Colleen Birdnow Brown

Colleen Birdnow Brown is an award-winning American CEO and Corporate Board Director. She is an advisor and public speaker in the areas of disruption, technology, culture and media and founder of Marca Global; a Marketing and Privacy Technology Company which earned a place on the coveted Inc. 5000 fastest growing company list. She is the former CEO of Fisher Communications Inc.,  a national multimedia corporation and is the former Chairman of American Apparel, during its reorganisation. She currently serves on a number of boards including True Blue, Spark Networks, privately held Port Blakely and Delta Dental of Washington, a nonprofit organisation.

Colleen won ‘Director of the Year’ by the Pacific Northwest Chapter of the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) in 2017, and was also selected as a USA Top 100 Director by NACD in 2017. She has been acknowledged through numerous other awards, including the industry Technology Leadership Award, the Borrell Innovation Award and she received the Outstanding CEO award from the Seattle Business Magazine.

Colleen is active in the NACD, Women Corporate Directors (WCD), Committee of 200 (C200) and was president of the PNW chapter of the International Women’s Forum (IWF). She is the past chair United Way of King County and former Director of Associated Press (AP), the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), and the National Association of Television and Programming Executives (NATPE). She is a Henry Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute and an active member of the Aspen Leadership Institute.

Based in Denver and Seattle; Brown is an avid golfer, skier, traveler and genealogist. She is married and has two grown children.

Read Colleen Birdnow Brown’s thought piece on fake news and its impact on business.

Laura Clarke

Laura Clarke took up her role as British High Commissioner to New Zealand, and Governor of the Pitcairn Islands, in January 2018, and High Commissioner to Samoa in March 2018.

Her previous role was as Head of the South Asia Department in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and Government Coordinator for India.  Other roles include Political Counsellor in Pretoria, South Africa; Chief of Staff to the Minister for Europe; and work in FCO London on Sudan and Yemen, and EU Justice and Home Affairs.  Prior to joining FCO she worked in the Ministry of Justice, the European Commission, and the British Parliament.

Laura studied modern languages at Cambridge University, and International Relations at the London School of Economics.  She is married to Toby Fisher, a human rights barrister, and has three children.

Kaila Colbin

Kaila Colbin is co-founder of Boma Global and CEO of Boma New Zealand. She spearheaded the hugely successful SingularityU New Zealand and Australia Summits, introducing more than 2,500 people to exponential technologies and their impact on humanity. She is also a co-founder and Chair of the non-profit Ministry of Awesome, the starting point for early-stage entrepreneurs in Boma New Zealand Ltd; the Curator and Licensee for TEDxChristchurch in New Zealand and TEDxScottBase in Antarctica; Chair of the New York-based culinary school Natural Gourmet Institute; Deputy Chair of CORE Education; and a Director of ChristchurchNZ.

Read more about Kaila on the Singularity University website

Dennis Gentilin

Dennis is an advisor, author and contributor to discussions on the topics of ethics, governance, conduct and organisational culture. He has had over 15 years experience in the banking and finance industry and currently works in Deloitte’s governance, regulation and conduct practice. Dennis is the author of The Origins of Ethical Failures and contributes to numerous blogs, newspapers and journals both in Australia and overseas. He is an adjunct fellow at Macquarie University, an honorary fellow at the Centre for Ethical Leadership and holds degrees in banking and finance and psychology.

Visit Dennis Gentilin’s website

Ginger Gorman

Ginger Gorman is an award-winning social-justice journalist based in Canberra, Australia. In 2013, Ginger and her family suffered the effects of online hate first-hand, and it was this experience that set Ginger on her professional journey into the world of trolls. In 2017 her series of articles on trolling for Fairfax newspapers in Australia went viral, and became some of the most read Australian stories of the year. She is now in demand as an expert on online hate, and has written and spoken extensively about trolling and social media self-defence in Australian and global contexts. Her first book, Troll Hunting, is published in February 2019.

Traci Houpapa

Traci Houpapa is an award winning company director and a recognised industry leader.  She is also a trusted advisor to Maori, public and private sector entities on strategic and economic development.  Traci is known for her strong and inclusive leadership and her clear focus on building the wealth and prosperity of Aotearoa New Zealand.

