Claire Szabó is a New Zealand chief executive officer and was president of the

New Zealand Labour Party The New Zealand Labour Party ( mi, Rōpū Reipa o Aotearoa), or simply Labour (), is a centre-left political party in New Zealand. The party's platform programme describes its founding principle as democratic socialism, while observers descr ...

from 2019 to 2022.

Biography

Her father came to New Zealand as a refugee from

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

in 1956 following the Hungarian Uprising, her mother was a nurse. She grew up in

Papakura Papakura is a southern suburb of Auckland, in northern New Zealand. It is located on the shores of the Pahurehure Inlet, approximately 32 kilometres south of the Auckland CBD. It is under the authority of the Auckland Council. Papakura is a M� ...

in a council house. After finishing her high school education at Diocesan School for Girls in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

, she studied music at the

University of Auckland , mottoeng = By natural ability and hard work , established = 1883; years ago , endowment = NZD $293 million (31 December 2021) , budget = NZD $1.281 billion (31 December 2021) , chancellor = Cecilia Tarrant , vice_chancellor = Dawn F ...

and later gained degrees at

Trinity College Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

in Education Management,

Victoria University of Wellington Victoria University of Wellington ( mi, Te Herenga Waka) is a university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of Parliament, and was a constituent college of the University of New Zealand. The university is well know ...

in Commerce and Administration and

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

in Public Administration. In 2006, aged 27, she became the

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

of English Language Partners New Zealand. In 2013, she became the chief executive officer of

Habitat for Humanity Habitat for Humanity International (HFHI), generally referred to as Habitat for Humanity or Habitat, is a US non-governmental, and nonprofit organization which was founded in 1976 by couple Millard and Linda Fuller. Habitat for Humanity is a Ch ...

New Zealand. In 2010, she was both named young executive of the year and won the New Zealand Institute of Management award. Szabó joined the Labour Party in 2007 and stood as the Labour candidate in the electorate of at the , and was number 38 on the

party list An electoral list is a grouping of candidates for election, usually found in proportional or mixed electoral systems, but also in some plurality electoral systems. An electoral list can be registered by a political party (a party list) or can ...

. She was defeated by the incumbent,

Maggie Barry Margaret Mary Barry (born 5 October 1959), generally known as Maggie Barry, is a New Zealand politician and former member of the House of Representatives, first elected in the 2011 general election. She is a member of the National Party, and ...

of National Party by a margin of 16,503 votes. On 30 November 2019, she was elected President of the Labour Party following the resignation of

Nigel Haworth Nigel Anthony Fell Haworth (born 1951) is a New Zealand economics academic and politician. He was elected President of the New Zealand Labour Party in February 2015, succeeding Moira Coatsworth. Education and academic career Born in Wales in ...

earlier that year. In 2021, Szabó was appointed to the board of the

New Zealand Symphony Orchestra The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra (NZSO) is a symphony orchestra based in Wellington, New Zealand. The national orchestra of New Zealand, the NZSO is an autonomous Crown entity owned by the Government of New Zealand, per the New Zealand Sympho ...

, alongside

Chris Finlayson Christopher Francis Finlayson (born 1956) is a New Zealand lawyer and former Member of Parliament, representing the National Party. He was elected to Parliament in 2005. In the Fifth National Government, from 2008 to 2017, he was Attorney-Ge ...

. On 17 June 2022, Szabó announced that she will not seek re-election to the Labour Party presidency at the November 2022 annual conference, and will end her tenure then. She told ''

The New Zealand Herald ''The New Zealand Herald'' is a daily newspaper published in Auckland, New Zealand, owned by New Zealand Media and Entertainment, and considered a newspaper of record for New Zealand. It has the largest newspaper circulation of all newspapers ...

'' that she has reflected on standing for Parliament again at the next general election, but said "I know definitively it's too early to make a decision." She was succeeded by former Deputy Mayor of Wellington

Jill Day Yvonne Page, known professionally as Jill Day (5 December 1930 – 16 November 1990) was an English pop singer and actress in Britain in the 1950s and early 1960s. Career She was born in Brighton, Sussex, England, and found fame in film, rad ...

at the party's conference in November 2022.

Personal life

She is married to Rowan Johnston, a choir conductor, and has two children. Szabó speaks fluent Hungarian, the mother tongue of her father.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Szabó, Claire Living people New Zealand people of Hungarian descent University of Auckland alumni Victoria University of Wellington alumni New Zealand chief executives Unsuccessful candidates in the 2014 New Zealand general election New Zealand Labour Party politicians 21st-century New Zealand women politicians 21st-century New Zealand politicians New Zealand feminists Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Harvard Kennedy School alumni Year of birth missing (living people)