The Corporate Health and Wellbeing Summit attracts a fantastic mix of inspirational speakers and successful case study speakers. The 2021 summit will build upon this tradition, with an agenda packed full of exceptional speakers.
Would you like to be considered as a speaker at future ThinkTank events? You can submit an application here.
Gilbert has been with the All Blacks for over 200 tests and during that time the team has won back-to-back Rugby World Cups, one Laureus Award (for the best team in the world), 13 Bledisloe Cups, three Grand Slams, seven Tri Nations and four Rugby Championships.
Gilbert’s reputation has also seen him work with the Black Caps, Silver Ferns, Crusaders and most recently with WRC Champion Haydon Paddon. However, his expertise is not limited to the sports field but was also integral to his 12 years as general manager for New Zealand’s largest real estate firm, Harcourts International.
Gilbert is a sought-after speaker, giving insight into the psychology behind individual and team success in world-level sport and how this can be applied to any walk of life. He has been invited to be a keynote speaker all over the world, talking about leadership, performing under pressure, mental management, strategic planning, effective business management and building thriving cultures.
Hannah McQueen is a financial force of nature. Since founding enable.me in 2007, she and her team around the country have helped thousands of Kiwis get in control of their financial situation, get mortgage-free fast and prepare for retirement. Her clients all tell a similar story – that she changed their lives (and they wish they’d met her 10 years earlier!).
Hannah is a chartered accountant and a fellow of the Australasian society, an authorised financial advisor and has her Masters in tax. She’s a regular media commentator, columnist and guest speaker on finance issues, valued for her ability communicate complex topics in a simple and relatable way.
She’s the author of three best-selling personal finance books including “Kill Your Mortgage and Sort Your Retirement”, “Pocket Money to Property – How to Raise Financially Independent Kids” and “The Perfect Balance”.
In recent years, Hannah has expanded enable.me’s suite of services to help New Zealanders with many more stages of their financial lives. enable.me’s core services are complemented by property investment coaching, insurance advice, financial education for young people, and coaching for SME business owners.
The goal is simple: to help as many people as possible to improve not only their financial position but their wellbeing.
David Downs is the co-author of a number of books in NZ, on serious topics written in a humorous and accessible style. David is an engaging and regular public speaker and presenter.
David’s early career started as an actor, writer and stand-up comedian, before pursuing a corporate career that has seen him be very successful as a business and now government leader, always bringing with him the belief that you don’t need to be solemn to tell a serious story, and that humour in the workplace and in home life is one of the best ways to lift performance.
Jase Te Patu is an award-winning speaker with more than 25 years of experience in the health and wellness sector – first in group fitness, then dance and now yoga and meditation.
Before he discovered yoga, Jase was a performer in musicals such as The Lion King, Jersey Boys and Miss Saigon (Australian Tours). He also trained Les Mills group fitness instructors around the world.
Jase is a co-owner of Awhi Yoga & Wellbeing. His students include the All Blacks, the Hurricanes, the Silver Ferns, the Pulse, the NZ School of Dance contemporary students and many more high-performance athletes.
Jase is also creator of Te Reo Yoga Cards and founder of M3 Mindfulness for Children. M3 encompasses mindfulness, movement and Maori stories in a series of videos and live sessions taught to over 10,000 Primary school and Early Childhood aged children throughout New Zealand.
Jase has received many awards for his work particularly in the mental health and wellbeing space. These include the NZ Exercise Industry Awards, 2018 Body/Mind Teacher of the Year, the Lifekeeper’s Award for Suicide Prevention, the Regional Local Hero medal as part of the New Zealander of the Year Awards 2018, and the Absolutely Positively Wellington Award 2019.
Jase is a Champion for Youthline, an Edmund Hillary Fellow and an Ambassador for international brand lululemon.
Sue Kohn-Taylor is an expert life-navigator, a master of motivation, and a specialist resilience coach. From her own lived experiences she knows that attitude and aptitude are critical in order to respond proactively and positively to life’s inevitable curveballs. She also knows that we humans aren’t necessarily born with these traits, but that they can be learned and shared. It’s something she likes to call mental fitness.
As the passionate founder of The Mental Fitness Company, Sue’s 20 years’ experience in personal development, positive psychology, wellbeing and mind training form the foundation for her mission: to educate and empower others so that being a human is an easier job.
Known for her friendly, warm and down to earth attitude and techniques for simplifying life, Sue’s speaker sessions and workshops are full of personal stories and “mind food” to take away and digest as well as actions to apply to help making being a human an easier job!
A regular on TV, a column writer and a frequent speaker, she dedicates her time to sharing her vision, because she believes that building a mentally fit mind is the most important gateway to gaining freedom over any life event.