She has been named as one of the top ten most influential women in New Zealand agribusiness and the Listener’s top ten influencers in New Zealand.  She won the Westpac Fairfax Media Women of Influence Board and Management award and has been named on Westpac’s New Zealand Women Powerbrokers list. Traci was awarded the Massey University Distinguished Alumni Service Award for services to New Zealand agribusiness and Maori, and was also named by the BBC amongst the 100 Most Influential Women in the World.  She is a Chartered Fellow of the Institute of Directors New Zealand.

Traci has an MBA from Massey University and is a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, a Justice of the Peace and a Marriage Celebrant

Stephen Jacobi

Stephen Jacobi is the Executive Director of the New Zealand International Business Forum and Executive Director of the New Zealand China Council. The New Zealand International Business Forum provides leadership to enable New Zealand business to exploit new opportunities in international markets. The New Zealand China Council is an independent organisation funded by the Government and business to promote New Zealand’s relationship with China.

Stephen has broad experience in industry and trade development.  He was formerly Chief Executive of the New Zealand Forest Industries Council and Executive Director of the NZ US Council 2005-2014.  Mr Jacobi is a frequent media and public commentator on industry and trade issues. He also has extensive diplomatic, trade and government experience including posts as Deputy High Commissioner in Ottawa, Assistant Trade Commissioner in Paris and adviser on trade and diplomatic issues with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.  He was formerly Private Secretary to the Minister for Trade Negotiations, Hon Jim Sutton, advising on trade policy, international affairs and government-to-government negotiations. He is also Managing Director of Jacobi Consulting Ltd, a consultancy offering advice to public and private sector clients in the fields of international trade, government relations and industry development.

Stephan is married to the Reverend Dr Helen Jacobi, and has two children.  He lives in Auckland.

Sir John Key

Rt Hon Sir John Key was the 38th Prime Minister of New Zealand from 2008 to December 2016, successfully leading the National Party to 3 election victories before retiring from politics at the end of 2016. He led the country through the aftermath of the global financial crisis and Christchurch earthquakes. When he retired from office New Zealand had one of the highest growth rates and best fiscal positions of any advanced economy.

Sir John entered politics after a successful career in investment banking including nearly a decade in New Zealand, primarily with Bankers Trust, and a decade off shore with Merrill Lynch in London, Singapore and Sydney as global head of their FX business and European head of its derivatives business. He is currently Chairman of the ANZ Bank New Zealand, and sits on the boards of Air New Zealand and ANZ Banking Group (Australia). He is on the BP International Advisory Board and is an advisor for Comcast (US) and Caxton (UK). He is also an ambassador for philanthropic Japanese billionaire Dr Haruhisa Handa through ISPS Handa and other agencies.

In 2017, he was made a Knight Grand Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit which brings with it the title of Sir John. While he is certain people will still call him John, he was delighted that Bronagh becomes Lady Key. He was also recognised by the Australian Government and has been appointed an Honorary Companion in the Order of Australia.

Sir John is married to Bronagh and has 2 adult children, Stephie and Max. He loves to cook, watch rugby, travel and play golf.

Dr. Ayesha Khanna

Dr. Ayesha Khanna is Co-Founder and CEO of ADDO AI, an artificial intelligence (AI) solutions firm and incubator. She has been a strategic advisor on artificial intelligence, smart cities and fintech to leading corporations and governments. Ayesha also serves on the Board of Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA), the Singapore government’s agency that develops its world-class technology sector to drive the country’s digital economy and power its Smart Nation vision.

In 2017, ADDO AI was featured in Forbes magazine as one of four leading artificial intelligence companies in Asia and Ayesha was named one of South East Asia’s groundbreaking female entrepreneurs by Forbes magazine in 2018. Ayesha is also the Founder of 21C GIRLS, a charity that delivers free coding and artificial intelligence classes to girls in Singapore and Co-Founder of Pervaaz: School of AI and Computing, which delivers enterprise training in applied artificial intelligence and data science.

Prior to founding ADDO AI, Ayesha spent more than a decade on Wall Street developing large scale trading, risk management and data analytics systems. She is the author of Straight Through Processing (2008) and co-author of Hybrid Reality: Thriving in the Emerging Human-Technology Civilization (2012). She has been published and quoted on technology, innovation and smart cities in The New York Times, BusinessWeek, TIME, Newsweek, Forbes, Harvard Business Review, Strategy+Business, and Foreign Policy and has presented at major financial, technology and other industry conferences, provided high level government briefings, chaired symposiums such as AI Asia, and spoken at TEDx events.

