Building and Maintaining Resilience
Di Foster
Di Foster is a business coach, keynote speaker and experienced operator who works with accidental business owners and leaders to move from reactive to intentional. With a background in accounting, commerce and management across manufacturing, knitwear, production, business closures, mergers and start-ups, she brings practical experience from the trenches. Di’s own life story, including navigating a serious cancer diagnosis, adds depth to her message about choice, perspective and finding strength when life and business do not follow the plan.
Takeaways
- How to build resilience by shifting from reactive decision-making to intentional leadership.
- How the stories we tell ourselves shape confidence, recovery and performance under pressure.
- How to take radical responsibility while protecting energy, purpose and wellbeing.
How To Become A Better Negotiator
Robyn Galloway
As founder and Managing Director of Innovative Travel, Robyn Galloway has spent more than three decades building a specialist travel company based on relationships, trust and deep international networks. Since founding the business in 1990, she has developed strong connections across destinations including Egypt, Jordan, Türkiye and beyond, helping travellers navigate complex, high-value and often fast-changing environments. In this session, Robyn will explore negotiation not just as a sales skill, but as the ability to navigate unexpected events, call on trusted relationships, and create outcomes when the original business plan no longer applies.
Takeaways
- How long-term trust and relationships create negotiating power before a crisis or opportunity arrives.
- How to negotiate through uncertainty when events do not follow the plan.
- How to become more aware of our inherited perceptions, and learning to utilise patience and credibility to create better outcomes.
How To Make Yourself Irreplaceable With AI
Andrew Nicol
As founder and CEO of Preductive and Mosaic Partners, Andrew Nicol has a background leading people-centred and technology-driven businesses, he works directly with CEOs and business owners to cut through the overwhelm and get AI delivering practical, measurable results. Last year he interviewed 100 senior leaders across New Zealand to benchmark AI adoption, understand the real barriers, and identify what is actually working. His mission is simple: help people and organisations use good AI to do their best work.
Key Takeaways:
- How to use AI to become more valuable, not replaceable.
- The practical steps people are taking right now to get real results from AI.
- Using AI to create the future we all want.
How To Become A C-Suite Leader
Rosanne Graham
As Chief Executive Officer of Skills Group, Rosanne Graham leads one of New Zealand’s major education and workforce development organisations. She joined Skills Group as CEO in 2022 after holding senior roles across the education and training sector, including private training, early childhood education, vocational consulting and strategy development. Her leadership perspective combines commercial discipline with a deep belief in human capability, lifelong learning and creating pathways for people to grow.
Key Takeaways
- How to build the capability and confidence needed to step into senior leadership.
- How education, skills and lifelong learning shape the leaders New Zealand needs next.
- How C-suite leadership requires both commercial clarity and belief in people.
Panel Discussion
Hosted by Joy Reid Featuring Robyn Galloway, Di Foster, Andrew Nicol, Rosanne Graham
This panel will connect the key themes of the day: leadership, resilience, negotiation, AI, personal growth and the practical decisions that help people lead with more confidence and clarity.
Building & Maintaining Resilience
Miraka Davies | Speaker, MC & Founder, Rumaki Cafe
Described as the “Deadpool of Keynotes,” Miraka Davies is one of New Zealand’s most compelling and unapologetically authentic speakers. Her journey has taken her through widowhood, single parenting, addiction, neurodiversity, and weight loss surgery and she talks about all of it with candour, humour, and heart. A passionate te reo Māori advocate and founder of Rumaki, New Zealand’s first total immersion reo Māori café in Rotorua, Miraka walks the talk when it comes to doing hard things. Expect to go deep, laugh out loud, and leave ready to take on whatever life throws at you.
Key Takeaways:
• How to find your footing when life knocks you sideways.
• Why owning your story is the foundation of unshakeable resilience.
