Claire Elizabeth Szabó is a New Zealand chief executive officer and was president of theNew Zealand Labour Party from 2019 to 2022.[1]
Her father came to New Zealand as a refugee fromHungary in 1956 following theHungarian Uprising, her mother was a nurse. She grew up inPapakura in a council house.[2]
After finishing her high school education atDiocesan School for Girls inAuckland, she studied music at theUniversity of Auckland and later gained degrees atTrinity College Dublin in Education Management,Victoria University of Wellington in Commerce and Administration,[3] andHarvard University in Public Administration.[2]
In 2006, aged 27, she became thechief executive officer of English Language Partners New Zealand. In 2013, she became the chief executive officer ofHabitat for Humanity New Zealand. In 2010, she was both named young executive of the year and won the New Zealand Institute of Management award.[2]
Szabó joined theLabour Party in 2007 and stood as the Labour candidate in the electorate ofNorth Shore at the2014 election, and was number 38 on theparty list. She was defeated by the incumbent,Maggie Barry ofNational Party by a margin of 16,503 votes.[4] On 30 November 2019, she was elected President of the Labour Party following the resignation ofNigel Haworth earlier that year.[1]
In 2021, Szabó was appointed to the board of theNew Zealand Symphony Orchestra, alongsideChris Finlayson.[5]
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 toldThe New Zealand Herald that she has reflected on standing for Parliament again at the2023 general election, but said "I know definitively it's too early to make a decision."[6] She was succeeded byJill Day, the formerDeputy Mayor of Wellington, at the party's conference in November 2022.[7]
In February 2023, Szabó was one of four candidates vying for the Labour nomination inWellington Central for the2023 election.[8] She was unsuccessful with list MPIbrahim Omer winning the selection contest.[9]
She is married to Rowan Johnston, a choir conductor, and has two children.[10]
Szabó speaks fluentHungarian, the mother tongue of her father.[11]
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| Preceded by | President of the Labour Party 2019–2022 | Succeeded by |