Andrew Barnes, Innovator, Entrepreneur, 4 Day Week Architect, TEDx speaker

Andrew has made a career of leading market-changing innovation and industry digitisation. He founded New Zealand’s largest corporate trustee company, Perpetual Guardian, and spearheaded the company’s efforts to create four-day working weeks that helped spark a global movement.

Barnes spent 20 years in Australia, floating realestate.com.au on the ASX and held senior roles in Macquarie Bank, Citi, Tower, County Natwest, and was chairman of Australasian Wealth Investments. In 2013, Barnes acquired Perpetual Trust in New Zealand, and purchased Guardian Trust, creating Perpetual Guardian. In April 2015, he acquired e-will platform My Bucket List and Foundation Corporate Trust. In 2018, Barnes announced that Perpetual Guardian would be trialling four day work weeks. The trial sparked widespread international interest, with the World Economic Forum. In 2020, Barnes published, ‘The 4 Day Week” and through this work he is on the advisory board of the Wellbeing Research Centre at Oxford University.

When Covid-19 saw New Zealand in lockdown, Barnes pushed for law changes to make digital signatures on wills legal. It has been suggested he could be one of New Zealand’s next blue-chip politicians

Megan Tapsell, Head of Pacific Technology, ANZ Bank and Chair AI Forum NZ

Megan is currently Head of Technology for the Pacific at ANZ Bank and Chair of the AI Forum NZ. With over 15 years’ global experience in IT, Retail and Business Banking, Megan is responsible for designing and executing strategies including key transformation change programmes.

In her role as Chair of the AI Forum Megan leads a purpose driven, not-for-profit organisation to connect and drive information across New Zealand, improving vital awareness and to advance the implementation of beneficial, safe and mindful AI.

Megan is also heavily focused on increasing Māori engagement and input into the corporate sector and wider technology industry.

Matt Zwolenski, Chief Technologist, Google Cloud Australia & NZ

Matt joined Google in 2020 and is the Chief Technologist for Google Cloud in Australia & NZ. He leads a large team of cloud technologists and architects who are responsible for the cloud transformation journeys for many of the organizations, startups and Government agencies within this region.

Matt’s team consists of AI and machine learning specialists, cloud architects and application and infrastructure modernisation consultants who help customers on their digital journey. He has expertise in analytics and AI, as well as a background in software development and agile culture transformation.

Matt has led large, distributed teams of architects in the Australian and Asia Pacific region and has been responsible for the technical sales portfolio for multi-billion dollar business units.

Prior to joining Google, Matt was the Vice President for Presales across the Asia Pacific & Japan region at Dell Technologies, CTO for EMC in Australia & NZ and Technology Architect at IBM. He is author of the book “Enterprise Hybrid Cloud for Dummies” which has helped organizations shift their traditional IT systems to Cloud first models. Matt holds a Bachelor of Science in software engineering and an MBA from the Australian Graduate School of Management. He is an avid scuba diver, enjoys surfing, traveling and outdoor adventures.

Tiffany Bloomquist, Country Manager, Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Tiffany is currently the country manager for AWS in New Zealand, leading our commercial sales across large enterprise, Software as a Service providers, small to medium businesses and start-ups. She coordinates our 150+ employees to deliver assistance across thousands of customers and partners as they leverage cloud-based operating models to transform their overall architecture with AWS services. Her teams work hand-in-hand with customers and AWS partners to provide deep expertise in the architecture, design, development and implementation of cloud computing initiatives that result in real business outcomes. Over the last 8 years AWS has been helping New Zealand organizations to innovate, succeed, and grow globally. Our focus in Aotearoa is to help unleash further innovation, drive greater productivity, increase our skilled workforce, and truly position New Zealand at the forefront of digital commerce for generations of Kiwis to come.

Tiffany has 24+ years’ experience in Services and Technology businesses with international roles in the US, Europe and Asia. Passionate customer advocate, with career spanning management of worldwide deployments of internal business applications, design and launch of start-up organizations and programs, sales strategy and business development, orchestration of worldwide and time zone level strategy and leadership of large people organizations. Her key strengths are in building trusted customer relationships, energizing organizations, working collaboratively across cultures, solving complex problems creatively, driving sustainable business operations and delivering technical innovation to accelerate customer success.