How To Become A Better Negotiator
Sita Proud, Head of Sales, 3Plus Consulting
A technology sales leader with over 30 years of experience, Sita helps organisations cut through complexity and drive real, measurable outcomes. Based in Auckland, she heads up sales at 3Plus Consulting, specialising in digital transformation, cybersecurity, AI, and data analytics. She has scaled two successful startups, mentors women in tech, and serves on several boards. Outside of work, Sita is a brain injury survivor and committed community advocate.
Key Takeaways:
• How to build trust with authenticity and connection.
• Why women are better at sales than they might know.
Using AI To Make Yourself Irreplaceable
Andrew Nicol | Founder and CEO, Preductive
Andrew Nicol founded Preductive to solve a problem he kept seeing in organisations everywhere: teams working hard but not moving forward. With a background leading people-centred and technology-driven businesses, he works directly with CEOs and business owners to cut through the overwhelm and get AI delivering practical, measurable results. Last year he interviewed 100 senior leaders across New Zealand to benchmark AI adoption, understand the real barriers, and identify what is actually working. His mission is simple: help people and organisations use good AI to do their best work.
Key Takeaways:
• How to use AI to become more valuable, not replaceable.
• The practical steps people are taking right now to get real results from AI.
• Using AI to create the future we all want.
How To Become A C-Suite Leader
Rosanne Graham | Chief Executive Officer, Skills Consulting Group
As the CEO of Skills Group, Rosanne Graham leads a vocational education and training charitable trust that trains over 20,000 learners a year across New Zealand and beyond.
She is focussed on helping people, businesses, and communities thrive through the power of education and capability development.
Her background includes business ownership, executive leadership and governance, with extensive experience navigating the challenges leaders face during periods of change, growth, and transformation. Rosanne began her career in the telecommunications sector with a focus on strategy and regulation, before transitioning into consulting. During that time, she advised major New Zealand organisations on mergers and acquisitions, brand strategy, go-to-market execution and structural change.
Key Takeaways:
• Why there’s no single career path to C-suite leadership.
• What leadership really looks like behind the scenes.
Panel Discussion
Miraka Davies, Sita Proud & Rosanne Graham
How To Become A Better Negotiator
James Laughlin
James Laughlin has spent his career in the company of champions and not just in the pipe band world, where he’s a seven-time world champion drummer or his award-winning podcast. As a high-performance coach, he’s worked with elite athletes, CEOs, founders, world-class musicians, and leaders at the very top of their game. These are people who operate in environments where the margins between winning and losing are razor-thin, and James has been trusted to help them navigate those edges.
Takeaways:
• How personal stories build trust and connection for negotiation mastery.
• Why we are full of BS. How our subconscious belief systems and perceptions shape our reality.
How To Become A C-Suite Leader
Michelle Batchelor
Before entering the boardroom, Michelle made her mark in the world of combat sports. Starting kickboxing at 14, she went on to win 4 World titles including the highly coveted WBC Muay Thai Super Flyweight World Title, multiple international Thai-kickboxing titles as well as professional boxing titles under the WBA Oceania and WBO Asia Pacific banners. Michelle’s discipline, resilience, and ability to thrive under pressure defined her as one of New Zealand’s most accomplished fighters. Today, she applies those same qualities to leading organisations and building sustainable growth in demanding industries.
Takeaways:
• How the daily habits of a world champion translate into the focus and discipline needed for senior leadership.
• How defeats, injuries, and obstacles can became the foundation for grit and adaptability in leadership.
Using AI To Make Yourself Irreplaceable
Danu Abeysuriya
Rush has built platforms and products used daily by millions, including the NZ COVID Tracer app, large-scale digital systems for global brands, and AI-powered solutions that now serve one in ten New Zealanders. We will now hear both points of view on how AI did not replace Heather, but made her irreplaceable.
Takeaways:
• Why learning to delegate effectively, to people and to AI, is the unlock for productivity and growth.
• How to reframe AI as a leveller that accelerates learning and expands capability, rather than displacing people.
