Speakers
We are proud to present an exceptional lineup of speakers for the SB Ōtautahi Christchurch
ALEC TANG
KPMG New Zealand
Alec is a Chartered Environmentalist and Fellow of the Institute of Environmental and Sustainability Professionals, with a career dedicated to tackling sustainability challenges across academia, business, and the public sector. He is a Partner with KPMG New Zealand, leading its Sustainability, Climate and ESG practice, lectures on sustainable business at AUT, and sits on the External Reporting Board’s Sustainability Reporting Committee, as well as the Chapter Zero New Zealand Steering Group and the Queenstown Lakes District Council’s Climate Reference Group.
Alec is skilled in identifying sustainability risks and delivering strategic and operational solutions. He has led multi-disciplinary teams, driven by shared values and purpose, and has worked on everything from regional climate and wellbeing strategies to targeted interventions with measurable impact.
His diverse experience enables him to bridge strategic insight with practical understanding of complex organisations, supported by strong communication and stakeholder engagement skills essential for driving enduring sustainability change.
JOHN BERRY
Pathfinder Asset Management
Co-founder, CEO & Resident Wayfinder at Pathfinder Asset Management
John believes ethical investing can fund a better, more sustainable world – and deliver great financial returns. He co-founded Pathfinder in 2009, and has since pioneered the mission to generate both individual wealth and collective well-being.
John has long been an advocate in the ethical investing space. He champions the idea that businesses and individuals can both make a profit while also contributing to solutions for some of the world’s major challenges. John believes that no one should have to choose between an ethical investment and a profitable one. For over a decade, this belief has been embedded in Pathfinder's series of award-winning, innovative ethical funds, including their KiwiSaver Plan.
Through his role, John has received multiple accolades including ‘Best Ethical KiwiSaver Fund’ four years running by Mindful Money, ‘Transforming Aotearoa NZ’ by the Sustainable Business Network, ‘Responsible Investment Manager of the Year’ by ResearchIP and ‘Favourite Ethical KiwiSaver Scheme’ by MoneyHub. In 2023 John was personally recognised by the Sustainable Business Network with the ‘Sustainability Superstar Award’.
MANU CADI
Hikurangi Bioactives
Manu Caddie is a biotechnology entrepreneur, advocate and researcher dedicated to sustainable, ethical innovation grounded in Indigenous leadership and the Rights of Nature. He co-founded Hikurangi Bioactives and NZX-listed Rua Bioscience, developing natural therapeutics from taonga species while embedding Māori governance and stakeholder benefit-sharing throughout supply chains. His pioneering work demonstrates how ethical bioprospecting can regenerate ecosystems, create Indigenous prosperity, and positions capitalism done differently as a powerful tool for community and ecological restoration.
KATHERINE DEWAR
GoodSense
Katherine Dewar (FCIM) is the founder of GoodSense and tangata Tiriti. A marketer and facilitator with over 30 years’ experience and a business-owner since 2001, Kath leads the GoodSense team in using marketing and communications in ways that benefit people and the rest of nature.
“Ngā tangata Pict o Kōtirana, ngā tūpuna o tōku matua. Nō North Warwickshire, Ingarangi ngā tūpuna o tōku whaea. Nō Yorkshire, Ingarangi ahau. E noho ana ahau ki Tapawera, ki Te Tauihu. Kō GoodSense te rōpu. Kō Kataraina Dewar tōku ingoa.
My father’s ancestors descend from the Picts of Scotland and my mother’s ancestors are from North Warwickshire, England. I am from Yorkshire and I now live at Tapaera in Te Tauihu, the top of the South Island of Aotearoa. I am part of the GoodSense team. My name is Katherine Dewar.”
A Fellow of the UK-based Chartered Institute of Marketing and an award winning international marketer, Kath joined the Sustainable Business Network in Aotearoa NZ in 2003. This began the journey to meld Kath’s personal values with her professional practice, leading to the creation of the GoodSense team in 2010.
In 2022, Kath was elected to the Board of the Sustainable Business Network and invited to join the Advisory Board to the University of Auckland’s Circular Economy Beacon (CEBUS).