Frances Valintine, Founder & CEO The Mind Lab & Tech Futures Lab

Frances Valintine CNZM is a leader in innovation, and emerging technologies. Frances launched Tech Futures Lab in 2016 and is committed to the development of people, innovative culture and technological advancement.

​Frances has worked with and advised 250+ organisations from every sector in New Zealand, from agriculture to finance, retail to law, and has gained a reputation as an expert in leading change initiatives.​

Dr Craig Jones, Deputy CEO, Stats NZ

Craig started as Deputy Government Statistician with responsibility for Data System Leadership in May 2020. Prior to this role he was Deputy Secretary, Evidence, Data and Knowledge in the Ministry of Education since May 2016. Prior to joining the Ministry, he spent 16 years in the New South Wales public service, holding leadership roles in Justice, Treasury and Education.

Originally from Waihopai, Invercargill, he graduated from Otago University in 2000 and was later awarded a PhD in forensic psychology from the University of New South Wales. Craig proudly describes himself as a data nerd and all of his roles in government have involved a strong focus on how government can collect, manage and use data to make better decisions.

Matt Bain, Marketing Director, Spark

Matt was appointed as Spark Marketing Director in November 2018, bringing his outstanding digital marketing and customer experience skills to place the customer right at the centre of Spark’s thinking and actions. Matt was previously based in Amsterdam as European Managing Director for agency AKQA – one of the world’s leading innovation and brand experience agencies, with responsibility for 500+ employees across five countries.

Over an 18-year career Matt has built an impeccable international reputation with some of the world’s greatest brands – Nike, Heineken, Mini, Rolls Royce, Siemens, EA Sports, Audi, Phillips, Tommy Hilfiger and KLM amongst others. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce and Masters of Commerce from the University of Auckland.

AI 'rock star', Professor Toby Walsh of University of NSW (and former spokesperson on AI at the United Nations)

Toby is a world-renowned professor on artificial intelligence and is Scientia professor at the University of New South Wales and Digital Think-tank Data61. He was named by the media as a “rock star” of the digital revolution and included on the list of the 100 most important digital innovators in Australia. He is a fellow of the Australia Academy of Science and of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence, a Humboldt award winner and recipient of the NSW Premier’s Prize for excellence in engineering and ICT.

He has played a leading role at the UN and elsewhere on the campaign to ban lethal autonomous weapons (aka “killer robots”). Toby is a sought-after keynote speaker on how artificial intelligence influences business, education, warfare, personal development, and finance, among others. He regularly appears in the media talking about the impact of AI and robotics on society.

Toby is the author of the books ‘IT’S ALIVE’, ‘Android Dreams’, ‘Machines That Think’ and ‘2062: The Year that AI Made’.

Sonya Crosby, Chief Data Officer at Westpac New Zealand Limited

Sonya is Chief Data Officer for Westpac New Zealand, responsible for driving the strategic direction of Westpac New Zealand’s data quality and maturity, enabling business transformation and a differentiated customer experience.

Sonya has a strong background in digital innovation and harnessing new technologies to deliver new value.

Dion Sheppard, Forensic Research and Development Program Executive, Institute of Environmental Science & Research

Dion Sheppard is the Forensic Research & Development Manager at the Institute of Environmental Science & Research, Ltd (ESR), New Zealand. 

Dion is passionate about the intersection between technology and forensic science, and the opportunity to use innovation and co-design to meet end-users’ needs.  With a background in forensic science and experience in science commercialisation he leads teams that are focused on undertaking research and development projects that result in new products and services that improve the accessibility of science and support evidence-informed decision making in the justice sector.

Andrew Haddad, Chief Information Officer, Vodafone New Zealand

Andrew joined Vodafone in September 2019 and is leading the company on a multi-year journey of digital transformation, creating a remarkable digitally-focused team, who can design and build a world-class digital future across all functional areas.

Having worked in the IT and telecommunications sector for 20 years, Andrew has a wealth of knowledge and is known for delivering complex technology programs and enterprise-wide transformations.

