2023 Speakers

Opening Keynote Speaker

Rich Mironov is a 40-year veteran of Silicon Valley product management, including six startups. He coaches product leaders, helps design software product organizations, and sometimes parachutes into software companies as the interim VP Products or CPO. He’s been blogging about product management since 2002 here and wrote “The Art of Product Management.”

Hear from Rich on Product Waste and how Product Management adds value. Product adds most value by doing relentless discovery/validation before we start any development, spend 5% to see if it’s really worth building.

Deanna cut her teeth in the music industry during its monumental digital disruption, she worked in digital media and also brought immersive experiences to life at the largest music festivals in Australia.  Moving into the education sector she has consistently been banging a drum of change and innovation. She has been Director of Strategy and Government for Macquarie University, Director of International and Student Engagement for Lincoln University and has also worked as part of the Industry Development team at Education New Zealand where she conducted research into the future of education globally. She now explores the re-construction of the system of development capability in her role as Head of Energy Academy and is on a mission to transform the way we compete for talent.

Hear from Deanna on Avatars for capability development – How gaming methodologies could help grow our talent pool.

‘Inā kei te mohio koe, ko wai koe
I anga mai koe i hea, kei te mohio koe
Kei te anga atu ki hea’

Elle has been involved in Iwi, Business, Industry, Government, and Community development for 27 years. With a background in Science, Geospatial Technology, Education, Infrastructure, and Emergency Management – Elle now finds herself in varying leadership positions across the region, nationally, and globally. Her kaupapa is centred around collective leadership, progressive governance, learning futures and non-lineal pathways, digital equity, inclusion in action, integrated ecosystems, strategic foresight, and tactical application.

Current Spaces:
Chair, Te Matarau, The Māori Tech Association, Waitaha Digital Equity Joint Committee, Canterbury Welfare Emergency Management, Selwyn District Local Welfare Committee
Managing Director, ELG Global
Director, Network 4 Learning and Archland Investments: Commercial Property Investment and Development
Trustee, Learning City Christchurch, Āko Ōtautahi
Board Trustee, Central Plains Water Trust and Chair: Education and Biodiversity Portfolio
Kaiarahi, Ngāti Tamaterā, Digital Strategic Framework
University of Canterbury, Guest Lecturer, Progressive Governance/Omni-Cultural Leadership
Centre for Entrepreneurship, Speaker, Business Advisory and Mentor
UC PhD Candidate, Impact-Led Omni-cultural Governance

Hear from Elle on Converging Ecosystems – Tech’s role in Unity #tech4kotahitanga.

Tiffany is an experienced international leader, focused on driving customer business outcomes, transformation, innovative strategy and leveraging partnerships to drive growth.

Currently the country manager for AWS in New Zealand, leading the commercial sales team across large enterprise, Software as a Service providers, small to medium businesses and start-ups, Tiffany coordinates 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.

After working in software development locally and overseas for 20 years, David co-founded Stratos Technology Partners in 2011. Since then Stratos has grown to 35 staff specialising in building custom software, cloud-based products, and Office 365 information and productivity solutions for clients in NZ and Australia. More recently Stratos have started an AI division with a focus on applied AI and solving real-world problems for our clients.

As part of our AI panel, hear from David on “From theory to practice: solving a real-world challenge with AI”.
This talk will better prepare you to start your own AI model training journey. These are real-world lessons learned from a team working on a dedicated AI solution.
David will talk you through some of the key blockers and enablers which will make the difference between success and failure on your next AI project. Things such as: cost, privacy, and how to get training data. 

Closing Keynote Speaker

Vaughan Fergusson (previously Rowsell) is the founder of Vend, which sold for $500m in 2021. He is also the founder of the Pam Fergusson Charitable Trust, working with kids and educators across New Zealand empowering them to become our future innovators. 

He has been involved with the Hi-Tech Awards as a trustee and vice-chair, head judge for the Entrepreneur of the Year awards, and mentor for innovation programmes for AUT and the University of Auckland. 

Vaughan believes the things that make us weird are our super powers. Hear from Vaughan about the weird path to success – and what we can do to embrace it to help others.

Janine is the Co-Founder and CEO of Easy Crypto, NZ’s leading cryptocurrency platform which has transacted over two billion dollars and supports over 250,000 users across NZ, Australia and South Africa.
Janine is a highly regarded Leader in NZ, driving collaboration between the industry, government and traditional finance. She advocated on behalf of the industry in Parliament and was invited to join the V20 virtual asset summit as part of the G20 event. She sits on the Executive Council for FinTechNZ, is a Wishlist Crypto Authority, is a member of YPO and is about to star in a Docuseries for TVNZ.

