2024 Speakers

Hello, I’m Jeremy Corbett. 

How would I describe myself? Thanks for asking.
I’m 188cm of raw flab with glasses.
I got called one of the godfather’s of NZ stand up comedy the other day. It was by a younger comedian and meant as an insult. 

Here it is in a nutshell: I’m a comedian, radio & TV presenter, computer programmer and Leo, born in Westport, grew up in Palmerston North and now live in Auckland with my wife, Megan, our two beautiful daughters Charlie and Billie and a Golden Retriever named Cookie

I host 7DAYS, 7:30 pm Thursdays on THREE.
I used to co-host THE PROJECT, 7pm weeknights on THREE but I was too expensive so they cancelled the whole show.
I also appear to be in demand as a corporate MC.
Most of my success has come from just sticking around. 

How should we think about the future? After 25 years a technology entrepreneur and CE of Software companies, Melissa became a Certified Futurist. Balancing practicality and humour with deep tech, Melissa shines a light into the wonders of our future worlds. She was awarded the ONZM for Services to technology by the Queen in 2015. She studied Anthropology, Epidemiology and Environmental Management at University and sits on several international company Boards as well as working in Strategic Foresight.

“Leading through change: that’s what drives me.”

Graham leads with a dynamic and engaging style, with a key focus on business growth and enhancing performance. His approach is a mix of strategic agility and analytical insight, endeavouring to build a unique organisational culture.

With expertise derived from living and operating in global markets across a range of sectors including financial services, renewable energy, and forest products, Graham has a wide array of specialities from commercial and business performance improvement, organisational change, and operations, to strategic implementation.

As Chair of the MBA Advisory Board at the University of Canterbury, Graham demonstrates a strong commitment to leadership, testament to his belief in fostering the next generation of business leaders.

James is responsible for exploring and understanding technology trends, and providing insight and advisory to key senior leadership teams across Xero, as well as our customers and partners. His role entails keeping a keen eye on the future and helping others understand how technology can unlock new opportunities and capabilities for people in small business, their advisors and communities around the world.

With a background working with startups and technology companies, and with extensive experience in financial services and banking technology, James has a breadth of knowledge and expertise in developing best-in-class software architecture and engineering practices and evolving technical architecture to be sustainable at scale. He is passionate about the latest technology trends and democratising access to best-in-class digital solutions for small businesses across the globe.

Reuben Bijl (pronounced Bale) is MD at Smudge in Christchurch. Smudge specialise in custom software development and are passionate about solving each customer problem in the smartest, most innovative way. They have built award-winning app and web solutions for the likes of Coca-Cola (Global), NZ Police and Kiwirail to name a few. While their core competency is building software, they believe technology alone is not enough and that true transformation often involves organisational, cultural, and/or process change.

Nikolai, an experienced integration authority and specialised cloud architect based in New Zealand, co-founded Adaptiv in 2010. With his extensive expertise in designing and integrating tailor-made software solutions, his work has significantly influenced sectors such as education, financial services, insurance, construction, retail, central government, and public utilities. As Owner, CTO and Principal Architect, he is responsible for guiding enterprise clients in their integration strategies, methodologies, standards, and technical direction.

Sophie Bolton is a Mechanical Engineer turned Data Analytics, and now Head of Emergency Management at Foodstuffs South Island. With years of consulting experience in the UK, specializing in operational transformation across various sectors, Sophie has driven fee contingency-based savings from social care to submarines, with a particular focus on the retail industry.

Now at Foodstuffs, she’s led initiatives to shift the company’s data culture, emphasizing that true change comes from empowering people with actionable insights, not just data. Sophie advocates for leveraging data to guide decisions while recognizing that people are the key to implementing change.

Associate Professor Elsamari Botha is the MBA Director at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand, and an extraordinary associate professor at the University of Stellenbosch Business School, South Africa. With 15 years of consulting experience, and experience assisting from small businesses to large corporates, Elsamari’s research focuses on adopting and monetising new technologies in organisations and digital strategy development, focusing on Artificial Intelligence. With a PhD in Industrial Economics and Management from KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Elsamari has published in leading international journals. She has also been recognized as a LinkedIn Top Voice in both Higher Education and Consulting, and has various advisory and governance positions.

Mike is an orchardist in Central Otago who believes he has created the world’s first fully electric farm. He has electrified 21 machines on his farm and in his home and powers them through New Zealand’s national grid, as well as through his on-farm renewable system.

Mike’s here to discuss capital and operational costs, pay back, and tell the story of how he made it all happen and why he is never going back. Transparency is the key to building trust, and you will get a truly authentic story with all the ugly bits included.

Mike is now the CE of Rewiring Aotearoa, a New Zealand charity dedicated to electrifying millions of fossil fuel machines in New Zealand as fast as possible. Why? It’s a Win-Win. Everyone saves money, and everyone saves emissions. We now just have to figure out how to make it easy.

Lisa is a Board Member at Canterbury Tech and a Senior Business Analyst at Deloitte.

