Mike Williams | |
---|---|
32nd President of the Labour Party | |
In office 2000–2009 |
|
Vice President | Terry Scott Pat Webster Marian Hobbs |
Leader |
Helen Clark Phil Goff |
Preceded by | Bob Harvey |
Succeeded by | Andrew Little |
Personal details | |
Born | 1949 |
Political party | Labour |
Alma mater |
Victoria University University of Auckland |
Kenneth Michael "Mike" Williams (born 1949) is a former president of the New Zealand Labour Party.
Williams has been an information technology consultant and was a director (until December 2008) of Genesis Energy, the NZ Transport Agency, and GNS Science.
He is currently Chief Executive of the anti-P Stellar Trust, a charity which campaigns to raise awareness of the dangers of methamphetamine.
Williams unsuccessfully stood for several local government positions in the 2010 Auckland local elections. These were the Henderson-Massey Local Board, the Waitakere Licensing Trust, and the Waitemata District Health Board.
Williams attended Karamu High School and, at the age of 17, joined the New Zealand Labour Party. He attended Victoria University, where he joined the marches against apartheid, nuclear weapons and the Vietnam war. He obtained a Master of Arts in New Zealand History from the University of Auckland. It was here that he first met future Prime Minister Helen Clark, where they were both members of the Princes Street Branch of the Labour Party.
Williams set up two successful companies based on his experience of Labour Party organisation. Insight Research (now UMR Insight) was a market research company (which was sold in 1994) and Insight Data, which specialised in direct-mail and marketing and was sold in 1997.
Williams initially started working for the Labour Party as an education officer during the 1981 election campaign, which Labour narrowly lost. Afterwards, he rapidly moved into fundraising where he instigated a number of new practices: