Tony Lanigan

Education

He came from a strong Catholic family, in Northcote, and was educated at Street Peter"s College where he was joint proxime accessit in 1965 and at the University of Auckland where he obtained a Doctor of Philosophy in engineering in 1975.

Career

Lanigan spent his childhood in Auckland. His research into the prediction of thermal stress conditions in box girder bridges stemmed from post construction problems with the Newmarket Viaduct. His research yielded a design approach for accommodating solar-induced thermal loads on civil engineering structures.

He also worked with the Daughters of Charity to establish De Paul House in Northcote.

He was Director of Infrastructure Auckland for five years, 2000-2004. 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 in 2000-2001 (the first chancellor of the new university), where he was also a founding Trustee 1998–2001. A telephone call in 1992 from Doctor Michael Powell, a Kiwi who had lived in the United States, invited Lanigan to meet with him and Ian Hay to start New Zealand.

He was elected as Vice Chairman of the 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 in Indonesia 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. lieutenant must be worked out.

In 2012, Lanigan was appointed as chairman of the Senate.

Achievements

• In the 2013 New Year, Lanigan was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to tertiary education and the community.

Membership

Lanigan was a director of Inframax Construction Limited and a member of the advisory board of GHD New Zealand Limited. In 2011 he is a member of the board of the New Zealand Transport Agency.