Building & Maintaining Resilience
Peri Drysdale
A Member of the Order of the British Empire, New Zealander of the Year, and inductee into the Business Hall of Fame, Peri is a pioneering New Zealand entrepreneur best known as the founder of Untouched World and Snowy Peak, as well as the Untouched World Foundation. She built Snowy Peak from a home-based knitwear start-up into an internationally acclaimed sustainable fashion brand and has received global recognition for ethical design, including a nod from then-President Bill Clinton.
Takeaways:
• The power of listening to yourself and going with your gut once you have done all the research you can.
• How the drive that comes from doing something that you really believe the planet needs helps you to overcome humps in the way.
Panel Discussion
Peri Drysdale & Michelle Batchelor
Movement: The Language of Resilience
Mariele Klering
After spending 12 years navigating the fast-paced and demanding world of tech—a field riddled with its own unique challenges for women— Mariele thought she’d faced it all. But then came the grief of losing her father during one of the world’s toughest lockdowns, a loss that shook her to her core. It was during this difficult chapter that she stumbled into a world she never thought she’d belong to. What started as a hesitant “okay” to attend a self-defense seminar became something far bigger: a deep connection to Jiu- Jitsu. The martial art challenged her in ways she couldn’t have foreseen, not just physically but emotionally, forcing her to confront long-held insecurities she thought she’d buried.
Building & Maintaining Resilience
Cynthia Hunefeld
An award-winning scientist, Cynthia has expertly bridged traditional medicine and modern science to advance drug discovery. Inspired by her father’s recovery from sepsis using her first prototype, she developed patented botanical prescription drugs and multi-target pharmaceuticals currently in clinical trials. Combining ethnobotany, clinical research, and reverse-pharmacology, her groundbreaking work targets multiple disease pathways, offering innovative treatments for inflammatory diseases. Cynthia’s dedication to integrating traditional knowledge with modern research has the potential to revolutionise healthcare and transform patient outcomes.
How To Become A Better Negotiator
Dr Alia Bojilova
During her time with the UN Dr. Alia and her team were taken hostage in Syria. She negotiated the release of her team without harm. She works with Movac Ventures and assists companies in building cultures of adaptability and innovation.
Using AI To Make Yourself Irreplaceable
Danu Abeysuriya
Founded RUSH Digital in 2010 and has led its technology teams in developing world-first solutions for global companies such as Microsoft, Disney, Google, Samsung and Nokia. Local clients include: Metservice, Watercare, Foodstuffs, Te Whatu Ora, Z Energy & Public Trust. He’s overseen and been hands-on involved in the design, development and deployment of numerous software and hardware projects across a wide range of platforms, disciplines & high-level strategy of where companies are going to sit in the future.
How To Become A C-Suite Leader
Naomi Ballantyne
Naomi is one of New Zealand’s most prodigious entrepreneurs and Managing Directors having been involved in the founding and growing of three of New Zealand’s most prominent financial services businesses, and in 2022 became the first woman in New Zealand to have sold her start-up for over $1bn.
Naomi has amassed a wealth of knowledge and experience across all facets of founding, growing, managing, capitalising and transforming businesses of all sizes.
Developing Leadership, Resilience, and Personal Growth
A Panel Discussion
How To Lead a Multi-Generational Workforce
Laurent Sylvestre
After 25 years’ experience, notably as a People and Culture Leader and Executive Board Director across the Northern Hemisphere and Asia Pacific, Laurent is obsessed with ensuring client satisfaction through impactful solutions.
At the core of Laurent’s curriculum, passion, and expertise lies a deep understanding of human dynamics and the art of capturing unique intelligence.
With a belief that this is the very essence from which everything unfolds, Laurent recognises the pivotal role it plays in driving success.
Laurent has spent the past 25 years learning, growing, and helping others to do the same. He’s a motivational speaker, and a thought leader, who invests his energy into helping other leaders create spaces where everyone feels they belong, because he believes that when you belong – you flourish.
How to Build Personal & Team Resilience
HANNAH MCQUEEN
Since founding enable.me in 2007, Hannah’s goal has been simple – to not only improve people’s financial position but improve their lives.