She served as a judge for the Mindful Money ethical investment awards from 2021 to 2023, and for the Sustainable Business Network Awards in 2017 – 2020 and 2010 – 2012. Kath was a finalist in the Sustainability Superstar Category of the Sustainable Business Network Awards in 2023, and in 2025 and 2021 GoodSense were finalists in the same Awards. In 2013, Kath and GoodSense were finalists for their work challenging Dole banana’s greenwash. This willingness to challenge the status quo and champion change for good sees Kath sought out by journalists for comment on ethical marketing and sustainability.
Kath is an experienced and strategic facilitator, skilled at drawing insights, ideas and agreement from the diverse experiences of participants. Her workshops are fun, interactive and have impact long afterwards.
Kath has run workshops in ethical marketing for sustainable business and social enterprise for The Ākina Foundation and the Sustainable Business Network, delivered the marketing component of Auckland Council’s Green Growth programme and tutored in marketing sustainability for the University of Auckland. She has also delivered post-graduate guest lectures for AUT and the University of Auckland and spoken on marketing sustainability at the Fit for the Future Conference, the Hospitality Association AGM, and the Association of NZ Advertisers conference, among others. Kath is also the founder and course director of the world’s first online, professional training course in Sustainable Marketing.
Kath has a BA(Hons) from the University of Leeds and the post-graduate Diploma from the Chartered Institute of Marketing and is a certified TetraMap facilitator.
ANGIE FARRUGIA
B Lab Australia & Aotearoa
Angie Farrugia is B Lab Australia & Aotearoa New Zealand’s Director of Communications & Engagement. With more than 20 years of communications and marketing experience across Australia and the UK, Angie has led strategic brand development, storytelling, communications and campaigns for a wide variety of organisations and teams, from large enterprises and household brands to non-profits, start-ups, and social enterprises. She holds a Bachelor of Communications, Mini-MBA in Marketing, and a Mastery of Business & Empathy (MBE).
Angie joined B Lab AANZ in 2022 to lead the communications and community engagement strategy for the region, growing awareness and supporting the B Corp movement's global vision for an inclusive, equitable, and regenerative economy.
RICKY FIFE
Silver Fern Farms
Ricky Fife is Kaiarataki, Head of Māori Development at Silver Fern Farms. He is a respected Māori leader whose work focuses on strengthening connection to whakapapa, whenua and kaupapa across the organisation. Ricky joined SFF in 2006 and later spent some years skippering one of his family’s fishing vessels before returning in 2012 to a production planning role with Silver Fern Farms. He now leads Silver Fern Farms’ Te Ara Huri (The Turning Path) Māori Development framework that supports Silver Fern Farms to be an inclusive, enduring and authentic Aotearoa New Zealand global food company. Ricky is from Ruapuke, one of the Southern-most islands in New Zealand, and grew up in Bluff, his whakapapa connections are to Ngāi Tahu, Te Atiawa and Ngāi Puhi.
JONNY HARRISON
Karma Drinks
Jonny Harrison is CEO of Karma Drinks, a global beverage brand with a purpose-led strategy.
His career includes 10 years at PwC Consulting across the UK and Australia, followed by 10 years at Lion across Finance, Sales, Marketing and Business Development. He has held board roles with Remedy Drinks, Drive Yello, Schibello Coffee, Surfcraft Brewing and the QLD Container Exchange, and was previously CEO of Shine Drinks.
He brings decades of beverage experience together with his passion for sustainability to the leadership of Karma Drinks, the world's most ethical soft drink.
VICTORIA HENSTOCK
Christchurch City Council
Victoria Henstock is Deputy Mayor of Christchurch and Councillor for Papanui, bringing over 20 years’ experience as a lawyer, alongside senior leadership and governance roles. Her executive career includes General Manager, Strategy and Influence at Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu, Executive Director of the Christ Church Cathedral Reinstatement Trust, and leading the Independent Hearings Panel for Christchurch’s post-earthquake District Plan. Victoria has extensive governance experience across education, family welfare, and community sectors. A long-time Christchurch resident, she is passionate about inclusive, resilient cities and fostering sustainable economic growth for the greater Christchurch region.
HUGH JELLIE
ĀTA Regenerative
Hugh is the Founder and Managing Director of Ata Regenerative; he is a veterinarian with specialist interest in farm production systems, reproduction and ruminant nutrition. Ata Regenerative has been created to facilitate transformational change in agriculture in NZ to systems which deliver greater health and resilience to farmers, rural communities, environments people and animals.
