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Bridget Liddell
Chair
Bridget Liddell is based in New York and is Managing Principal of Fahrenheit Ventures, which develops new businesses and provides commercialisation services to companies seeking access to the United States market.
She is also Chair of the US Friends of the University of Auckland, and a Director of the New Zealand Superannuation Fund. Bridget has been a director of New Zealand public companies Sky City Ltd and Fisher & Paykel Appliances Holdings Ltd.
Her other past governance roles include Industry New Zealand, Competitive Auckland Ltd and Auckland Uniservices Ltd. She has also held a variety of management positions including CEO of Carter Holt Harvey Plastic Products.
Prior to her departure from New Zealand in 2003, Bridget was Chief Executive of University of Auckland Development and a former member of the University of Auckland Council. Bridget holds post graduate degrees in English and Economics from the University of Auckland, New Zealand, and also holds the Chartered Financial Analyst qualification (CFA).
Read Q&As with Bridget Liddell
Watch Bridget Liddell on TV3’s ASB Business programme
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Stewart Alsop
Stewart Alsop is a partner in Alsop Louie Partners, a venture capital firm specialising in identifying and working with top entrepreneurs. He is a former general partner of venture capital firm New Enterprise Associates.
Previously, Stewart had a long career as an editor and writer with Fortune, InfoWorld, PC Magazine and Inc. Magazine. More than 20 years ago he founded a company that published a fortnightly newsletter for computer industry insiders and produced the Agenda and Demo conferences for executives working in the computer industry.
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Ben Anderson
Ben Anderson is a partner with CT Partners, a premier executive search firm. A member of the firm’s Global Technology, Media & Telecom Practice, Ben provides clients with consultation and international access to talent appropriate to their culture and competitive challenges.
Ben was previously founder and CEO of Renoir Partners, a boutique executive search firm specialising in technology and telecommunications. He merged that firm with Christian & Timbers in 2005.
Ben’s corporate experience includes being a Board Member and Executive Director of Robert Walters PLC. He was a member of the team that led a successful IPO of Robert Walters in the United Kingdom in 1996. He was also President of IT firm Intellimark, where he was responsible for operations across North America, Asia Pacific and Europe. Ben is a graduate of Auckland University.
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Claudia Batten
Claudia was part of the founding team of Massive, the New York-based creator of a dynamic system for delivering advertising into video games. The first ever network for video-game advertising in the world, Massive was acquired by Microsoft Corporation in 2006. On Massive’s management team from the company’s inception, Claudia first worked as in-house counsel and business development then on building the publishing/content side of the business.
Claudia has over 11 years experience in the technology sector, including four years as a corporate attorney specialising in contract and technology law. She has advised corporations, both as customers and suppliers, on technology supply, licensing, outsourcing and a variety of general commercial contracts—including tendering, reselling and consumer contracts. Claudia has worked with large corporations in the telecommunications sector (specifically in mobile), banking and biotechnology and has specialist experience with intellectual property protection, e-commerce and privacy.
Claudia sits on various advisory boards of New Zealand companies, as well as the Board of Business Advisors for CureKids USA, a venture philanthropy not-for-profit organisation. She has a commerce degree in marketing and management, and a law degree with honors, JD Equivalent, (investigating the intellectual property protection of computer software) from Victoria University.
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Neil Campbell
Neil is a founding Director and Chairman of CureKids®, a United States and New Zealand venture philanthropy fund investing in science and technology solutions for childhood diseases; the Founder, Chairman and CEO for Mosaigen® Inc, a global development healthcare and life science company; and a General Partner for New Zealand-based Endeavour Capital.
He is Adjunct Faculty with the Carey Graduate School of Business at the Johns Hopkins University, a lecturer at JHU Medical Institutes, and serves on several industry, government and company boards.
