The summit attracts a fantastic mix of inspirational speakers and leaders from successful businesses sharing their own case studies and stories.
Photos and bios of confirmed speakers will be shown below as they become available.
Clinical Psychologist Jacqui Maguire is one of New Zealand’s key science communicators, providing authentic and relatable thought leadership on global mental health and wellbeing issues. Bringing her scientific knowledge of wellbeing to life, Jacqui translates the evidence into practical strategies that support people to optimise their wellbeing, work and relationships. Her entrepreneurial history and business acumen make her a keynote favourite, and she is known for engaging a diverse range of people, including those who may be sceptical of the benefits of psychological interventions.
Jacqui is TVNZ’s go-to psychologist and a regular contributor to Stuff, NZ Herald, Radio New Zealand and Newstalk ZB. She is also the founder of the #1 ranking Mind Brew podcast, where she has interviewed some of the world’s leading psychologists.
Her career has been anchored in corporate wellbeing. Jacqui works closely with clients to understand the unique needs of their organisation and develop tailored programmes to best fit. She draws on both her psychological and business expertise in this process, making sure her services are both effective and delivered to a high standard; lifting organisational performance by developing the resilience and wellbeing of employees.
For personal interest, Jacqui sits on the Board of Life Squared Trust. A trust dedicated to improving mental health in the legal profession. She is also a marriage celebrant, proud to utilise her communication, rapport and writing skills to support people on their special day.
James Laughlin is a sought-after High Performance Leadership strategist. He has worked with hundreds of high performers to get transformational results in their personal and professional lives.
James has won seven world championship titles as a musician, made world history by leading his underdog kiwi team to world champion victory, hosts global leaders in his sold out high performance leadership programme and is the mental skills coach for Canterbury Rugby.
James is the founder and host of the Lead on Purpose podcast where he interviews former world leaders, pro athletes, Fortune 200 CEOs and more. As a speaker James is invited to speak at summits, conferences and events throughout New Zealand and Australia.
James’ day job involves mentoring and coaching CEO’s throughout New Zealand and Australia.
Sharndré Kushor was 18 years old when she co-founded New Zealand based unicorn, Crimson Education, which recently surpassed a valuation of over $1B. Her life passion is helping the people to discover their capabilities, confidence and potential. During her time as Co-Founder and Chief Operations Officer of Crimson Education, Sharndré has helped turn a small start-up into a globally renowned education behemoth with students and teachers in all corners of the globe.
Sharndré was named on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list and was named Woman of the Year in Business and Innovation. Now, 10 years on from founding Crimson, Sharndré has worked with young leaders and founders across edtech, fintech, retail and ecommerce in New Zealand, Australia, the US, Japan and the UK to scale their businesses to achieve over $150M in annual revenue and build high performance teams of over 850 full time staff.
Alongside her work in the start-up space, Sharndré is a philanthropist. After leaving Crimson, she started The One Billion, a New Zealand registered charity that aims to improve 1 billion lives over the next 50 years.
Shelly Davies has been described as the love-child of Brené Brown and P!nk—although her very awesome parents would probably disagree. She’s of New Zealand Māori descent—a fact that is literally etched onto her chin—and she’s known internationally for her unconventional and irresistible work in the field of plain language and clear communications.
At age thirty-seven, Shelly walked away from her family’s five-generation commitment to a conservative Christian religion and started the exploratory period of her life, also known as “f*&king sh!t up.” She drank alcohol and coffee for the first time, started showing some skin to the daylight, and dedicated herself to fluency in a whole new language: profanity.
She now uses her hard-won lessons in badassery to inspire audiences around the globe to know themselves, love themselves, find power, and have joy. Shelly Davies lives in Rotorua, New Zealand with her Carver Boy, unless she’s at home on Aotea, Great Barrier Island, not wearing pants.
Shelly is of Ngātiwai, Ngāpuhi, and Ngāti Porou descent, and is conversational in te Reo Māori.
Angus has an insatiable motivation and extraordinary enthusiasm to help people, be of service and leave a lasting positive legacy. He commits to those who want to bring their authenticity, refine themselves and act on their insights.
In collaborating with Angus, you get his expertise working 25 years across multiple industries from global multinationals to digital disrupters. He has been successful by challenging the norms in HR, putting the heart back into business and answering the question, “so what?”.
During 2020’s lockdown, Angus launched his leadership practice, with its focus on transforming leaders who are serious about learning to live with purpose, kindness and joy. Last year, he went into partnership with PlanetK2, world leaders in human performance, and leads their entry into the NZ and soon to be Australian markets.
Becoming a Mum to Waiaria at 17 provided Haylee with motivation to move through law school and into legal practise before joining Fonterra, where she is currently the Global Head of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion.