Hailing from England, she moved to Aotearoa in 2009 and after a stint working with horses and in several middle management roles, she found her place at Deloitte and has become well known to the local tech community by hosting or speaking at events.

Now a board member for both Canterbury Tech and the NZ Alpine Club, she considers herself a serial volunteer and actively seeks out opportunities to support local initiatives. As a BA, facilitation is in her blood so you can expect lots of energy and a curious mindset, as well as a pinch of dry English humour.

Matt leads a team of product managers working in multidiscipline product teams to bring customer centric value and business viability thinking to their work on Trimble EarthWorks and RoadWorks.

Matt has 22 years of experience with Trimble technology in the construction industry, starting as a customer, then working for a Trimble Heavy Highway dealer and later two SITECH dealers, joining CTCT in 2012 as an application specialist and has grown through Technical and Product Owner roles into Product Leadership.

Tas is a strategic advisor, coach and trainer that works with leaders at Fortune 500 companies and SaaS scale ups to enable growth through building impactful product teams and organizations. Companies Tas has worked with include Caterpillar Trimble, Ao Frio, Serko, Pegasus Health and JCurve.

Currently, Tas is the CEO and founder of GSD Alliance, which offers training and coaching for product people. She is a board member of Product Aotearoa, and leads product management at Unlock Innovation. She teaches Product Management at University of Canterbury in the Executive Education program, and a regular speaker across NZ-wide product gatherings, and runs the Product Management meetup in Christchurch with over 1300 members.

Sam is the co-founder and CTO of Grid Share, a startup revolutionising data centre design and operations to accelerate the energy transition and directly address carbon emissions.

Sam began his career at Enatel, a prominent Christchurch tech stalwart, where he gained extensive experience in electronics design and manufacturing. He later led a multidisciplinary team developing innovative solar, battery, and home energy control systems.

In 2022, Grid Share launched its first energy-flexible data centre at a hydroelectric power station in Southland, marking a significant milestone in the integration of renewable energy and data centre infrastructure.

Passionate about energy equity, literacy, and community empowerment, Sam is a founding member of the Lyttelton Energy Transition Society – a charity focussed on community energy, resilience and decarbonisation. Sam holds a BSc in Physics from Canterbury University and resides with his family in Lyttelton.

With a background in Business Analysis, Vaughan has been working to make businesses better for the last decade (and counting …). Key to this is supporting business owners and operators to pick the right systems and software to better deliver their services. Having worked with many businesses now, across almost all industries, he has developed a standard playbook for how he goes about it.

Louise is a passionate advocate for women in the crypto industry and a firm believer in the transformative power of blockchain technology. As the Head of Customer Success at Easy Crypto, she has honed her skills in driving customer loyalty and satisfaction while delivering innovative solutions. Her fascination with blockchain began in 2017, leading her to build a supportive platform for women through Crypto Women Australia and New Zealand.

Louise is dedicated to knowledge sharing and education to drive widespread adoption of cryptocurrency and foster a sense of community and collaboration within the industry.

Harmaan is a physicist at heart and a mechanical engineer by training, with a background in the automobile industry. He is passionate about our natural world, and the intersection of science and engineering with public policy to drive improved outcomes. Harmaan has applied his learning to develop low-cost, low-energy sanitation solutions. Harmaan is an Edmund Hillary Fellow. He founded Alimentary Systems to convert Aotearoa’s $17B organic waste emissions liability into economic value. Alimentary’s waste-to-value model is circular, creating near-zero waste and zero emissions. Outcomes from their Intelligent Bioenergy Resource Recovery Plant (BRRP, pronounced ‘burp’) include clean energy, cleaner waterways and increased biodiversity. He is passionate about our natural world and works at the intersection of science, engineering, and public policy to drive improved outcomes with a tau iwi commitment to kaitiakitanga.

Graeme is passionate about the impact that technology can make to the economy. Graeme leads with a vision of creating a prosperous New Zealand underpinned by technology.

During his tenure, NZTech’s membership has seen phenomenal growth. He says the importance of technology is no longer a debate as membership expands beyond traditional tech firms. Graeme has also driven the establishment of the Tech Alliance, representing 20 of New Zealand’s largest tech associations that collectively employ more than 100,000 New Zealanders who provide the voice of a tech ecosystem that is redefining the world we live in.

Graeme has a 20 year career in technology and business research, management consultancy and marketing across multiple sectors and geographies. Graeme is a strategic thinker who is able to quickly identify critical issues in complex environments and simplify to lead change and create growth.

Prior to leading NZTech, Graeme was based in Amsterdam, The Netherlands after living and working in Sydney, Australia. Graeme holds an MBA from Cass Business School, City University, London, a Marketing Degree from Auckland University and a Bachelor of Pharmacy from Otago University.

Casey has 15 years experience working with NZ SMBs to large Enterprises, and leading teams in a startup, it’s been quite a journey. Data is something that has always caught his eye with its many challenges, especially as we move into a data hungry AI era.

