Jean-Michel Jefferson is the founder of Ahipara Luxury Travel. Educated at various schools in North Africa and the Middle East, then Rugby School, and the universities of Exeter and Sheffield, Jean-Michel spent 9 years with Price Waterhouse as a Management Consultant and Aviation Strategist. His last position was Director of Corporate Finance and Head of the Aviation Group in Moscow. He speaks English, French, Russian and has an understanding of Arabic and German.
Upon the birth of their first daughter nine years ago, Jean-Michel and Karen decided to move to Karen's native city of Auckland and start a lifestyle business unbounded by investors, business plans, strategies, or boards of directors! This became Ahipara - a business free of much of the cynicism and constraints one sees in most businesses. They now have four children and a successful luxury tourism business.
In addition to creating the experiences our clients enjoy in this country, Jean-Michel also occasionally guides certain clients - specialising in the technically demanding field of helicopter guiding and in the culturally rewarding field of Maori tourism. He is a trained driver, diver, events organiser and jack of all trades, having supported clients in all sorts of situations over the last seven years.
Jean-Michel's passion is to create extraordinary experiences - these can be a combination of low-key quality elements in a lovely balanced day, or a phenomenal awe-inspiring event such as a Maori ambush or a day by helicopter in the Southern Alps. He enjoys taking the time to understand our clients and then crafting something wonderful just for them.