Hugh has worked principally in the dairy industry for the past 35 years. Through his work in many countries he has observed that current farming methods are exploitative of the farm animals, the environment and the local rural communities, which have suffered as a result. Food nutrient capacity has collapsed to the point it is no longer able to support health.
He strives to improve resilience at farm level through regenerative agriculture, improved welfare and husbandry standards and the development of the skills and capability on farm to support this. He is also passionate about improving the resilience of rural communities and indigenous landowners fostered by greater self-reliance through this skills development. He has worked with a number of indigenous groups globally including Māori and Moriori on farm improvement and land use change.
NZ is at a tipping point, agriculture as we have practiced it for the last decades has no long term future and must change to protect our environments, our people, communities, the welfare of farmers and their animals; in so doing this aligns with global consumer wants and helps protect our economy.
To change we need a new way of thinking, Hugh is creating a framework of new thinkers to help deliver on different outcomes through regenerative design.
SARAH MCDONALD
Zentera Wool
Sarah McDonald is Head of Sustainable Impact at Zentera, where she leads the ZQ+ programme. ZQ+ takes a whole-of-system view of sustainability, bringing together environmental outcomes, animal welfare, farm practices, and people to create a more complete and practical standard.
Her focus is on making the programme work in the real world. She works closely with farmers and supply chain partners to turn expectations into clear actions, supported by straightforward tools and credible measures.
Through ZQ+, Sarah connects what’s happening on farm with what customers and markets are asking for, while keeping the programme grounded in day-to-day realities. She is particularly interested in building simple, balanced metrics that reflect the full picture of performance, not just one dimension.
KATE MEYER
Planetary Accounting
Kate Meyer is a sustainability scientist, engineer, and creator of Planetary Accounting, an internationally recognised, peer-reviewed framework that translates global limits for nature into actionable metrics.
Planetary Facts, an application of Planetary Accounting, is a bit like Nutrition Facts for sustainability. It makes complex environmental data easy for anyone to understand, helping sustainable brands tell their stories, AND continue on their journey towards nature positive. Kate is the founder of charitable trust the Planetary Accounting Network that helps people, organisations, and governments to operate within critical environmental limits, tech platform Planetary Insights which makes it easy for any business to measure their impacts on nature, and a family business Sports Circle - a real world example of a circular economy. Kate’s work has been recognised on platforms including TEDx, Auckland University’s 40Under40, and has created the foundations for key international relationships with organisations such as the European Commission.
STEVEN MOE
Parry Field Lawyers
Steven Moe is a Partner at Parry Field Lawyers with a focus on helping purpose led entrepreneurs and businesses succeed through practical support on topics such as structures, shareholders, raising capital and IP. He is the author of “Nature as Shareholder” and has edited free guides for startups including on raising capital, hosts the online Seeds Impact Conference, recently edited a free book of 25 essays on “Changing Paradigms” and has worked as a lawyer for 25 years including 11 years overseas based in Tokyo, London and Sydney, and since 2016 has been based back in Aotearoa. Steven hosts seeds podcast which has a focus on “for purpose” organisations and people doing inspiring things which has 480 episodes and another on governance for the IOD called Board Matters.
CAROLYN MORTLANDS
Zespri
Carolyn leads sustainability at Zespri, helping people, communities, and the environment around the world thrive through the goodness of kiwifruit. Zespri is the world’s largest marketer of kiwifruit, selling kiwifruit in more than 50 countries, with ~2,800 New Zealand and 1,500 international growers and post-harvest companies. Zespri’s sustainability mission is to provide the best-quality nutritious kiwifruit to consumers through a low-emissions, resilient and responsible supply chain.
Carolyn has over 25 years’ experience in strategic, stakeholder and sustainability roles. She is a member of the XRB’s Sustainability Reporting Board, and has advised many of New Zealand’s primary sector exporters on developing sustainable brands, strategies and supply chains. Prior to that, Carolyn was Director, Sustainability at Fonterra, setting global targets for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, building nature-based partnerships and publishing audited sustainability reports.