Neil has held several executive positions in pharmaceutical, biotechnology, informatic and healthcare companies, and has successfully developed and/or introduced over 200 products and services covering high-performance computing, medical software and devices, e-commerce, pharmaceuticals, clinical diagnostics, consumer healthcare, research, bioinformatics and nanotechnology.
Neil is a well published author on the research, development and commercialisation of science and technology.
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Geoffrey Connor
Geoffrey Connor has been a Secretary of State of the State of Texas, the highest appointed office in Texas. He enjoys high-level business and political relationships with decision makers around the globe.
Currently Geoffrey is a founding partner at Texas Global, an international strategic advisory and project development firm, and Counsel with Dallas-based law firm Jackson Walker.
Previously he worked with the international law firm Studies Center at Texas State University, a leader of the Houston Consular Forum, a member of the Austin World Affairs Council, and a member of the board of directors of other leading civic and international organisations.
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Michael A M Davies
Michael Davies is the founder and Chairman of Endeavour Partners, a boutique consulting firm that works with the top management of leading technology businesses to develop and execute strategy and build top management teams' capabilities.
His academic and research work includes being a (part-time) senior lecturer at MIT's Sloan School, teaching new technology ventures at the London Business School and related research and writing, including a forthcoming book on strategic management of high-tech businesses.
He is also Chief Technology Officer and a Board Member of angel-investor-backed start-up EquuSys Inc., a firm that is bringing winning technology to horses by commercialising one of his patented inventions.
Michael is one of the founders of the Kiwi Expatriate Association (KEA) in New England.
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Fred Dorey
Fred Dorey is an attorney in the Life Sciences practice group of Cooley Godward Kronish LLP in Palo Alto, California. He represents a range of biotechnology, clean energy, and technology companies at various stages of development including start-up, licensing, financing and corporate partnering.
Fred also negotiates technology-based commercial transactions and intellectual property agreements. He is an advisor to foundations and individuals regarding licensing, commercialisation and investment in life sciences and clean energy companies.
Previously, Fred was the first president of the Bay Area Bioscience Center, a consortium of research universities, biotechnology companies and local governments, and the general counsel of a subsidiary of British Petroleum.
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Greg Erman
Greg Erman is an entrepreneur focusing on commercialising technology to decentralise the delivery of healthcare, with a background in electronic commerce and product management engineering.
Greg has worked with several organisations in the medical device technologies field and was most recently President and CEO of Renalworld Medical Corporation. In his previous work with Partners Healthcare he drove the development of life-saving technologies including ambulatory ECG monitors and ultrasound brain cancer treatments.
Earlier, Greg founded MarketSoft Corporation, an enterprise software company, raising $70m in venture capital and leading the firm to a prominent position in marketing automation. Greg serves on several boards of directors and is a mentor for the MIT Venture Mentoring Service.
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Nigel Gaymond
Nigel Gaymond has worked in the life sciences industry for over 20 years. Since 1992 he has provided consultancy services to organisations across the globe, focusing on the life sciences.
For about seven years prior to that he was a Commercial Officer at the British Consulate in Boston, specialising in assisting the United Kingdom’s export effort in the fields of consumer goods, biotechnology, healthcare and agriculture.
He also acted as the United Kingdom government’s lead commercial officer for biotech in the United States. A consummate networker, Nigel was the chief architect of the Edinburgh BioAlliance and founded British Expats in Life Sciences, a network for British expats involved in the North American life sciences industry. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Forsyth Institute.
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Susie Hoeller
Susie Hoeller specialises in advising international and domestic firms on the legal aspects of successfully importing, designing, labelling, marketing, and selling their products and services in the United States.
Susie also provides consulting services on how to implement international supply chain quality, safety and traceability processes. She has held senior positions in the legal departments of Wal-Mart Stores and Texas Instruments, and was a partner in a prominent Dallas, Texas law firm where she concentrated her practice in high technology law.
She is the founder of the Hoeller Law Firm in Bentonville, Arkansas. Susie is an active member of the Antitrust Section of the American Bar Association and is the President of the American Center for International Policy Studies, a public policy think tank.