Raf took up the Leader of The Opportunities Party in early 2022. Prior to that, he served two terms as a Christchurch City Councillor. As Chair of the Finance Committee, his main focus was the Council’s financial position and insurance settlement, as well as its post-earthquake strategic direction, risk management and engagement with Central Government.
He also acted as an Independent Advisor to the Christchurch Foundation on the distribution of donated funds and support to the victims of the 15th March Terror Attack. He sat on the board of Christchurch City Holdings Ltd and was a member of Local Government working groups on Funding, Risk and Localism and the Central Government Working Group on Trade for All. 

Raf spent 11 years trading global markets and providing high-level macro-economic advice for investment banks in London from 1989-2000. He left banking to work for an environmental start-up, Trucost, which became a pioneering company focused on measuring and accounting for the environmental costs of business.
In 2002, he moved to New Zealand and has since been actively involved in governance, strategy and social enterprise.
In 2023, he proposed the introduction of the Teal Card, an app designed to invest in and promote sustainable and healthy outcomes for our younger generations. 

Andy is a technology leader and entrepreneur with 25 years experience in tech. His passion lies in the intersection of people, technology, and decentralisation to transform work and life. As Head of Technology at Onside, he guided the team to the NZ Hi-Tech ‘Start-up of the Year’ 2022 finals. He is a regular mentor at the Christchurch Winter Mentor Programme and frequent participant in local start-up ecosystem events.

Outside of work Andy enjoys performing stand-up comedy and plays chess at national level – though not often at the same time.

As part of our AI panel, hear from Andy on “The AI Advantage – Build Your Product Faster with a Virtual Tech Team.”
Imagine building a high-quality product without the need for a large development team. Andy will take you on a journey with Product Owner Polly, Coder Codey, and Testing Tessa – discover how these AI-powered virtual specialists can enhance your capabilities, accelerating the creation of compelling products.

Brendo’s a software engineer for startup companies. He’s like a moth to a flame regarding the complex technical problems in an organisation. Brendo joins startups when they have signs of product-market fit. His job is to rebuild the initial prototypes so the company can scale. He’s currently working for Loom and has been focusing on their Desktop recorder.

Hear from Brendon on migrating 1 million customers without breaking it. When a release for a Chrome extension goes wrong, the customer experience can be terrible. Brendon will walk through Loom’s chosen strategy for migrating their Chrome extension to a new recording technology.

Brett was born in Hawkes Bay and attended the University of Canterbury where he earned a degree in Physics and Economics in 2001.

Following a successful consulting career, Brett founded Webtools in 2014, a software company providing IT solutions, focusing on three key industries; energy, health and agriculture. In 2019, Brett sold the Webtools Energy business to a private equity group but continues to support the remaining Health and Agritech businesses alongside co-founders Harry and Melissa.

When he’s not working, Brett spends time fixing his Datsun 1200 race car, clay-target shooting and hanging out with his wife and 3 daughters.

Nina is a proud second-generation New Zealand-born Cook Islander. A multimedia artist and Taula- Director of Tagata Moana Trust, Nina is devoted to connecting Moana peoples to ancestral knowledge through artifacts and Pacific heritage art forms as a place to propel Pacific peoples into STEAM vocations. Nina’s background in management, project design, strategy, community education, and Pacific heritage material allows her to be a committed member of the Pacific community in Ōtautahi. Mother of 3, Nina advocates for digital equity and greater social outcomes for Pasifika living in Aotearoa, sitting across multiple boards and advisory groups.

Covid-19 highlighted the rapidly growing digital divide for Pacific people living in Aotearoa. Tagata Moana Trust has developed a program and initiatives to engage Pacific people in the technology sector, build skills and create products to see themselves in the digital world. Using Minecraft Tagata Moana Trust has been working with Pacific communities to build a Pacific Minecraft world with over 200 students across Aotearoa. Due to be released this year, learn about the considerations and challenges when working with ethnic community groups to build Aotearoa’s future technology workforce.  

Canterbury transplant Brad Parker has directly seen and managed through what squirrels, backhoes, earthquakes, and sleepy technicians can do to critical Internet infrastructure.  As a technology infrastructure technology executive in the Silicon Valley for most of the past 25 years, Brad has led global hyperscale technology teams through growth, technology transformation, and providing “the Internet” for billions of people worldwide.  If you’ve ever wondered how “they” do it, send Brad an invitation for coffee, and ask!

Having repeatedly faced and solved challenges of operating these datacenters, networks, and systems for companies such as Yahoo! (yes, back when Yahoo! was cool), Cisco Webex, Salesforce, and Google, he now spends time helping growing firms address their challenges with scale, security, and hypergrowth.

Hear from Brad as he considers the challenges of what really happens on a day-to-day basis inside the technology delivery mechanisms of these firms; the companies upon whom you rely on to deliver your entertainment, and more importantly, your product and services to the world.  Leveraging this knowledge, you’ll be able to better prepare for, and mitigate, the risks for your business competing in the global marketplace.

