The people behind the Peninsula Post

 

Publisher

Sue Collins has owned The Coromandel Peninsula Post (formerly The Bay Beacon) since 1996.
Her skills include writing, editing and design and layout as well as marketing, advertising and website maintenance
She has a BA in English from Waikato University and a post-graduate Diploma in Journalism from Canterbury University, as well as a Certificate in Adult Teaching, Pt 1 from the Bay of Plenty Polytechnic.
Sue worked for the Waikato Times as a journalist in 1975-76 before going to England where she spent nearly two years working in hospitality and as a nanny.
On her return she worked for Information and Press Section of the New Zealand Tourist & Publicity Department (mostly on secondment to the New Zealand Forest Service) and then went to the Information Section of the New Zealand Wool Board.
She returned to England in 1982 and worked for Profile Public Relations based in London. The company undertook all aspects of public relations and marketing for corporate clients such as the Countryside Commission, the Audit Commission and the Hunger Project. Sue left that job in 1988 and freelanced for the New Zealand High Commission, the Audit Commission and other clients before coming back to New Zealand in 1990.
She did a variety of jobs in Whitianga, including working for the Mercury Bay Weekly Advertiser, before starting The Bay Beacon.

Editor

Shenagh Gleeson
I’ve been a journalist for about 35 years. I started my career on the Waikato Times in Hamilton, initially covering the arts and then education.
After a break working as a chef in Russell, I was a radio journalist in Tauranga, working as a reporter and later, after my two sons were born, as a part-time news commentator.
We returned to Hamilton in the early ‘80s and I worked for the Waikato Times again, first as arts editor and then as a senior reporter covering education and politics.
In the early ‘90s, I joined the New Zealand Herald’s Hamilton bureau. About three years later I was appointed regional editor and my husband and I moved to Auckland. I later became chief reporter, then chief of staff and finally deputy managing editor.
Just over two years ago, my husband and I decided to leave the big smoke and settle at Cooks Beach, where we’d owned a section for about 18 years.
During our first year I ran a journalism training program for the Herald and other APN newspapers but then decided I’d try to find local employment. I was delighted to be employed by the (then) Bay Beacon.
I am thoroughly enjoying being a reporter again. My patch, the upper half of the Coromandel Peninsula, is a wonderful area to cover. A wide range of interesting people and a host of important issues keep me busy, entertained and challenged.

Sales/layout & design

Jacqui Ackland
After working in laboratories primarily for the food industry as both a technical officer and a manager for 15 years I moved to Great Barrier Island to seek a quieter life. While I was there my previous work with computers led me to working with small businesses in setting up financial systems for them, software training and trouble shooting computer problems. I worked for the local Visitor Information Centre, developed websites for them and tourism operators on the island and published an information guide to the island. Later I owned and managed one of the local cafés, and continued working in administration for the medical and information centres, small business owners, lodges and the social clubs. After 15 years on the island, I moved to Whitianga in February 2009 for my daughter’s secondary schooling.

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