relationship and sponsoring manager. After several years, Bev became the Corporate Marketing Manager at New Zealand Trade and Enterprise in 2006. “Following that, I worked from home so I could be a more hands on mother and at the same time be the executive director of the New Zealand Youth Mentoring Network. “I became more involved in social development and helping charitable trusts that were sometimes struggling.”
Last year, Bev took up full time work again at the Auckland Chamber of Commerce as a consultant to the chief executive as well as juggling other work. “The opportunity came up to work for the EEO Trust and here I am working full time as its CEO and loving it.”