The Hon Dr Shane Reti, Minister for Science, Innovation and Technology, NZ Government
Dr Shane Reti is the Minister for Pacific Peoples, Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology, Minister of Statistics and Minister for Universities. He is the MP for Whangarei.Dr Reti’s career began in family medicine and dermatology in Whangarei where he practiced for 16 years. He served three terms on the Board of the Northland DHB. He was awarded a QSM for Public Service in the 2006 New Year Honours List. In 2007 Dr Reti was named the NZ Harkness Fellow to Harvard, where he was promoted to Assistant Professor. In 2014 Dr Reti became the first Māori MP to win the Whangarei seat which he held from 2014 to 2020 and won again in 2023.
Mark Jones, Drawcard MC
Mark is a sought-after speaker, commentator, award-winning business journalist (former Editor of the Financial Review’s IT section and Executive Editor at US-based InfoWorld); published author (Beliefonomics) and CEO of the Impact Institute where he leads a team of advisors and communications professionals.
James Bergin, Executive General Manager, Technology Research & Advocacy, Xero
James uses his significant experience in enterprise architecture, software engineering, technical strategy, innovation management and leading high-performing teams to help small businesses thrive. Combining his deep industry and technical expertise with the ability to motivate the team around him James has a strong track record of transforming business models for a digital future.
Roxanne Salton, Chief Digital Officer, TSB Bank
Roxanne leads TSB Banks’s technology business strategy and market-leading experiences for the bank’s internal and external customers. Roxanne is well-known for bringing her business expertise into the technology sector. She is an influential and inspirational leader who has specialised in Digital Transformation across large enterprise, Strategy Development, Product Innovation, Disruptive Technologies and Emerging Markets. Roxanne has held leadership roles in the digital world in the insurance, banking, telecommunications and publishing industries including at Southern Cross Health Society, ASB, Spark and Mercury Energy. Her expertise in transformation, innovation and disruption has been influenced by the changing economies of these industries. Roxanne enjoys translating the ever-changing face of technology (ICT) to other parts of the wider business and her anchor point has always been a fervent advocacy of the customer experience. Roxanne is an experienced public speaker and known as a high energy, talented communicator and motivator. She is also a passionate supporter of women in sectors where they are underrepresented.
Dr Mahsa McCauley, Associate Professor, Auckland University of Technology; Chairperson, AI Forum NZ
Dr Mahsa McCauley, Founder of She# From embracing technology at an early age to pursuing an education in Iran and New Zealand that culminated in a doctorate and a Google scholarship, Dr Mahsa McCauley is on a mission to change the tech landscape. An expert in AI and machine learning, and director of Women in Tech at Auckland University of Technology, she is also the founder of She# (She Sharp). As a charitable trust, She# brings professionals together with university and high school students with the aim of encouraging more women into the tech industry.
Angela Henderson, Chief Information and Delivery Officer, Fidelity Life NZ
Senior leader with 22 years management experience leading diverse successful teams (50+FTE), driving cultural and transformational change, managing portfolios of over $100m in large companies. A transformational change agent with experience in delivering large scale business delivery, process and cultural change. Recognised leader in successful Agile deployment and delivery as well as corporate wide change delivery. Experienced in developing and implementing Digital strategy, creation of innovation teams and leveraging Global thought leadership to drive company innovation. Deep experience in Portfolio Governance, Change Management and ventures in large corporates and ability to build and develop new teams to achieve organisational goals. A strong advocate for women in business and technology. Leader of Women in Digital at Air New Zealand. Industry Advisor for Manukau Institute of Technology.
Manvi Madan, Port of Auckland; Emerging ICT Leader 2024, CIO Awards
Manvi is Manager of Data & Insights at the Port of Auckland, a Keynote Speaker and the Winner of Emerging ICT Leader of the year CIO Award in 2024. As part of Manvi’s role at the Port, she enables data informed decisions by teaching machines to provide insights through data. She also mentors and nurtures the members of the data community within and outside POAL as she believes it is the culture that underpins the ethical use of technologies like ML and AI.
Adrian Smith (Ngāpuhi & Ngāti Hine), Tumu Whakarae (CEO), BlinkPay
Adrian co-founded the kaupapa Māori fintech BlinkPay, and has a passion for helping Kiwis be better off through better tech. With extensive financial services experience gained from doing big bank transformation in the UK for over 14 years, he has garnered a deep understanding of global financial trends and emerging technologies.
Habib Baluwala, General Manager - AI & Data Foundations, One New Zealand
Habib Baluwala is a seasoned AI and data leader with a proven track record in developing innovative data-driven products and transforming organizations with actionable insights. As the General Manager of AI and Data Foundations at One New Zealand, Habib leads a multidisciplinary team at the intersection of applied machine learning, platform development, and business strategy, creating a solid foundation for leveraging data as a strategic asset. With a hands-on approach to leadership, Habib has deep expertise in building and architecting scalable data platforms and delivering cutting-edge machine learning solutions.
