Executive Director of TEAR Fund Steve Tollestrup was born in the US, and moved to New Zealand from San Francisco in 1975. Since 1995 Steve has worked as the Executive Director of TEAR Fund, a non-denominational Christian agency providing relief and community development support to the world's poorest communities.

As the third largest NGO in New Zealand, TEAR Fund runs programmes throughout the developing world working to empower women and the urban poor, provide healthcare and clean water as well as sustainable agriculture. These are carried out through various initiatives including child sponsorship and micro-finance.

Trained in conflict resolution, Steve has worked in Sri Lanka as a mediator and is the International Director for the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) Peace and Reconciliation Initiative.

Steve considers himself a community activist, has full glider pilot qualifications and lives in west Auckland with his wife Deirdre. They have four children.