Sue champions the concept that regular education and training of the mind around four key mental fitness pillars provides the necessary skills to positively impact lives, organisations and communities. As the world navigates its biggest curveball in recent history, mental fitness and wellbeing is more important than ever. The added benefit, of course, is the influence our own wellbeing then has on our children, families and friends.
Suzi specialises in leadership development, including executive coaching, leadership workshops and programmes for CEOs, leadership teams and organisations throughout New Zealand. An experienced author and mentor, Suzi writes and teaches about accomplished leadership, what magic emerges when it’s present, and how to inspire and improve leadership in individuals, teams and organisations.
Suzi has been a leader and senior executive herself, working alongside CEOs and executive teams in many guises. As a self-renowned ‘leadership geek’, Suzi’s years of experience includes being an executive search consultant, associate director, executive coach, and a practice leader for a division of the world’s largest HR consulting firm.
Most recently, Suzi launched The Leader’s Map. The blended online leadership platform provides organisations wishing to equip their emerging leaders with the necessary leadership capabilities for success. Based in Nelson, New Zealand, Suzi lives with her husband and three children.
Phillippa plays a key role in creating an enviable employee experience through her leadership of organisational development programmes. She supports, influences and advises organisations to effectively deliver upon business and people strategies, raise engagement and drive positive culture through projects and initiatives focused on wellbeing, diversity and inclusion.
She’s extremely passionate about designing and delivering innovative OD initiatives that enable people to shine and for organisations to be awesome places to work. Projects she’s recently been involved on include gender equity, cultural diversity, flexible working, mental health, anti-bullying and Rainbow Tick accreditation. She also leads Chorus’ holistic wellbeing programme that covers four pillars – mental, physical, career and financial wellbeing. She plays a visible and valuable role in an organisation by influencing and motivating others via a range of committees and networks.
Her varied experience comes from working in human resources for over 14 years in recruitment, business partnering and organisational development roles in internal HR teams and the HR consultancy environment. Her goal is to create positive working environments underpinned by a wellbeing culture that supports a sense of belonging.
Outside of her day job, she’s a self-confessed Wellbeing Junkie! She’s a competitive CrossFitter, yogi, runner, snowboarder, qualified nutritionist and real food enthusiast to name a few of her healthy addictions. She also recently merged her profession with her passion by starting up her own wellbeing and nutrition coaching business, The Wellbeing Junkie.
Lauren is an award-winning wellbeing specialist who believes that everyone deserves to thrive. With 19 years’ experience in the health and wellbeing profession she is a sought-after speaker, coach and consultant.
TEDx speaker, author of real food less fuss, and Seven Fitness Myths to Overcome, founder of the Snack on Exercise movement and host of the THRIVE TV Show. Lauren helps busy people re-discover how to feel vibrant, confident and energised.
Described as inspiring and life-changing, Lauren is a dynamic and highly engaging presenter, and master story-teller who will have you laughing, moving and learning in a memorable way. You will leave Lauren’s session feeling uplifted and empowered to create positive change, today!
Lauren lives in Palmerston North, New Zealand, with her husband and three children, she can often be found hosting dinner parties, spending time outdoors or playing board games. Lauren travels regularly to speak at conferences and in-house, and specialises in helping organisations create a high-energy, peak-performance team culture, which enables people to thrive.
Nigel George brings more than 30 years’ experience working in a wide variety of clinical environments, leadership of large clinical teams through times of change, and a passion for evidence-based education to his interest in how people “do things well”.
“So much of clinical psychology is about unwellness, psychosis, but my doctorate looked at successful ageing. So, I like to focus on wellness – on what we do that’s right. I can focus on how we can do things better, to be better in our lives and so be better at our work.”
Nigel started his health career as a general nurse more than 30 years ago, retraining first as a psychiatric nurse before studying psychology and training in London as a clinical psychologist. He was Director of the University of Auckland’s Psychology Clinic, where he trained and coached future clinical psychologists. He now uses that high-level clinical and educational experience to facilitate various wellness workshops.
“People so often have to be unwell before they receive good, research-based mental health information. It’s great to see people come to our workshops so engaged and ready to learn ways they can support themselves and other people. It’s exciting to be part of something so positive.”
Nigel is also impressed with how engaged businesses are in supporting their teams, and how prepared they are to change how they operate to help their people. “Work used to be a place we came to toil, make money and go home. Now the workplace is less separate from home, and people expect to bring their whole selves to work. Our workshops support that.”
Nigel says he loves facilitating workshops because, far beyond just delivering information, it’s about enabling change. And he understands change, having led large clinical teams through significant change processes in previous roles.