Theresa Gattung in serious health scare
One of the country’s most prominent business women is in hospital after a serious health scare.
My Food Bag founder and former Telecom chief executive Theresa Gattung is undergoing tests after being admitted on Wednesday.
Friend and business partner Cecilia Robinson said it had been a rough few days, but she was doing well.
“[She] is receiving the best possible care at Auckland City Hospital where they are still conducting tests,” Robinson said. “Theresa is up and about and being supported by friends and family.”
Robinson would not comment on the nature of the health scare.
Since leaving Telecom, now Spark, in 2007, Gattung has taken on a number of business roles. She is currently chairwoman of insurance group AIA in Australia, Telco Technology Services in New Zealand, Wellington SPCA, Co.Of.Women, and luxury beauty product distributor The Six Senses.
She is also a director of My Food Bag, the SPCA and online marketplace MyCare.
She is the co-founder of charitable organisation World Women, which launched SheEO New Zealand aimed at helping to fund female founded or run start-ups.
Gattung, who is in her mid-fifties, had been “juggling a million different balls”, said Robinson.
Speaking from the hospital, Robinson said: “She may need to slow down a bit, but she is doing a lot better and she’s in great hands.”
Gattung grew up with three sisters, and now lives in Westmere. She completed a Bachelor of Management Studies at Waikato University in 1983 and a Bachelor of Laws in 1987 at Victoria University.
Over the years she has been held up as a leader in promoting women in business, and is a strong advocate for pay equity and equality.