Alexandra Smart, Chief Technology Officer, Southern Cross Travel Insurance; NZ CIO of the Year 2025
With more than 20 years’ experience working in senior technology roles, Alex has a diverse range of skills including technology strategy and leadership, architecture, design, digital and software development. Since her time at Southern Cross Travel Insurance, Alex has led the full transformation of the policy admin and claims systems, the move to cloud native, the launch of new digital experiences for their customers, and many other initiatives which have required bringing CX into the heart of technology strategy. Alex is part of the New Zealand Tech Women and is passionate about the shape of New Zealand’s future technology workforce. Under her leadership the Southern Cross Travel Insurance Digital Team won the 2023 NZ CIO Award for Best Team Culture and Inclusion, and most recently in 2025 Alex won the 2025 NZ CIO of the Year.
Kym Niblock, Chief Digital Officer, Sky New Zealand
Kym is a seasoned and innovative digital leader with a global outlook and 30+ years of media, IPTV, OTT and digital experience in Australia, the US and the UK. She has played key roles leading, shaping and defining business propositions with large scale and complex dynamics, delivering commercially viable proposals through change management and business transformation. She specialises in digital media and IP video/content led businesses looking for revolutionary change in customer satisfaction and revenue.
Michael Witbrock, Professor, University of Auckland/The Strong AI Lab
Willem van der Steen, Chief Information Officer, Delegat
Willem is a seasoned digital executive, an inspiring and entrepreneurial leader. He has more than 20 years of experience in leading people and building high performance teams, both in New Zealand and internationally, including United Kingdom, Netherlands and Luxembourg. Willem has extensive experience in strategic planning & management, digital, technology, product development, marketing & sales and commercial. He is passionate about people, AI, innovation and the digital transformation. His focus is to help businesses succeed by driving innovation, growth and productivity in fast moving and rapidly changing environments.
Neville Richardson, Former CIO, Gallagher; Executive Council, Info-Tech Research Group
As one of New Zealand’s top 50 CIO’s, Neville operates as a business leader, technology evangelist and change agent with over 25 years Information Systems and business experience. In his current role as CIO, he oversees the Global IS function of one of New Zealand’s most customer centric and innovative technology businesses. By leveraging world class governance and innovative business delivery techniques, he actively sets technology strategy supporting the company’s growth objectives and driving continuous improvement across the entire organization, and is looking forward to continuing this journey as the business embarks upon business transformation using S/4 HANA at its core.
Peter Gavin, GM, Data & Analytics, ANZ
Peter has over 20 years’ experience working in data and analytics and leading data transformation, analytics, strategy and delivery teams. He thrives on enabling organisations to understand and manage their data risks, while driving them to realise their data opportunities. Peter was appointed as GM of Data & Analytics for ANZ Banking Group in February 2021, having held senior positions at Bank of New Zealand, Fonterra and ASB Bank.
Helius Guimaraes, Chief Data & AI Officer, Fonterra
Helius’ career began in a start-up company driving digital transformation using Computer Aided Design. After graduating as a geologist, he implemented technologies for a state government in Brazil. With data, digital and transformation roles across South America, South Africa, the UK, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand, Helius has broad experience with AI techniques and over the years has delivered tangible business value through the use of AI technologies, including supervised and unsupervised learning, machine learning, natural language processing and more recently, is passionate the opportunities of leveraging generative AI.
Rachel Harrison, Domain Lead - Decision Science & AI, ASB Bank
Rachel is the Domain lead for Decision Science & AI at ASB, where she has established and evolved the banks analytics functions since 2017. With 20 plus years’ experience in analytics across many prominent organisations, Rachel combines her academic background in Computer Science, Statistics and Business with her practical experience across many industries to drive AI Innovation. A commercially focused leader, Rachel excels in building high-performing teams and developing analytics capabilities that directly enhance business outcomes. Rachel’s passion lies in championing the value of analytics and fostering an analytics culture within organisations. She is committed to the ethical use of AI and leverages her deep understanding of what’s possible with AI to drive strategic decision-making.
Kenny Thein, Director IT (NZ), Restaurant Brands
Kenny is the Director of IT (NZ) at Restaurant Brands New Zealand. With over 25 years at enterprise organizations, Kenny has led and created modernization and digitization strategies to unlock scale and exceptional customer experiences by ensuring the right strategies are executed at the right time. At Restaurant Brands, Kenny leads the technology functions to help scale the digital business to meet the evolving and increasing needs of both internal and external customers.
A passionate advocate for STEM education and digital literacy, Kenny actively supports initiatives that inspire the next generation of tech leaders. He believes in the power of mentorship and community engagement to foster innovation and inclusivity in the tech industry. His leadership style is marked by collaboration, curiosity, and a commitment to continuous learning.