Ayesha has a BA (honors) in Economics from Harvard University, an MS in Operations Research from Columbia University and a PhD in Information Systems and Innovation from the London School of Economics.

For more information about Ayesha, please visit her website

Sir John Kirwan

Sir John Kirwan (KNZM MBE) is a New Zealand rugby union coach and former player of both rugby union and rugby league. He is one of the highest try scorers in international rugby union history. In 2002, John moved to Italy to become the coach of the Italian national rugby team, which under his guidance recorded two victories over Wales in 2003 and Scotland in 2004. The former All Black and 1987 Rugby World Cup winner became a ”Sir”, joining a list that includes well known former All Blacks such as Sir Colin Meads and Sir Graham Henry. Kirwan’s Knighthood recognised much more than his contribution to sport. It acknowledged his services to mental health, having been for several years at the forefront of the campaign to heighten public awareness of depression, an illness he has suffered from personally.

Visit the John Kirwan Foundation website for more information.

Duane Mutu

Duane Mutu is widely regarded as one of the leading esports voices and personalities in the Australasian region. He speaks extensively around the globe on esports and gaming. Having previously worked on the publisher side of gaming for over 10 years with heavy hitting brands like Ubisoft, EA, Warner Brothers, Disney, THQ , he more than understands how the gaming eco system works. He now sits on the esport side of the fence having founded leading esport company Lets Play Live (LPL) who are market leaders in the esports space. He is a media expert having regular slots on mainstream media outlets like breakfast TV and is also a TV and online gaming host.

John Pomfret

Raised in New York City and educated at Stanford and Nanjing universities, John Pomfret is an award-winning journalist who worked with The Washington Post for several decades. He currently is a contributing writer to the Post’s Global Opinions section.

Pomfret was a foreign correspondent for 20 years, covering for eight years wars in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Congo, Sri Lanka, Iraq, southwestern Turkey and northeastern Iran. He spent seven years covering China – one in the late 1980s during the Tiananmen Square protests and then from 1997 until the end of 2003 as the bureau chief for The Washington Post in Beijing. Following that he covered U.S. relations with Asia for the Post.

In 2003, he was awarded the Osborne Elliot Award for the best coverage of Asia by the Asia Society. In 2007, he was awarded the Shorenstein Award from Harvard and Stanford universities for his lifetime coverage of Asia.

He is the author of the critically-acclaimed “Chinese Lessons: Five Classmates and the Story of the New China.” His latest book (2016), “The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom: America and China, 1776 to the Present” was awarded the 2017 Arthur Ross Award by the Council on Foreign Relations. Pomfret is also the co-author of the 2018 book, Chinese Influence and American Interests.

John speaks, reads and writes Mandarin, having spent two years at Nanjing University in the early 1980s as part of one of the first groups of American students to study in China. He has been a bartender in Paris and practiced Judo in Japan.

Read more about John Pomfret on the Washington Post’s website 

Hon James Shaw

Green Party Co-leader James Shaw strongly believes that New Zealand can lead the world in transitioning to a high-value, clean-tech, post-carbon economy that works for everyone. It might be the biggest challenge of a generation, but James also sees it as the greatest opportunity.

James has diverse business experience and expertise, working for multinational corporates through to local start-ups and community organisations. Prior to becoming an MP, James had a successful career in management consulting, primarily in London, where he lived from 1998 to 2010. While there, he worked with large, multinational companies across Europe and around the world, developing their sustainable business practices.

During his Master’s degree in sustainable development and business leadership he realised that the private sector alone wasn’t able to affect change at the speed and scale necessary to meet the great challenges of our time. With that realisation also came a call to action, and James moved back to Wellington, the city where he was born and raised, with the aim of being elected to Parliament. James was appointed Green Party Co-leader on May 30, 2015, after being elected to Parliament as a list MP in 2014.

When he’s not living and breathing sustainable economics, James enjoys spending time in his local community, Aro Valley, with his wife Annabel.

Michael Smith

Michael has a long history in digital, strategy and market research.

His contributions at the board level are considerable. He is the current Chair of 7-Eleven Stores PL and Starbucks Australia, the Lionel Samson Sadleirs Group and Pioneer Credit. Michael is the Western Australian Patron of Variety – the Children’s Charity and the Co3 Dance Company.