Susie is a graduate of Vanderbilt University and was awarded her BA cum laude from Colby College. She was born in Chicago and raised in Montreal. She is a member of the board of directors of a national insurance company and the local chapter of Juvenile Diabetes Research International.
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Andy Lark
Andy Lark is currently the Vice President of Marketing and Global Communications at Dell Computers.
For the last 20 years Andy’s work has spanned business-to-business and consumer sectors. He has led award-winning programs and teams for Fortune and Times 100 companies, global brands, start-ups and the world’s hottest advertising and communications agencies.
During his career he has worked and lived in the majority of the world’s major markets and developed a reputation as a highly creative executive, reputation turn-around specialist, and marketer. He is a prolific writer, blogger and speaker on marketing, emerging business strategies, marketing/communications measurement, and Web 2.0.
At Dell Andy is charged with leading the company’s communications, conversations and communities. He joined Dell from LogLogic – a hot technology start-up backed by Sequoia Capital, Worldview and others.
In 2001, Andy was recognised as "one of USA's most influential communicators” by PR Week and in 2003 was awarded the inaugural World Class New Zealander Award for his contributions to New Zealand.
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Robin Lewis
Robin Lewis is a partner of Lewis Gordon Partners LLC, an affiliation of professional consultants specialising in strategic business planning, development and implementation for foreign-based apparel retailers and wholesalers planning to enter and compete in the United States consumer marketplace.
He also authors and publishes the monthly Robin Reports, providing strategic insight about major events in the retail industry. Robin frequently delivers keynote presentations to a wide range of companies, associations and academia.
As an industry expert, he’s often quoted in various trade and consumer publications. Robin has held executive positions in strategic planning, business development, and brand and marketing management at DuPont, Collins and Aikman, Grey Advertising, and the VF Corporation.
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Christopher Lynch
Chris Lynch is Chief Marketing Officer for Beam Wine Estates, a $300 million United States super-premium wine company. He oversees development and implementation of global marketing strategies for BWE’s portfolio of super-premium California wines, fine sherry and port brands.
Chris also leads United States marketing activity for BWE’s portfolio of super and ultra-premium Australian and New Zealand brands. A 20-year veteran of the global fine wine business, Chris has held senior international marketing roles at leading fine wine companies including Allied Domecq, Chandon Estates and Kendall-Jackson Winery.
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Tim McClure
Tim McClure is a co-founder of GSD&M Idea City, one of America's most successful advertising agencies and a member of the global Omnicom Group.
Tim is also President of Mythos Group, brand architects and legend builders, and Executive Producer of Mythos Studios, an independent film production company and has worked on a number of high profile campaigns and film projects.
Tim is married, the proud father of three children, and a world traveller. Ideas are his passion.
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Deborah Mazzaferro
Deborah Mazzaferro is a sales and marketing professional with her own coaching and consulting business for the specialty food and confection trade. Deborah has considerable experience as a buyer and in sales and marketing in the food and beverage sector.
She has held senior sales and marketing positions for specialty food and beverage producers Richter Brothers, John Wagner & Sons, Daprano & Co and Kalm Group Holdings.
Deborah is Vice President Strategic Planning for UNIFEM Gulf Coast Chapter, a graduate of the International Gestalt Coaching Program from the Gestalt Center for Organisational and Systems Development and sits on the board of directors for the Greater Sarasota Coaches Alliance.
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Craig Nevill-Manning
Craig is an engineering director with Google, based in New York. In 2003, he founded Google’s first remote engineering centre in New York, and he has contributed to significant innovations in Google’s core functionality including leading the development of 'Froogle' which became Google Product Search, playing a key role in Google Maps, and spearheading the launch of Google in Maori based on translations from numerous Maori speakers.