Kate Kolich, Head of Data and Artificial Intelligence, Contact Energy
David Irecki, Chief Technology Officer, APJ, Boomi
David leads the Asia Pacific and Japan (APJ) region’s efforts in advocating and evangelizing the future of artificial intelligence (AI) in business with intelligent integration and automation. He is instrumental in helping organizations across the APJ region thrive in the digital age and on their AI journeys. David leads a team of pre-sales professionals across APJ. Under his leadership, his team helps customers transform their business by solving integration and data management challenges. David is an IT veteran with over 20 years of experience in the enterprise integration and embedded computing markets. David joined Boomi in June 2015 as the first Solutions Consultant in APJ. Prior to Boomi, David worked for MuleSoft, where he led the APJ Solutions Consulting team.
Ankit Gupta, General Manager Group Technology, The Warehouse Group
Ankit Gupta is the General Manager of Group Technology at The Warehouse Group, one of New Zealand’s largest retail companies. With a background in computer science, Ankit has a strong focus on enhancing software quality, secure coding practices, and developer-driven testing. He has held various roles in the technology sector, including positions at Infosys, Spark New Zealand, and Vodafone New Zealand, where he led teams in DevOps and IT operations.
At The Warehouse Group, Ankit is spearheading a significant multi-year cloud migration project, transitioning over 750 on-premises servers to Microsoft Azure. This initiative aims to improve system resilience, reduce costs, and leverage AI technologies to optimize retail pricing and automate product database updates. Ankit’s leadership is instrumental in driving the company’s digital transformation and ensuring its technological infrastructure supports future growth.
Richard Davies, Regional Lead ANZ, Airia
Richard has spent the last 15+ years providing transformative technologies to clients across APAC. With a passion for emerging or disruptive technologies and start-ups looking to expand into the region, he previously served as the ANZ Regional Vice President at Lacework before it’s acquisition to Fortinet. In his current role, he is tasked with building the GTM team and strategy across the ANZ region for Airia, a leading enterprise AI management platform.
Nilay Rathod, Head of Group Architecture & IT, Spark NZ
Nikolai Blackie, Chief Technology Officer & Co-Founder, Adaptiv
Nikolai is a highly respected integration authority and specialised cloud architect. As a co-founder of Adaptiv in 2010, he has been instrumental in shaping the company’s vision for cutting-edge integration and cloud solutions across Australia and New Zealand. With deep expertise in designing and delivering tailored enterprise integrations, Nikolai has made a lasting impact across industries such as finance, education, FMCG, manufacturing/distribution, and non-profits. As Principal Architect, he leads enterprise clients in defining integration strategies, setting technical standards, and implementing best practices to drive efficiency and scalability. With over a decade of hands-on experience in enterprise-scale web application integration and SaaS solutions, Nikolai combines technical excellence with strategic insight—helping organisations future-proof their digital ecosystems.
Francis McGregor-Macdonald, ANZ Head of Technology – Data & AI, AWS
Bio coming soon…
Shahid Saiyad, Financial Services Lead, HCLTech
Bio coming soon…
Avni Nanabhai, Customer Success Executive, Adobe
Avni is a former marketer turned customer success leader, partnering with New Zealand organisations to drive business growth through emerging technologies. With over a decade in the mar-tech space, she helps teams simplify the complex and translate tech investments—especially in AI and automation—into meaningful customer experiences. Specialising in technology strategy as part of her recent MBA with UNSW Australia, and NYU Stern, she brings a global perspective on how industries approach this new age of AI and automation.
Travena Addenbrooke, Gen AI & Marketing Transformation Executive, Spark NZ
Travena is a Senior Marketing Leader with a deep passion for digital innovation. She spearheads the GenAI readiness for Spark Marketing across both consumer and B2B. She has a track record of national and global firsts, as well as award-winning campaigns. Her love for data-driven strategies and creative connections fuels her current mission: transforming marketing with AI and collaborating with global partners to drive a new era of Marketing.
Danu Abeysuriya, Chief Technology Officer & Founder, Rush Digital
Danushka Abeysuriya (Danu) is a visionary technical innovator and entrepreneur with nearly two decades of experience spearheading transformative technology initiatives. As Founder and Chief Technology Officer of RUSH, he has evolved the company from a garage startup into an industry-leading innovation partner trusted by local and global organisations. At RUSH, Danu leads a specialised team of AI-enabled product strategists, designers, and technologists who create digital products that fundamentally enhance human experiences. His expertise in cybersecurity and ethical technology implementation has made him a sought-after advisor on responsible tech adoption.
Danu also spearheaded the development of R/VISION, RUSH’s AI-enabled software platform that enhances site safety and awareness through computer vision. Originally conceived for license plate recognition, R/VISION evolved to address broader safety concerns in challenging environments like temporary traffic management and manufacturing sites. His approachable demeanour, quick wit, and ability to make complex topics understandable make him a sought-after voice in New Zealand’s technology sector.
Johan Fantenberg, Director, Product and Solution Marketing, Ping Identity
Manuel Bohnet, Country Manager New Zealand, AWS
Grant de Leeuw, CEO, DataMasque
Nick Draper, Head of Enterprise Architecture, Foodstuffs South Island
Libby Lavrova, AI Partner Technical Specialist, IBM