Her list of qualifications is long, not to mention she’s also a best-selling personal finance author, media commentator, the founder of enable.me and developed a mortgage optimisation formula with the University of Auckland’s Dr Jamie Sneddon.
Thousands of clients will attest to the fact she’s achieved that in spades. Their only complaint is they wish they’d met her 10 years earlier!
With her strategic nous and boundless appetite for ‘better’, Hannah McQueen is someone everyone could benefit from having in their corner.
Reskilling For An AI Future
Kristen Lunman
With over 25 years in business growth, co-founded Hatch, revolutionizing NZ’s investment landscape by offering affordable access to global investments. Under her leadership as CEO, Hatch not only experienced rapid growth but also cultivated a unique and inclusive company culture. The success of Hatch culminated in its acquisition by FNZ in 2021. Now with Powrsuit, she is helping to democratise leadership for women.
My Career Path to Becoming a Professional Director
June McCabe
With extensive experience across a broad range of industries at governance and senior management levels, June established Sustainable Prosperity (NZ) Limited a management consultancy business providing advice on governance, strategic planning and strategy development, investment banking and Maori capital markets. June’s banking and finance experience spans the last 20 years. She is a strong advocate for building New Zealand’s Leadership capability as evidenced by her role as Founding Chair of the Leadership Institute.
The Future of Leadership and Resilience
Panel Discussion
Jacinta FitzGerald
Chief Executive of Mindful Fashion
Jacinta is a sustainability activator, passionate about the power of business to create positive impact. Building on more than 20 years experience in the clothing and textiles industry, in 2015 Jacinta founded Make.Good, a consultancy that works with innovative global and local businesses to drive forward the sustainability agenda. Jacinta is currently Chief Executive of Mindful Fashion New Zealand, the peak body for sustainable fashion and textiles in Aotearoa, an organisation on a mission to create a thriving and full-circle future for New Zealand’s clothing and textiles ecosystem.
Bindi Norwell
Group Chief Executive, ProCare
Bindi is a visionary leader with more than 25 years’ experience working across a range of sectors including health, property, professional services and telecommunications. Bindi brings extensive commercial leadership and governance experience, is highly strategic, and has proven expertise in leading organisational diversification and growth strategies, leveraging technology and innovation, transformational change, and organisational redesigns, to enable successful, thriving and sustainable businesses. Bindi is currently the Group Chief Executive of ProCare, a leading healthcare provider. She is passionate about health and wellbeing, and relishes the opportunity to utilise her strategic and leadership strengths to improve equitable health outcomes for all New Zealanders. Prior to ProCare, Bindi was Chief Executive of REINZ and she has also held various executive roles across New Zealand, Australia and the UK. Bindi is currently a Director for CareHQ, Chair of the Fresh Minds Board and Deputy Chair of the Auckland Branch of the Institute of Directors. Prior to this she has held various governance roles including with Whakarongorau Aotearoa, EMA, Marketing Association and Warehouse Group.
Professor Marjo Lips-Wiersma
Professor of Sustainability and Ethics leadership at Auckland University of Technology
In her role as Professor of Sustainability and Ethics leadership at Auckland University of Technology, Marjo aims to reach people with the sustainability message in ways that create hope and agency and strengthen the will. To that end she has also co-created the Map of Meaning International charity which supports meaning makers globally. In her teaching and research she combines academic insights with practical experiences from a variety of sources, including being a qualified permaculture practitioner.
Susan Peterson
Director
Susan is an experienced business leader with a particular interest in helping companies to drive growth through technology, innovation, and organisational culture.
Susan is currently the chair of Vista Group International and a director on the boards of Mercury Energy, Xero, Arvida and Craigs Investment Partners. Susan is also a member of the Board of Global Women.
Susan’s past directorships include ASB Bank, Trustpower, Property for Industry, The NZ Merino Company Limited and Compac Sorting Solutions. Susan is also a past member of the New Zealand Financial Markets Disciplinary Tribunal, the IHC board and the National Advisory Council for the Employment of Women. Susan was a finalist in the 2014 Westpac New Zealand Women of Influence Awards.