Craig has kept his ties to New Zealand and has made great contributions to the ICT sector in New Zealand. He promotes his homeland through his work at Google including internships for New Zealand graduates; funding for New Zealand-based research projects; sabbaticals and speaking opportunities for visiting New Zealand academics.
Craig has a Bachelor of Science degree (Computer Science) from the University of Canterbury, and a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Waikato. He moved to the United States in 1996 to pursue a Post-Doctoral Fellowship at Stanford University where he met the founders of Google. In 2009 he was awarded a World Class New Zealander for Information & Communications Technology.
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Alan Nunns
Alan Nunns is an independent consultant in the energy and IT sectors. He began his 24-year career at Chevron as a research geophysicist, and retired in 2006 as General Manager of Technology and Strategy for the firm’s global IT function.
During his time at Chevron, Alan was a principal developer of the oil industry’s first generation of interactive computer systems, was a leader of Chevron’s research efforts in structural geology and petroleum basin analysis and developed and managed some of Chevron’s largest oil fields in West Africa.
Alan is a founding member of the first chapter of the Kiwi Expat Association (KEA).
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John Reid
John Reid has held senior executive positions with several major United States multinationals including Colgate Palmolive, Pfizer and W.R.Grace. During 2000-1 he helped launch and then served as CEO of Cityquicker, a website providing lifestyle and personal information for expatriate executives and their families.
He has been a Director of the American Chambers of Commerce in Athens and in London and was Vice Chairman of the Australian Grocery Manufacturers’ Association in Sydney.
John is President of the American Friends of Maungatautari and serves on a number of business and community Boards.
Born in New Zealand, he has an undergraduate degree in agricultural economics from Massey University and was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford. He has recently been Adjunct Professor at the Stern Business School of NYU.
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Chris Shipley
Chris Shipley is a leading technology and product analyst focusing on early-stage companies and emerging markets. As co-founder and Chair of Guidewire Group, Inc., she is driving the strategy and development of next-generation IT market intelligence services.
Best known as the executive producer of the semi-annual DEMO Conferences for IDG’s Network World, Chris has helped technology companies bring more than 1,200 new products and services to market since 1996. Chris has covered personal technology since 1984 and has worked as a writer and editor for a variety of technology and consumer media.
She has won numerous award and citations for her work with technology startups. Chris holds BAs in Literature and Communication Arts from Allegheny College.
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Tom Stephens
Tom is the President of Brand Strategy Consultants (BSC), which he founded in 1994. BSC works with clients in retail, manufacturing (private label and branded products), food brokerage, television production, advertising, store and package design, executive recruitment and governments. BSC works around the world, including in Canada, the United States, Italy, Britain, Holland, the Caribbean, Australia, South Africa and South Korea, on behalf of a wide network of clients.
Tom has been a frequent guest speaker at conferences throughout North America. In June 2002, Tom developed a series of classes in Private Label Marketing for St. Joseph’s University, Philadelphia. In November, 2002 he was moderator of a major industry seminar investigating the “Re-Design of the Centre Store” in Chicago.
He teaches Private Label Marketing at St. Joseph’s University and has become a permanent member of the Private Label Executive Programme Teaching Faculty and has also joined the faculty for a similar programme at Nyenrode University in Holland, now in its fourth year. This year, this programme also extends to Bocconi University in Milan.
Tom writes a monthly column “Inside the Box” for PL Magazine, North America’s leading industry publication, as well as conducting interviews with high level executives for the same magazine.
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Bob Stringer
Bob Stringer is a Partner with Mercer Delta Consulting LLC. Prior to that he was president of Sherbrooke Associates Inc., a consulting firm that provided strategic planning and executive development services.
Bob has led a wide range of research and consulting projects in areas including executive training, organisation effectiveness and white-collar productivity. Previously, he was senior vice president of Harbridge House Inc. and The Forum Corporation.
Bob has extensive experience in the design and implementation of management development programmes both in the United States and internationally. He also has extensive experience in the broad nutritional and functional foods arena.