Ben Reid is a technology strategist and futurist based in Aotearoa. He has over 25 years’ diverse tech sector consulting experience, working with leadership teams helping to navigate future technology and innovation in their organisations. Ben is also known for writing his weekly Memia newsletter on Substack covering the latest emerging tech trends and accelerating global change. 

Hear from Ben as he talks about his new book Fast Forward Aotearoa: How Emerging Technology Is Defining The Future Of New Zealand… And What We Can Do About It.

Michelle is an accomplished business woman with a strong finance and leadership background across a wide variety of sectors. In 2010, Michelle co-founded Publica, a creative development agency based in Christchurch that creates compelling digital solutions and brings brands to new heights. As co-founder and CEO, she holds a strategic responsibility for integrating technology with the agency’s services to tackle and solve clients’ most complex problems. As a collaborative leader, her ultimate goal is to add value to Publica’s people, clients, partners and the Ōtautahi, by asking what’s next and focusing on the future. 

As part of our AI panel, hear from Michelle on “Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should – An AI in the workplace case study”.
As easy access to AI tools grows, so does the discussion of new technology replacing roles, especially in the agency landscape. Michelle will provide insight into how Publica are utilising AI in the workplace to support their team, their business and their clients.

An authoritative voice in the Māori tech area and more recently with Māori ethics with AI. A future thinking leader with Te Tiriti, Māori culture, tikanga, te ao Māori and how those rights and beliefs are applied to the digital and biological sciences.
A director of his boutique Research and Māori cultural advisory company Taiuru & Associates, he is also an experienced governor who resides on a number of private, community and government boards and advisory committees.

Luke is the Head Of Technology at Comrad Medical Systems, New Zealand and Australia’s leading Radiology Information System software provider.   Luke took the unconventional path to IT leadership, starting life as a professional wakeboarder and coach before ‘getting a real job’ in IT and making the move from the UK to New Zealand in 2010. He advocates for secure systems and resilient workforces, driving positive change throughout organisations.

Hear from Luke on why we teach our workforce to hack, phish and steal cookies. Delving into the surprising benefits of equipping our employees with offensive cybersecurity techniques. Luke will unveil how these skills enable a proactive defence against evolving cyber threats.

Cris is an experienced digital strategist, with more than 13 years’ track-record of building ventures, both as a business CEO and management consultant. He has handled an extensive full-cycle driving deal execution from strategy to integration, taken care of public sector to enterprise, corporate and SME accounts.

Cris takes on the Founding Expert role at Frontier Leader Institute, a leading boutique consulting firm in Vietnam specialized in digital transformation, corporate management, leadership.

Cris incubates and invests in a number of startups and M3TA Analytics makes Data accessible to the masses with the proprietary No-Code “text-to-chart” technology, especially for web3 businesses.

Cris was the Deputy CEO for Sovico Group, one of the largest conglomerates in Vietnam.

Hear from Cris on the Asymmetric Competition in Digital Age, from Asia Perspective and Actionable Insights for New Zealand.

Sponsored by the Asia New Zealand Foundation.

Tech Summit MC

Pip is a programmer and coder – of People.  She is a communication and engagement expert, helping leaders build more effective, engaged and meaning-full teams that deliver more meaningful outcomes for their organisation and their customers.

Pip’s mantra is ‘Everything we do, starts, and ends, with People’ and her programs help leaders put the fundamentals in place to build great teams that have the chemistry, clarity and confidence to keep up with the pace of change and deliver value, faster and more effective than they ever thought possible.

She has an extensive leadership background in both the private and public sectors, including 3 years at Microsoft, and leading a Co-design and Innovation Lab in local government.
Whether she is delivering a keynote, or working with leadership groups, she brings a healthy dose of humour, simple language, and stories.  Like a good single malt, her work is rich, powerful and not watered down.

Pip will be one of the MC’s at this year’s Tech Summit.

Tech Summit MC

Melissa is the CEO and Founder of Webtools Agritech and Co-Chair of the Sustainability Sub Board of NZ Tech Board.

With more than 25 years of experience in commercialization of sustainability focused businesses she now sits at the intersection of Sustainability (ecology, human and economic) together with Business model innovation and Digital Solutions. She previously taught Innovation in Agriculture for Tech Futures Lab and actively participates in mentoring entrepreneurs.

She is passionate about using technology to enable access to information, social outcomes, human outcomes and environmental outcomes and optimistically believes that we can achieve beneficial outcomes for all the stakeholders in the value chain.

Tech Summit MC

Daniel has been recruiting specifically in the IT space for over 12 years. He spent the first 8 of these years supporting Silicon Valley tech start-ups to enter the Asia-Pacific market via Japan. After spending over a decade in Japan, Daniel returned to Christchurch where he was born and raised. Since his return, Daniel has continued to focus his recruitment squarely in the software development, testing and BI/data space.

Daniel spent 4 years as a volunteer member of the Canterbury Tech Committee and still loves to support wherever possible.