Michael’s previously held roles include Chair of iiNet, state energy suppliers Synergy and Verve, the Perth International Arts Festival, the West Coast Eagles, National Chair of the Australia Institute of Company Directors, deputy chair of Automotive Holdings Group and a director of Creative Partnerships Australia and HOME Building Society. Other past positions include Chairman of the Pearling Industry Advisory Committee, State President of the Australian Marketing Institute and a member of the national board.

In March 2014 Michael was awarded a Doctor of Letters from the University of Western Australia for his contribution to the business sector and the arts. In addition to this award, Michael is the recipient of the Patron’s Medal – His Royal Highness Prince Phillip, in recognition of his services to marketing by the Australian Marketing Institute.

Richard Threlfall

Richard is Global Head of Infrastructure at KPMG. He has over 25 years’ experience in infrastructure policy, governance, strategy and financing, advising both public and private sector clients in the UK and overseas.

Richard began his career as a civil servant at the UK Department for Transport where he held positions in the road, rail and aviation directorates. Between 1996 and 1998 he was Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for Transport and the Deputy Prime Minister. He subsequently moved to the Infrastructure Advisory team at Citigroup before joining KPMG, where he led the UK Infrastructure, Building and Construction sector until 2018.

Richard has an extensive network of contacts across the infrastructure, transport, utility, and construction markets and the related political, financial and legal communities, in the UK and internationally. His clients include national and local infrastructure and transport authorities, private infrastructure owners and promoters of infrastructure schemes. He has advised on the governance and financing of some of the worlds’ most complex civil engineering projects.

He has a particular interest in supporting the impending mobility revolution, promoting dialogue between the public and private sectors globally to maximise the social and economic benefits of autonomous vehicles, electric vehicles and mobility as a service.

Richard is a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers, member of the World Economic Forum Global Future Council on Infrastructure and member of the Infrastructure Board of the Confederation of British Industry. He chairs the Advisory Council of The Infrastructure Forum, which is an independent think-tank which brings together organisations with involvement in UK infrastructure from public, private and regulatory perspectives.

Prof Ian O. Williamson

Professor Ian O. Williamson is a globally recognised expert in human resource management. His research examines the impact of talent pipelines; in particular, how human and social capital influences firm operational and financial outcomes, talent management in the context of new ventures and growth-oriented firms, the role of human resource practices in driving firm innovation and the impact of social issues on firm outcomes.

Ian is Pro Vice-Chancellor and Dean of Commerce at Victoria Business School (Faculty of Commerce), Victoria University of Wellington. He previously worked at Melbourne Business School, Rutgers Business School (USA), the Zurich Institute of Business Education, the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland and Institut Teknologi Bandung (Indonesia). He received his PhD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Ian’s research has been published in leading academic journals including the Academy of Management Journal, MIT Sloan Management Review, Organization Science, Journal of Applied Psychology and has been covered by leading media outlets across the world.

Vangelis Vitalis

Vangelis served as New Zealand’s Ambassador to the World Trade Organisation in Geneva between 2015 and 2017. He was also the Chief Negotiator for the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement from 2017-2018. While in Geneva, Vangelis was elected in a personal capacity to chair the WTO agriculture negotiations, including to the Nairobi WTO Ministerial Conference during which he helped draft the historic Ministerial Decision on Export Competition which eliminated agricultural export subsidies and established new disciplines on export credits. In his role as chair, Vangelis also helped draft the Ministerial Decision on Cotton  which eliminated export subsidies for cotton.‎

Vangelis has also served as Ambassador to the European Union, NATO and has had postings to Canberra as Deputy High Commissioner and Moscow. He was the Chief Negotiator of the regional ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand FTA,  Malaysia FTA and on the negotiating teams for the FTA with China and the precursor to the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, the Pacific-Four FTA. Vangelis is also the Chief Negotiator for the  FTA negotiations with the Customs Union of Armenia, Belarus, Russia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan which are currently suspended.

Vangelis has worked outside the Ministry, including at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) from 2001-2004 and was a member of a team of economists who assessed the possible impact of Russia’s WTO accession on its agriculture sector. He was elected to chair the OECD Committee on Trade and the Environment (2008-2016) and the OECD Global Forum on Trade and Climate Change.

Vangelis speaks Greek, German and Russian and is married with three children.