Jennifer Sepull, former Global CIO, Group CIO, CDO at Air New Zealand, Honda Motor Company, Kimberly Clark, USAA and London Stock Exchange

Jennifer Sepull has over 25 years of leadership experience as a CEO, CIO, Chief Digital Officer, COO, VP of Sales, VP of Client Services, and a Consulting Partner for a Fortune-200 companies.

Jennifer has experience building new start-ups, leading large global teams, and building e-Commerce/ Omni-channel digital platforms. She has extensive industry knowledge in retail, consumer products, automotive, high tech, medical, financial services, and manufacturing.

Matt Haigh, Head of Data Experience, Westpac NZ

Matt leads a dynamic team that investigates how novel technologies can build amazing experiences for Westpac customers. Among key focuses is the application of Machine Learning (ML) and understanding the working of Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques.

He is passionate about future-ready innovations that impact strategic business outcomes and draws on his past extensive in open data, application programming interfaces (APIs) and managing innovation to plan, lead and execute projects that challenge established norms.

Kari Jones, General Manager of Analytics and Insights, Woolworths NZ

Kari is currently leading one of the largest data and analytics practices in New Zealand.

A highly driven outcome-oriented strategist and leader who is committed to improving the performance of New Zealand organisations through the increased adoption and application of emerging technology, advanced analytics and artificial intelligence.

A passion for data matched with experience in business strategy enables Kari to deliver outcomes in challenging environments to deliver on big goals.

Simon Kennedy, Chief Digital Officer, Foodstuffs NI

Simon Kennedy is the chief digital officer at Foodstuffs North Island. A leader with strong values and a clear vision who empowers his team to aim high and deliver the best results for customers.

With a focus on driving strategic change through digital and cultural innovation, Simon is part of the journey at Foodstuffs NI at a critical time with their strong focus on digital customer experiences and online revenue.

Rebecca Chenery, Head of Digital Enablement and Customer, 3 Waters Reform National Transition, Department of Internal Affairs

Rebecca has many years of experience in programme management and business transformation projects across the information services, telecommunications and water industries in New Zealand and overseas. Currently responsible for leading the delivery of the digital/IT/OT enablement for the new water service entities that will be established as part of the Three Waters Reform programme in Auckland.

Jo Hilson, Chief Technology Officer, Tourism Holdings Limited

Jo started at thl in August 2021 in the role of Chief Technology Officer responsible for leading and maintaining thl’s global IT operations and continuing the development, implementation and growth of thl’s bespoke modern booking, pricing, fleet management and telematics products.

A visionary and strategic Chief Technology Officer focused on building and delivering IT strategies and solutions aligned to business goals.

Over 20 years’ experience across a wide range of industries from startups to multimillion-dollar market leaders in NZ & UK.

Brian Ferris, Chief Digital and Analytics Officer, Loyalty New Zealand

Brian was appointed as Chief Technology & Data Officer at Loyalty in 2020 and is championing a high performing agile culture and reinventing Loyalty data and analytics with new platforms and advanced analytics.

Brian has worked in information technology for over 18 years, with extensive experience leading data and analytics teams while managing projects and building solutions in a global environment.

Craig Columbus, Chief Information Officer, TR Group

Craig specialises in solving tough problems, creating value and increasing efficiencies.

Well versed in business strategy, finance, and information technology, with technical specializations in information security, artificial intelligence and cloud architectures Craig has built a solid track record of taking on large challenges, conceiving creative solutions and delivering multi-million-dollar transformation projects that have added millions of dollars to the bottom line of companies around the globe.

Craig’s mission is to leverage connectivity to build strong businesses and stronger communities.

Tracey Cotter-Martin, Associate Director – Futures, insights + Experience

As Datacom’s Associate Director Growth Practices – Futures, Insights + Experience, Tracey has undertaken a major piece of work examining macro trends, industry pressures and mindsets, and how these inform the way we work and meet the needs of customers. Tracey is a strategist who believes instead of spending time guessing what skills will be needed in the future, a more powerful approach is to focus on building empathetic working environments that respond to the way people work.

This body of work – known as Future of Work – has been recognised by Women in ICT Awards (WIICTA) 2022 for which Tracey received the Innovation award.