Early life

James Robert Lynch (generally known as Jim) was born on 11th September 1947 in Whangarei hospital and as a child lived on the family farm at Hukerenui, about 30 km north of Whangarei on the No 1 state highway.

He is the fourth child and third son of Albert and Ethel Lynch whose families began farming in the district from about 1908. His five siblings are Kathy, the late Pat, Alan and the younger Ken and Terry.

Education

Jim attended the Hukerenui primary and high schools from 1952 until 1964. He was noted for his artistic ability and won a Northland schools art contest as well as many local school and A&P show art prizes. 

He represented the school at rugby and cricket and captained the Mid-Northern junior cricket team in 1964.

In 1963 he passed school certificate in five subjects and was awarded Dux of School in 1964.

In 1984 he was awarded Diploma of Business Studies – Dip BS - with distinction (majoring in training and development) from Massey University.

In 1981 he was certified competent in Criterion Referenced Instruction (CRI) design and in 1982 he passed the “Blueprint for MBO”, both under the sponsorship of the State Services Commission.

Employment

Jim joined the public service on leaving school and began work for the Social Security Department in Whangarei as a cadet in January 1965.

He transferred to Head Office in Wellington in 1967 for two years and was later promoted to District Agent in Kaikohe in 1973 for the Social Welfare Department (Formed when Social Security amalgamated with the Child Welfare Division of the Department of Education).

In 1977 he was posted to special duties in the Manawatu and then was promoted to Executive Officer in the New Plymouth district office in 1979.

In 1981 he was promoted to the role of national training manager for the benefits and pensions division which meant responsibility for the training of over 3,000 staff. In this role he introduced successful reforms in both technical and management staff training in the Department.

In 1984 he played a key role in the introduction of Family Care, a new benefit introduced by the incoming Labour government. He left the Department in December 1984 after 20 years of service to start his own business and work on the Goods and Services Tax project for the Inland Revenue Department. (See business page for more details).

Family Life

Jim married Evelynne Kemp at Kaikohe on 6th October 1973. They have two children: Hayley (living in Karori) and Bevan (living in Sydney). They have five grandchildren: Livia, Genevieve, Hannah (all in Karori) and Sam and Frances (Sydney).

Business

In 1984, in partnership with Eve, Jim formed Skill Development Associates Ltd (SDA Ltd), their instructional and management system design Company. The company specialities are the design and implementation of enterprise scale competency based management and technical training programmes, large scale business and performance management systems and national frameworks. This business was an innovator in design during a period of major reform in the public sector.

The highlights of the business include: the Goods and Services Tax project for the Inland Revenue Department (1984), the Justice Performance Management System (1990), an ACC management skills training programme which won a national design award (1993), a range of management, sales and marketing programmes for State Insurance (1986 to 2001), and major training and systems design for the Department of Conservation (1994 to 2008). The most recent project was a review of the research vessel Tangaroa for the Ministry of Primary Industries.

Altogether SDA Ltd has designed and implemented 15 enterprise scale managements systems, over 30 major training programmes and ten national scale frameworks over a thirty year period. SDA Ltd still does occasional contracting in areas of particular interest.

See Business page for a full account of SDA LTD and its work history and achievements.

Pastimes

Jim has been active in art, theatre, music, sport and, particularly, conservation during his lifetime.

He was a practising and published political cartoonist from 1980 until 1986 and produced over 500 published works. His work is lodged in the Cartoon Archive in the Alexander Turnbull Library and he was runner up in the 1882 Qantas Press Awards. See cartooning page for details.

Jim was active in dramatic and musical theatre from 1972 until approximately 1981. He appeared in a number of stage productions in Kaikohe, Fielding and New Plymouth including the male lead in “Hello Dolly” for the New Plymouth Amateur Operatic and Dramatic Society. He was President of Northland Players Inc. from 1976 until 1977. Jim still enjoys an outing to the theatre.

Jim has been an active barbershop singer since 2000. He sings bass as a member of the Harbour Capital Chorus http://www.hcc.org.nz/ and was in the chapter’s gold medal winning chorus of 2003. He was President of the Wellington Men’s Barbershop chapter for two years from 2008 to 2009 and is still an active member. James also plays his guitar to entertain himself.

Jim is a very keen follower of sport and has actively participated in a number of sports over the years with modest success. Rugby, cricket and golf are his major loves. He represented his school in rugby and cricket and captained the Mid-Northern juniors in 1964 in the Northland sub-union cricket competition. He played for the Mid-Northern, Hora Hora and City rugby clubs in the Whangarei sub-union senior B competitions as a lock and the Wellington Social Security mercantile league cricket team as a spin bowler. He began playing golf in 2000, is a member of the Waikanae Golf Club and has a handicap of 16.4. He has been the Convener of the Mid-week men’s (veterans) section of the club and served two terms as Club President. With his family, Jim has been a keen tramper and they have walked many tracks in New Zealand.

From boyhood Jim had a strong interest in nature. In 1990 he joined the Wellington branch of the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society with a brief to prepare a plan for the restoration of birdlife in Wellington city. Since then Jim has been best known for his conservation work, especially in Wellington. His notable achievements include the authorship of “Natural Wellington” a successful plan to “bring back the birds to Wellington City” and the founding of the Zealandia eco-sanctuary in Wellington. The Zealandia idea has been widely copied and he can justly claim to be the initiator of the fenced community sanctuary movement in New Zealand. In 2001 he was awarded the Queens Service Medal (QSM) for services to conservation and has received two Wellington City civic awards for Natural Wellington and Zealandia. For more details see the Conservation page.

Jim enjoys travel and he and Eve have travelled widely in the USA, Europe and Britain. See the travelblog section of the Jimblog page for details.

Jim also has a keen interest in history, heritage and geo-politics and has written several articles on these subjects. See the opinion section of the Jimblog page for details.

Jim and Eve are now semi-retired and live in Waikanae. He now looks forward to a late blooming career in writing and enjoys his golf and his grandchildren.