He’s tall with an air of boyishness about him.  You wouldn’t necessarily pick him as being a CEO, a change management agent or a forthright financial advisor who means business.

But Peter Jansen is all of these things and more and he’ll be taking care of business for Lifeline Auckland until early next year when a permanent CEO will be appointed.

One of Peter’s other day jobs is CEO of Trust Investments, a company specialising in providing tax effective investment management, advice in governance and management along with other sound financial guidance for charities and not-for-profits. 

As well as his corporate talents Peter has an impressive sporting history.  At 25 he took up rowing and competed in five world championships winning a silver medal with the eights in Yugoslavia.  He was also selected for the 1980 Moscow Olympics where there was a good chance they’d win a gold.  Sadly this wasn’t to be as New Zealand pulled out of the Olympics because of the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.  

Peter remains a current champion with unbeaten national records in the 2000 and 500 metres for indoor rowing. 

He is married to Christine and they have four children and two cats.  Peter says, “We’re a very tight family – always have been and Christine and I installed in the children while they were growing up that it was important to be your own person and always be there for each other.” 

When asked about plans for the next five years he said he wants to sail the seven seas stopping at various destinations and when asked how long will it take he says with a smile, “as long we’re enjoying it, we’ll keep doing it – 5, 7, 10 years, who knows”

Once he eventually returns to dry land, Peter says he’d like to specialise in change management for Not-for-Profits.  “It’s about giving something back – I like dealing with people who are more concerned about helping others than helping themselves.”  Peter says this is the main reason he’s chosen charities and not-for-profits over the corporate world.

He’s a man of many talents and there are few hobbies he hasn’t tried – scuba diving, skiing, fishing, model aeroplanes, cycling, swimming and so on... 

The passion for living live to the full fits with someone whose reply to the question, if you had to sum up the meaning of life in a sentence what would it be? -  “Carpe diem – Seize the Day”  Peter says, “of course it’s bigger than that.”  But as we all know life is always bigger than we sometimes anticipate - especially if we fill it with as many things as we can.