Carolyn lives in Auckland but is regularly based at her original home town, and Zespri headquarters, in Tauranga
LAUREN QUAINTANCE
ChristchurchNZ
Lauren Quaintance is Chair of ChristchurchNZ and an experienced director and executive with international expertise across media, tourism, and digital strategy. She is an Independent Director on the boards of Turners Automotive Group, Autosure Insurance, and the Crusaders. Lauren brings strong destination marketing expertise, having worked for organisations including Tourism New Zealand and Tourism Australia, and global brands such as Sky Television and Fairfax Media. A B&T Women in Media Entrepreneur of the Year (2018), she holds a Master of Science in Journalism from Columbia University and is a Chartered Fellow of the Institute of Directors, championing regenerative economic development and sustainable destination impact.
RHYS ROBERTS
Align Farms
Rhys Roberts is the Chief Executive of Align Farms, a Mid-Canterbury dairy business pioneering one of New Zealand’s most closely watched regenerative-versus-conventional farm system trials on its Clareview property.
Rhys is also a co-founder of Re Dairy, one of the few New Zealand-owned yoghurt brands whose products are made from fresh, whole milk coming from a single-origin regenerative farm owned by Align Farms. Re’s probiotic yoghurt range is designed as a full farm to shelf story, connecting healthier soils and diverse pastures to nutrient dense milk and everyday supermarket shoppers.
A former Zanda McDonald Award winner, Rhys is an active voice in Australasia’s food and fibre sector, sharing practical insights on how brands and farmers can work together to de-risk regenerative transitions while creating differentiated, values-led products like Re yoghurt.
ALANNAH ROBINSON
GoodSense
Allanah Robinson is our experienced marketing consultant and science communicator based in Ōtautahi / Christchurch, working with the GoodSense team to deliver ethical marketing and comms excellence to businesses and organisations in the South Island.
Allanah earned her stripes in in-house marketing roles over nearly 20 years, with experience in everything from grass roots projects to board-level strategic planning. She has significant experience in working with clients to identify their sources of competitive advantage, define who they are, and tell their core story. She especially loves working with businesses who operate at the intersection of what they love, what the world needs, what they’re good at, and what they can get paid or funded for.
Allanah is passionate about economic development in the regions and supporting New Zealand’s growth sectors. She has specialist experience in tourism, public sector, and small business entrepreneurship, doing everything from trade shows to strategic marketing planning, business re-branding and website development to writing tweets. She is also one of our in-house research gurus, producing top quality desktop marketing research reports for our clients across sectors, and providing supporting business award applications and funding bid writing for businesses.
Allanah has a Masters degree in Marketing and teaches marketing, management, and research at tertiary level. She is also on the board of the Marlborough Sounds Wildlife Recovery Trust.
ROGER ROBSON-WILLIAMS
Future-Fit Aotearoa New Zealand
Roger is driven by a big question: What does it mean to live as though the wellbeing of future generations truly matters?
He is the Director of Future-Fit Aotearoa New Zealand, a chapter of the global Future-Fit Business initiative that has translated 30+ years of systems science into practical and free tools to enable businesses to make real progress toward a flourishing future for all. He also tries to walk the talk and runs a small, low emissions farm in North Canterbury that produced New Zealand’s first fully electric hay in 2026.
Prior to embarking on sustainability consultancy and farming (#releasedintothewild), Roger was Chief Sustainability Officer at the Bioeconomy Science Institute, New Zealand’s centre of excellence for science to support farming, horticulture, forestry, and fishing while protecting nature.
He has extensive leadership and governance experience and is a member of the sustainability Sub-Board of TechNZ. His award-winning podcast series People|Planet|Food explored the intersection of sustainability, agriculture, and our global food system.
Roger has a PhD in plant science and is a certified Planetary Accounting Practitioner and Integrated Reporting Practitioner
CALLUM ROSS
RossAi
Callum Ross is the Founder and CEO of RossAi, a New Zealand deep-tech company developing AI-enabled edge intelligence systems for sustainability, environmental management, manufacturing, infrastructure, and primary industry applications.
With more than 20+ years of experience across horticulture, healthcare, technology, and governance, Callum works at the intersection of artificial intelligence, real-time sensing, and operational sustainability. RossAi’s technologies combine AI vision systems, environmental monitoring, edge computing, and predictive intelligence to help organisations reduce waste, improve operational efficiency, strengthen environmental outcomes, and make faster data-driven decisions in real time.
