Tony Lanigan
Encyclopedia
Tony Lanigan (born 1947) Engineer, BE(Hons) Auck, PhD Auck, MICE, Fellow of IPENZ, was the first Chancellor
Chancellor
Chancellor is the title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the Cancellarii of Roman courts of justice—ushers who sat at the cancelli or lattice work screens of a basilica or law court, which separated the judge and counsel from the...

 of the Auckland University of Technology
Auckland University of Technology
The Auckland University of Technology is a university in New Zealand. It was formed on 1 January 2000 when the Auckland Institute of Technology was granted university status. Its primary campus is on Wellesley Street in Auckland's Central business district...

 2000-2001 and a founding director in New Zealand of the international charity, Habitat for Humanity.

Background

Lanigan spent his childhood in Auckland
Auckland
The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...

. He came from a strong Catholic family, in Northcote
Northcote, New Zealand
Northcote is a suburb of North Shore City, one of several cities in the Auckland metropolitan area in northern New Zealand. It is located on the north shore of the Waitemata Harbour, four kilometres northwest of the Auckland city centre....

, and was educated at St Peter's College
St Peter's College, Auckland
St Peter's College is a Catholic college for year 7 to 13 boys . The school, located in Auckland, is one of the largest Catholic schools in New Zealand and is an integrated school under an integration agreement entered into by the Catholic Bishop of Auckland and the Government of New Zealand in...

 where he was joint proxime accessit in 1965 and at the University of Auckland where he obtained a Ph.D in engineering in 1975. His research into the prediction of thermal stress conditions in box girder bridges stemmed from post construction problems with the Newmarket Viaduct
Newmarket Viaduct
The Newmarket Viaduct, sometimes considered 'one of the most distinctive engineering features' of New Zealand, is a six-lane State highway viaduct in Auckland, the country's largest city. Carrying the Southern Motorway over the Newmarket suburb area southeast of the CBD of the city, the 700 m long...

. His research yielded a design approach for accommodating solar-induced thermal loads on civil engineering structures. Lanigan had a strong social justice ethos from his student days at Auckland University where he was involved in demonstrating against the Vietnam war
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...

, apartheid and nuclear arms. He also worked with the Daughters of Charity to establish De Paul House in Northcote
Northcote, New Zealand
Northcote is a suburb of North Shore City, one of several cities in the Auckland metropolitan area in northern New Zealand. It is located on the north shore of the Waitemata Harbour, four kilometres northwest of the Auckland city centre....

. Tony and his wife Krys Lanigan are members of St Marys Catholic Parish in Northcote, Auckland.

Professional career

A Civil Engineer, Lanigan was Engineering Director for Babbage Partners and later, Technology Director for Fletcher Challenge
Fletcher Challenge
Fletcher Challenge is a now defunct multinational corporation from New Zealand, formed in 1981 by the merger of Fletcher Holdings, Challenge Corporation and Tasman Pulp and Paper...

 Building Industries Group and Buildings Project Sector, General Manager of Information Services for the Fletcher Construction Company and General Manager of Fletcher Project Services. Lanigan is principal of AG Lanigan and Associates Ltd. He holds Directorships in several private companies, was a foundation Trustee, and is the chairman, of New Zealand Housing Foundation (a not-for-profit, charitable trust delivering affordable home ownership for low income households) and has served with other charitable trusts. He was Director of Infrastructure Auckland for five years, 2000-2004. Lanigan was a director of Inframax Construction Ltd and a member of the advisory board of GHD New Zealand Ltd. In 2011 he is a member of the board of the New Zealand Transport Agency
New Zealand Transport Agency
The New Zealand Transport Agency is a New Zealand Crown entity tasked with promoting safe and functional transport by land, including the responsibility for driver and vehicle licensing and investigating rail accidents. It was created on 1 August 2008 by the Land Transport Management Amendment...

.

Auckland University of Technology

He was appointed to the council of the Auckland Institute of Technology in 1996 and from February 1999 until the end of that year, he was the chairman of that body. He was Chancellor of the Auckland University of Technology
Auckland University of Technology
The Auckland University of Technology is a university in New Zealand. It was formed on 1 January 2000 when the Auckland Institute of Technology was granted university status. Its primary campus is on Wellesley Street in Auckland's Central business district...

 in 2000-2001 (the first chancellor of the new university), where he was also a founding Trustee 1998–2001.

Habitat for Humanity

A telephone call in 1992 from Dr Michael Powell, a Kiwi who had lived in the United States, invited Tony Lanigan to meet with him and Ian Hay to start Habitat for Humanity New Zealand. A foundation Director of Habitat for Humanity New Zealand from 2003, Lanigan was appointed as Chairman in 2004. He was elected as Vice Chairman of the Habitat for Humanity International Board of Directors in 2007. As the Vice Chair of the International Board, Lanigan is responsible for International Programmes which help in excess of 60,000 families per year with their housing needs. As part of these international responsibilities, in 2009, he visited Jogjakarta
Yogyakarta (city)
Yogyakarta is a city in the Yogyakarta Special Region, Indonesia. It is renowned as a centre of classical Javanese fine art and culture such as batik, ballet, drama, music, poetry, and puppet shows. Yogyakarta was the Indonesian capital during the Indonesian National Revolution from 1945 to...

 in Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...

where 150 houses were dedicated after a major earthquake and handed over to their owners. Lanigan feels that his work for Habitation for Humanity is personally rewarding for its ecumenical involvement. He feels that it is faith in action, walking the talk. To Lanigan, true faith must be expressed practically. It must be worked out.
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