The Native Land Trust Board is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Usaia Pita Waqatairewa as its Manager Finance with effect from the 2nd of January this year.

Mr. Waqatairewa, who hails from Cautata Village, Bau, Tailevu received his primary education at the Marist Brothers Primary School and later the Marist Brothers High in Suva and Newtown Boys High in Sydney, Australia for his secondary education.

He obtained a Bachelor of Business from the Charles Sturt University in Australia in 1992 and a post graduate Diploma in Accounting from Macquarie University, Australia in 2000.

After graduating from Charles Sturt University he had a short stint with the Ministry of Commerce as a Graduate Trainee and was employed as a Management Cadet with the Fijian Holdings Limited from 1993.

After completing his 12 months cadetship with "FHL", he was appointed as Manager New Business of its subsidiary the Merchant Bank of Fiji in Suva until resigning to pursue part-time post graduate studies in 1996.

While undertaking part-time studies he also worked as a Project Accountant with the Optus Services Delivery Division that was involved in the building and commissioning of new telecommunication network across Australia and the region, including Fiji.

He was previously Manager Finance and Business for Connect Internet Services, a subsidiary of ATH that was set up to run the internet business of Telecom Fiji, before taking up the post.

Mr. Waqatairewa, who is married to Josephine Wise and has two children, is a member of the Australian Institute of Public Administration and also holds a Level 1 Certificate of Coaching with the New South Wales Rugby Union.

In another development, Mrs. Amelia Vatukatakata has been appointed as Human Resources Officer. She was previously employed as Secretary to the General Manager from 1991 and later Human Resources Officer at BP South-West Pacific Limited before resigning to take up the post from January this year.