Sam Uffindell is the new Member of Parliament for Tauranga. He comes into the role determined to improve Tauranga and New Zealand.
Sam spent the by election campaign relentlessly focused on the issues that matter to people here: improving roads and infrastructure, tackling crime and gangs and easing the cost-of-living crisis.
Prior to becoming the MP, Sam was Head of Financial Economic Crime at Rabobank. This follows on from twelve years working in large international and investment banks across Sydney and Singapore. He is also the owner and director of an agri-business, New Zealand Humates, who manufacture high quality organic soil fertiliser for use on kiwifruit orchards.
One of Sam’s real strengths is that he’s not a career parliamentarian or bureaucrat. He’s had a career out there in the ‘real world’, leading teams, improving functions and directing a business. He understands that a key aspect to getting results is to determine the strategic direction, consult with key stakeholders, establish buy in, and then enable those best positioned to achieve the desired outcomes.
If he brings this successful, real-world approach to being the MP for Tauranga then there is every chance he will deliver on his aspirations for our region.
Also of interest, Sam has repeatedly spoken of turning Tauranga into New Zealand’s tech capital, leveraging off all the advantages our region has with agritech and horticultural tech and the expanding University of Waikato campus in town.
He’s already talking with local tech companies and those in the SaaS, Web 3 and start-up space to explore what we can do to unlock tech growth in New Zealand, with Tauranga at the heart of it.
Outside of being an MP, Sam enjoys reading, surfing, watching sport and spending time with his wife and their three children.
Related: Uffindell takes up the post as National’s new Tauranga MP