RossAi’s platforms including WasteLens™, LabLess™, OpsLens™, and the emerging Unified Edge Intelligence, are designed to move beyond traditional data dash board monitoring and reporting by creating AI-totalled systems capable of continuously interpreting complex real-world environments.
Callum is passionate about the role New Zealand can play in developing practical AI systems that deliver measurable environmental and economic impact, particularly across primary industries and infrastructure sectors.
CAT ROWE
Silver Fern Farms
Cat Rowe is Head of Nature Impact and Policy, where she works to embed nature-positive and systems-based thinking into organisational strategy, commercial practice and ways of working. Her focus is on translating purpose and values into action by aligning policy, process and decision-making so organisations can genuinely uphold the promises they make to people and place. Before returning to Aotearoa, Cat had spent several years living and working in the Pacific, she is strongly influenced by the work and advocacy of first peoples in the fight against climate change, ocean and biodiversity loss particularly the importance of connection to place, guardianship and long-term thinking.
GARY SHAW
Human Impact Specialist
Gary Shaw is a former New Zealand Police detective and human rights investigator who spent years working undercover across twelve countries investigating human trafficking and modern slavery. His work took him inside criminal networks, supply chains and social systems where human suffering often went unseen.
Gary founded and led a New Zealand anti-trafficking organisation working across the Asia-Pacific region, supporting victim rescue, cross-sector collaboration and criminal prosecutions. He later advised the New Zealand Government as a member of the Modern Slavery Leadership Advisory Group.
For the past decade, Gary has worked alongside businesses, investors and public sector organisations seeking to move beyond compliance and respond more meaningfully to human harm within the systems they rely on.
Drawing on experience spanning law enforcement, non-profit leadership, government advisory and business engagement, he now helps leaders and organisations see more clearly, act more transparently and collaborate more effectively in the face of social and environmental challenges that exceed the reach of any single organisation.
MINDY WIGZELL
Foodstuffs Co-operative Affairs
Mindy Wigzell is a nutrition leader with 20 years’ experience in food industry, public health, governance and clinical practice roles. Her work is founded in evidence-based nutrition practice, helping organisations align strategic outcomes with impactful initiatives that improve the wellbeing of consumers and communities.
She currently works for Foodstuffs and leads the Food for Thought programme, overseeing strategy and providing leadership to deliver nutrition education at scale to tamariki across Aotearoa New Zealand. Previously, as Head of Nutrition at Fonterra, Mindy led a global team to integrate nutrition science into strategic planning, product development, communications, advocacy and health research.
Mindy brings a cross-sector perspective, combining industry, science, public health and community experience to demonstrate how business can play a meaningful role in meeting consumer wellbeing needs and shaping healthier futures for our communities.
ZHEN WU
Magna International Inc
Zhen joined Magna in May 2010 as the first lawyer in Asia, responsible for all legal and compliance affairs in China and other Asian countries. She supported strategic investments, M&A, asset integration and major business negotiations for all Magna groups in Asia during her 11-year service in legal team. In March 2021 Zhen was promoted to the position of Head of Magna China, and took full responsibility for the strategy development and execution of Magna China during the disruptive change period in the industry, driving and strengthening the cooperation and synergy across product lines, creating innovative business models and products which fit the needs of the Chinese market and customers. In May 2023 she was appointed as the Regional President of China. After 6-year P&L leader in China enabling profitable growth, Zhen moved to Europe this May to facilitate new business opportunities with Chinese car companies outside of China.
Before joining Magna, Zhen worked at Bird & Bird in Düsseldorf of Germany and General Electric (China) Co., Ltd in Shanghai. She has extensive experience in the investment, innovation and management of global company, and actively promoted the exchange, standardization and protection of cutting-edge technologies and intellectual property. After entering the automotive industry, she has also been a strong advocate to advance industry development with new technologies and innovations. Zhen is open-minded and has a keen sense of technology and associated business impact. She is a strong communicator and can effectively visualize the industry change, optimize internal resources, drive cross-function synergy and enhance core competitiveness. She has strong transformational leadership skills.
Zhen graduated from Xiangtan University in China with a bachelor law degree and Munich Intellectual Property Center in Germany with a master degree in Intellectual Property Law. Zhen completed the AMP Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School in 2018 and the course of Competing in the Age of AI in 2025. She is currently the candidate of IMD Director Diploma.