Prior to joining Fonterra, Haylee was with Chapman Tripp (Auckland) and other law firms over 12 years practising land, commercial and Māori land issues (post-settlement advice, corporate entities). Outside of mahi, Haylee has contributed to iwi governance roles and led parts of her iwi settlement with the Crown, a process which showed her from adversity and resilience can always come resolution and hope. Best leadership experience was leading iwi radio station, unfortunately never made (or asked!) to be an actual DJ.
Never one to shy away from ‘what’s on the other side’ of things, this ethos sets up Haylee in her Fonterra role – along with some humour and trusting that everyone has a place in all the discussions to ultimately get collective growth and progress.
Haylee is continuing to learn te reo (Māori language), returned to a childhood love of reading and has found her way to growing a small māra (garden) at home – all the classic traits of getting older for which she is emphatically and comfortably owning.
Joe Davis is a leader, innovator and author with a deep passion for bringing teams together around big challenges with real purpose. Co-Founder & CEO of Nanogirl Labs with wife and business partner Dr Michelle Dickinson, Joe’s current mission is to democratise access to world class education, working across technology, education and entertainment to inspire, educate and empower learners.
Joe is the author of Silver Linings, a book (published by Penguin Random House) which explores the journeys of more than 100 NZ businesses and community leaders who have found ways to respond and thrive during New Zealand’s first COVID-19 ‘lockdown’. The work behind the book has led Joe, and co-author David Downs, to form a clear thesis as to what makes companies able to innovate and be resilient when a crisis strikes.
The book was inspired by Nanogirl Labs’ own lockdown experience. Faced with the loss of their business, Joe and Michelle pivoted from a live-engagement-led business to an online platform. They created a brand new digital platform in just 4 days, grew the business dramatically, and ultimately reached more than 340,000 young people with STEM learning during the lockdown period. “Everyone, everywhere deserves the chance to access a world-class education – and that’s now genuinely in our reach.”
Joe’s leadership career has spanned sectors from software development to design, performing arts to sea rescue, automotive CX design to education. The common thread – great people, deep culture, and a clear sense of ‘why’.
Outside of his professional career, Joe has more than 20 years’ experience as a sea rescue skipper in the Royal New Zealand Coastguard, and has been actively involved in political campaigning and advocacy.
Tracy is a skilled leader who has wide ranging experience in a number of leadership roles across New Zealand, Australia and Japan. Her industry background includes FMCG, Health, IT and Consultancy. She has a broad array of business expertise in Finance, Sales, Strategy and Human Resources.
Tracy has particular depth in Change Management and has held responsibilities for delivering significant projects in complex global settings. Her success comes from her ability to inspire others towards a shared vision, her strength in complex problem solving and an ability to connect at a personal level with people no matter who they are and where they come from.
Tracy is a skilled facilitator, mentor and coach. She excels in creating challenging, energised and supportive learning environments. Clients describe her as knowledgeable, passionate, caring and professional. She loves what she does, cares for each individual’s journey and her enthusiasm rubs off on those she is working with.
While Belinda has an ability to make even the likes of Jack Sparrow feel at ease in the midst of a Caribbean hurricane, don’t be fooled by her down-to-earth, ‘calm-in-a-crisis’ personality.
Bubbling just beneath that cool and collected surface is an intense desire to make a difference.
She wants the work we do to matter, as individuals, as organisations, and citizens of the world. And she most loves to work with organisations that feel the same.
Belinda’s specialist expertise lies in guiding senior leaders through change and uncertainty.
If anyone was prepared to help others be heard in the chaos, it’s Belinda. Honing her skills with a lifetime of Brosnan family Christmases (her Dad is one of 15 children and her Mum one of 8), Belinda also spent 20 years working in leadership positions with some of Australia’s biggest name organisations including News Limited, AVJennings, Macquarie Bank and Mirvac.
Add to this Belinda’s credentials in executive coaching, conversational intelligence and NeuroLeadership and she’s got a lot to give.
Belinda is an advocate and investor with The Hunger Project and has led leadership immersion programs in Uganda, Malawi, India, and Senegal. She is passionate about being a voice for those who don’t have one and giving people the opportunity to lead an expansive life on their terms for the betterment of others, organisations, and communities.
Following a successful career in construction, Lance Burdett spent 22 years as a cop, 13 of those as a crisis negotiator. He trained in New Zealand, Australia, England, and the USA with the elite units of police, prisons, emergency services, the military, and the FBI.
Lance has an MA majoring in Terrorism, Safety & Security, a Diploma in Policing, a Diploma in Business Studies, and is completing a Diploma in Positive Psychology and Wellbeing.
His work is grounded in contemporary neuroscience, human behaviour, and advanced communications. He published the bestselling books – Behind The Tape and Dark Side of the Brain – and is writing a third book on managing anxiety. He also makes regular media appearances.