Grant is a Principal Solutions Architect for Elastic based in Canberra, Australia. Elastic are the makers of Elasticsearch, the market-leading search analytics platform downloaded over 4.7 billion times that empowers customers to find the results that matter, across all of their data, in real-time. Elastic’s Search, Observability, and Security solutions are depended on by brands like Uber, Slack, Microsoft, and thousands of others. Grant has been with Elastic for over 3 years specialising in Search, Analytics, Machine Learning and AI. He has previously worked in several roles in the Analytics, AI and Automation space, including as IBM Australia’s Data and AI Architect for Federal Government. In his spare time he is a Home Automation enthusiast, and can often be found putting the Elastic stack to work at home to Observe and Secure his house.

Rik has a career spanning hands-on technical roles to high-level governance, has guided major enterprises across health, agriculture, utilities, and logistics in Australia, New Zealand, and globally. With a strong engineering history in security, cloud, networking, application architecture, and integrations, his diverse background has helped drive Inde’s AI practice, notably leading the development of AI-powered drone solutions in agritech. Holding certifications across AWS and Microsoft, Rik is known for his innovative approach and commitment to exceptional customer outcomes through collaboration and forward-thinking strategies.

Sam has been CTO at Custom D for over 8 years. Not only does he possess an incredible depth of knowledge and experience in all things to do with app development, but he also knows server infrastructure, security, and DevOps inside out. In short, he’s a tech Guru. Business owners and founders turn to Sam for higher-level strategic advice relating to the direction of their products.

Sam keeps Custom D ahead of the curve, ensuring they operate at the highest level possible when it comes to best practices, quality and security.

Michelle, PhD (Psychology), MSc (Organisational Development and Behaviour), is an independent Organisational Development Practitioner.
With over thirty years’ experience in industry, she brings a unique blend of evidence-based applied learning to the organisations she works with.
Michelle has worked with numerous organisations in both New Zealand and around the world including – the Orion Group, Canterbury Health Laboratories, Air New Zealand, Emirates Airlines, Airways and AgResearch. Prior to coming to New Zealand Michelle worked with several North American companies including American Airlines, IBM, Nortel Networks and Bell Northern Research. She is the founder of Fulcrum Associates and a Professor of Practice with the University of Canterbury. She was recently awarded the 2023 L&D Consultant of the Year by NZ Association of Training and Development.

Michelle co-founded Publica a thought-led brand and digital agency based here in Otautahi.

Combining her expertise in finance and accounting with a passion for innovation, she sets the tone by prioritising people and fostering a collaborative environment. Michelle holds the role of CEO at Publica and also sits on the board for Canterbury Tech. She runs her own speaker series event, Unpopular Opinions and is active in Christchurch emceeing, speaking and moonlighting on podcasts.

Adrian is the Chief Product Officer and Co-Founder of BlinkPay, a Māori fintech building modern payment services upon the open banking standard.

With 14+ years doing big bank transformation, he pioneers a bilingual Māori/English payment gateway, advocating for tech representation and equity, steeped in his Māori heritage.

Dimitri began his career in Europe as a cybersecurity consultant and spent a decade in Canada as an Information Security Officer for a large financial group.

Dimitri is a Certified Information Security Professional (CISSP), Information Security Manager (CISM), and ISO 27001 Lead Implementer, offering a unique understanding of local and global cybersecurity business needs. Based in Ōtautahi, Dimitri operates his own consultancy, serving various clients across Europe, America, and New Zealand.

In addition, Dimitri’s agenda is always blocked one afternoon per week to run free coding and STEM sessions for kids with Code Club Aotearoa.

Ruud is a high-power computing expert working for Oracle in Europe, where he works in the toolchain team – deeply involved in the development of the gprofng application profiling tool, as well as with the DTrace tracing tool.

He’s an expert in improving the performance of technical applications through hardware and software practices.

He’s flying all the way from Holland to join us at Tech Summit, and to give us insights into the latest happening with your smartphone, laptop and the latest supercomputers.

Ruud has published over 20 conference papers related to application tuning and parallelization, several technical white papers and is co-author of the books “Using OpenMP”, and “Using OpenMP – The Next Step”, both published by MIT Press.

Stella joined Streamliners as CEO in January 2024. Her knowledge of health systems, leadership skills, focus on delivery, and digital experience are the ideal attributes to deliver the innovation and performance needed to steer the rapidly growing organisation now and into the future. 

Before joining the Streamliners team, Stella led the Hybrid Cloud Sales and Services team at Hewlett Packard Enterprise NZ (HPE), having previously been a key customer of HPE and a member of the global HPE Advisory Board. Her insight on the HPE strategy was a key contributor across many of the ideas and innovations that HPE promoted to the market.

Stella’s career has focused on technological progress, sound governance, and outcomes-focused people leadership. Stella led New Zealand’s All of Government Cloud Programme as the Executive Director within the office of the Government Chief Digital Officer at the Department of Internal Affairs. She also spearheaded a significant data and digital transformation as the Chief Digital Officer at Canterbury and West Coast District Health Boards.