A senior business leader with a wealth of experience across the accounting profession, within public practice, corporates and small business. Sue has now been with Xero for 10 years – and it’s been an incredible ride! Technology is rapidly driving change across business and the accounting profession. In her role as Head of Accounting, Sue is speaking, facilitating discussion about this change, demystifying challenges, sharing insights, trends and stories, and connecting experts to assist, as accountants navigate change and take on new opportunities that cloud platforms provide.

The work we do every day, can be the greatest force for good in the world’; This driving belief has seen Nicola co-found and lead Tax Traders, an award winning financial technology company in a way that is radically different. After practicing commercial law and working in public policy, Nicola has spent the last 8 years co-creating a company in the tax and technology space with people, not numbers, at its core. She is a firm believer that ‘by getting off the drug of profit, we can win the trust and confidence of those around us, and deliver real value to our staff, our customers and to our communities.

Tesh Randall (or Mrs Coconut as she’s known in Raglan) is an enthusiastic entrepreneur – starting out in her home kitchen in 2014, Raglan Coconut Yoghurt now supplies over 600 stores around New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong and the Pacific Islands. She believes that business can be used as a tool for creating positive change and is a woman of many hats (literally & figuratively!), with side projects including writing books, hosting glamping enthusiasts in their yurt and tiny house, and her position as editor of Arrival travel magazine.

Jessie is a qualified Chartered Accountant from New Zealand currently working as the Chief Financial Officer and Company Secretary for Ruapehu Alpine Lifts Limited (RAL). Jessie was appointed as the Finance Manager in March 2014 and combined this with the Company Secretary role in February 2016. She was appointed as GM – Finance in September 2017 and appointed as the CFO in July 2019.

Community wellbeing has been my driving force for more than a decade. I believe in being informed about what is impacting our community so that we can apply creative solutions to local problems.  Community development and community wellbeing are high priorities which we can enhance together by engaging in measures to address social, economic and environmental needs.

Hon Grant Robertson was born in Palmerston North and lived in Hastings before his family settled in Dunedin.

He studied politics at Otago, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts with Honours in 1995. At university he was the President of the Otago University Students Association and became Co-President of the New Zealand University Students Association.

People are at the core of everything Phil does and thinks about. As part of Xero’s learning experience team Phil creates and delivers learning solutions that build high performing teams through core skills improvement amongst other things. Coaching, mentoring and creating confidence and safety within people is what drives him.

Bernard is a Chartered Accountant specialising in business growth, business consulting and auditing, in particular Charities and Not for Profits. He is responsible for the assurance services and a large portion of the business advisory services. He works with and advises in excess of 400 small to medium sized business, Charities and Not for Profit organisations.

Selwyn Cook has taken equal employment opportunity to a whole new level.

He will tell you he ‘just pumps gas’ but as owner and operator of 14 Shell and Z Energy service stations throughout the Waikato he employs around 100 full and part time staff and he believes that everybody should be able to find work.

My Dad once told me “If you can shake hands and laugh with the workers and the Mayor in the same day, you will do well in this world”. The Waikato’s greatest opportunity is to leverage and coordinating its many strengths – the economy, environment and most importantly, it’s people.  Enabling this opportunity requires brokering the alignment of those strengths to address areas of need.

Ganesh is a first generation New Zealander, a one-eyed Wellington supporter, and a cricket purist. He began university with a plan to train as an accountant. That plan lasted less than one term because he stumbled upon economics. To his delight he discovered a subject tackling both numbers and people. From that stage he was hooked. Despite his passion for numbers, Ganesh believes economics is about people; their jobs, their incomes, their opportunities, and their futures.

Chris is a highly experienced advertising/design leader who has built an agency team that has dominated the Waikato/Bay of Plenty region while winning accounts at a national level.
He is a strong creative thinker who has helped drive growth and sustainability across multiple industry sectors while attracting top talent from around New Zealand and the world.

Peter is the Programme Director and a Trustee for the Community and Enterprise Leadership Foundation (CELF).  CELF in partnership with the University of Waikato brings together established leaders from business and community sectors to build leaders for a stronger Waikato.  Peter consults and facilitates in the areas of leadership and high performing teams, knowledge management, and organisational learning, and he actively researches and publishes in these areas