The Supporters Committee are delighted to welcome Lynn Vandertie who is taking over our financial reins after Aileen Wyld’s long and dedicated service as Treasurer.
Lynn was raised in Green Bay, Wisconsin, north of Chicago. Her heritage is Welsh, Polish, and Czech and she is married to her high school sweetheart, Rick Vandertie - celebrating their 48th anniversary this year.
Lynn has had many strings to her bow: a Bachelor of Nursing degree from the University of Wisconsin – Madison and working for 10 years in cardiovascular surgery ICU. After moving to San Diego, California in 1977, she gained a mechanical engineering education at the State University then worked for medical device manufacturers. If that wasn’t enough, she also earned a masters degree in management from Kettering University, Michigan. From 1989-1990 she lived and worked in the Netherlands.
As part of her career, Lynn conducted clinical trials for new treatments in interventional cardiology in New Zealand as well as Australia, Singapore, and Hong Kong. In 2003, her husband Rick accompanied her on several business trips and fell in love with Aotearoa. By 2005, they had progressed through the immigration process and moved to New Zealand as permanent residents, becoming citizens in 2019.
Thanks to the internet she continued to do consulting work for medical device companies in the USA and started a company to conduct international clinical trials using web-based tools. As the director of a small company, she has become well acquainted with financial plans, spreadsheets, basic bookkeeping and web-based financial programs. How glad are we to have access to such expertise for the Supporters.
Once settled in New Zealand, the Vanderties were very happy to find that Christchurch had such a lively arts scene and they started attending symphony concerts, plays, art exhibitions, musicals, book festivals and even school performances by friends' children.
They would get the occasional ticket to The Court and their first attendance was Oliver! in December 2005. They continued to attend the annual musicals and then other performances, obtaining season tickets in 2013 and becoming Court Supporters in 2015. Lynn then became an usher in 2019.
Looking to the future, Lynn says: “As has been the case for so many Christchurch cultural entities, The Court has shown it can re-create itself despite significant obstacles being thrown in its way."
"The move to a new theatre downtown will bring The Court back into the beating heart of the city with other performance venues and hospitality nearby. The quality of The Court’s productions is world-class and needs to be shared with the tourist audiences (when they return) as well as locals.”