1. Deon Swiggs previously served as the Christchurch City Councillor representing the Central ward from 2016 to 2019.
20 Facts About Deon Swiggs
1. 2.
Deon Swiggs was born in Nelson, New Zealand, and is the oldest of three siblings.
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Until Deon Swiggs was 5, he was raised at Parihaka Pa as a Christian.
4.
Deon Swiggs was educated at Marlborough Boys' College where he was a sixth form prefect.
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Deon Swiggs left the Navy in 2008 to pursue a career in the business sector.
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In 2008, Deon Swiggs worked as a real estate agent for Harcourts in New Plymouth before transferring to Christchurch in 2009.
7.
Deon Swiggs left the company in 2010 to form Swiggs Consulting Limited.
8.
Later in 2010, Deon Swiggs was offered the position of South Island Accounts Manager at AdzUp.
9.
At the time of the 2010 Canterbury earthquake, Deon Swiggs was working for AdzUp, two days later he founded Rebuild Christchurch, which collated information from a variety of sources and placed this information in an easy to understand format.
10.
Deon Swiggs has been called one of the innovate new entrepreneurs born out of the Christchurch earthquakes.
11.
On 22 February 2011, Deon Swiggs was in the AdzUp office located in the Christchurch CBD when the first earthquake struck.
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In 2012, Deon Swiggs was nominated for Young New Zealander of the Year.
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Deon Swiggs was accepted into a placement at the Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology in February 2013 into a Bachelor of Applied Management.
14.
In March 2013, Deon Swiggs Graduated from CPIT with Bachelor of Applied Management Majoring in Sales and Marketing and Graduate Diploma in Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
15.
The Press reported on 27 April 2013 that Deon Swiggs was contemplating running for Councillor of the Christchurch City Council.
16.
On 26 August 2013, Deon Swiggs announced he had put his nomination forward for the Christchurch East by-election.
17.
On 22 September 2013 Deon Swiggs found his nomination was unsuccessful.
18.
On 31 May 2016, Deon Swiggs announced that he would stand for Christchurch City Council as an independent in the newly created Christchurch Central ward in the 2016 local body elections.
19.
Deon Swiggs was a founding trustee on the Canterbury Insurance Advocacy Service funded by council to advocate for people with insurance issues.
20.
Deon Swiggs was the first Christchurch councillor who was openly gay at the time of his election.