Who you’ll hear from at the

Leaders’ Forum 2024

Meet the Speakers

Themed ‘Grounded, Resilient and Ready’, this year’s Forum will be a fantastic opportunity to join fellow leaders and directors at Fonterra’s offices in Auckland CBD for a day packed with insights, discussion, debate and networking.

Here’s some of the thought-leaders attendees can expect to hear from during the day.

Not yet registered? Secure your seat here.

Carrie Hurihanganui

CEO, Auckland Airport

Carrie Hurihanganui has been Chief Executive of Auckland Airport since February 2022. Prior to joining Auckland Airport, Carrie was Chief Operating Officer at Air New Zealand, overseeing a global workforce of >9,000 across 16 countries at its peak.

Carrie has over 22 years of operational and strategic experience in the aviation industry, having held multiple senior roles at Air New Zealand, as well as time with National Australia Bank (NAB) based in Melbourne as Executive General Manager Customer Experience. She has successfully led customer experience transformation, maximised business value and built high performing and engaged teams.

Carrie is passionate about building a better future grounded in purpose and people. She has a Bachelor of Business Studies from Massey University and has completed a number of advanced programmes of study, including INSEAD and Harvard.

Andrea Scown

CEO, Mitre10

Andrea joined Mitre 10 New Zealand Ltd in June 2017 in the role of General Manager – Retail Operations, bringing strong retail experience and executive leadership skills that drove the business and its members and operators to the next level of success.

In 2020, Andrea was promoted to Chief Operations Officer and in 2021, promoted again to Chief Executive Officer. Her intimate knowledge of the business and her passion for the co-operative model make her a strong and authentic leader who has developed excellent relationships with members and their teams.

Andrea is the co-operative’s first internal appointment to the CEO role and the first woman to lead the business, both of which represent a milestone in the proud history of Mitre 10’s ongoing.

Before joining Mitre 10, Andrea held leadership roles in some of New Zealand’s most iconic retailers, including positions as COO for Bendon Ltd and COO/Acting CEO for Ezibuy. She moved to Sydney to take up the position of General Manager for Millers Fashions, a brand with 360 stores and a $300m turnover, where she operationalised a number of successful initiatives within a very competitive industry and marketplace.

Andrea is an CAANZ Associate Chartered Accountant, an Institute of Directors Chartered Director, and a future director on the board of Summerset Group Holdings.

Simon Tucker

Director of Global Sustainability, Stakeholder Affairs and Trade, Fonterra

Simon Tucker is Director of Global Sustainability, Stakeholder Affairs and Trade at Fonterra. In this role he leads teams responsible for Fonterra’s global trade strategy, its corporate sustainability, environmental partnerships and community and social investment programmes, the company’s relationships with local and central government in New Zealand and with foreign governments, and Fonterra’s industry partners.

Simon has spent over twelve years in the New Zealand dairy industry including in leadership roles at DairyNZ, the Dairy Companies Association of New Zealand and with Fonterra’s US-based business. During his career, Simon has also spent considerable time working for the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade with assignments in Tehran, Washington and as New Zealand’s High Commissioner to Canada. He also spent several years working in Parliament as adviser to the Minister for Trade.

Glen Willoughby

CEO Nilo, previously Advisor IT Digital Technology at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Glen has over 30 years’ experience in technology leadership in the health, engineering, sustainability technology, and space exploration sectors including advising NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He is a Fellow at Victoria University (Wellington), ‘virtual CIO’ Singularity University Labs (Silicon Valley).

He holds an MBA from Waikato University, is an Adj. Research Fellow at Victoria University, Faculty of Health, a member of the New Zealand Institute of Directors and board member of the New Zealand AI Forum. Glen is ranked in the top 10 Australasian technology innovation leaders (CIO publication).

Married to Kirsty, Glen is a father of three and a keen fisherman, golfer and guitarist. Skills range from excellent to hopeless.

Dr Ants Roberts

Chief Scientific Officer, Ravensdown

Dr. Ants Roberts holds a Bachelor of Agricultural Science degree (1st Class Honours) and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Soil Science, both from Massey University. Additionally, he completed the Massey University Sustainable Nutrient Management courses in 2004 and 2006. Dr. Roberts is a Fellow of the New Zealand Soil Science Society and a member of the New Zealand Institute of Primary Industry Management and the New Zealand Grassland Association.

Throughout his career, Dr. Roberts has received esteemed awards such as the Ray Brougham Trophy (2017) from the New Zealand Grassland Trust and the Norman Taylor Memorial Award (2018) from the NZ Soil Science Society.

Currently serving as the Chief Scientist for Ravensdown Ltd., Dr. Roberts oversees agronomic research and development, trains Agri Managers and other staff in soils, fertilisers, and pastoral agriculture, and collaborates closely with corporate and farming shareholders.

Prior to joining Ravensdown, Dr. Roberts spent 22 years at the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries Agricultural Research Division, holding various roles including District Agricultural Scientist, Group Leader, and Senior Scientist. His research interests encompass soil fertility, agronomy, environmental performance indicator monitoring, and waste utilization in grazed pasture. He has conducted numerous soil fertility experiments and provided consultancy to pastoral farmers across New Zealand, aiming to maximize economic returns while minimizing environmental impacts. Dr. Roberts has authored or contributed to a significant number of scientific publications, conference papers, book chapters, and extension booklets over his extensive career.

Rachel O’Brien

Chief Transformation Officer, Alliance Group

Rachel was appointed as Alliance’s Chief Transformation Officer in May 2023. With a track record of shaping and delivering global programmes that drive performance transformation, build capability, and deliver growth, Rachel has over 20 years of global experience in programme governance, strategy, and digital innovation.

As Alliance’s Chief transformation Officer, she leads the Group’s strategic alignment and execution. Her Transformation Team is responsible for delivery of end-to-end collaborative, sustainable change that delivers more value to their people, farmers, and customers. With a multifaceted approach, they manage strategic delivery, compliance risk, social responsibility, digital innovation, environmental sustainability, non-livestock procurement and communication.

Rachel has a bachelor’s degree in education from Massey University and a Post Graduate Diploma in Secondary Education. She joined Alliance from Ravensdown where she spent 12 months as Chief Transformation Officer. Prior to Ravensdown she held similar roles for Pearson Group, CWT and Santander in the UK.

Warwick Grey

Strategic Partnerships Liaison, Business Mentors New Zealand

Warwick started working life as a Registered Comprehensive Nurse. His huge empathy for people, personal authenticity, and understanding of the human mind has been perfectly transferable to a successful career in sales and marketing leadership.

Warwick has always been fascinated by technology and what it can do for humanity. This interest saw him become a co-director of Renaissance Software in 1989 with his brother Trevor, with a successful exit in 1996. Over the subsequent 27 years’ his experience in the information technology sector grew and morphed, with senior sales, marketing and management roles with Corel Corporation, Microsoft New Zealand, and Hewlett Packard (HP) across both New Zealand and Australia.

Warwick is a widely known, easy-to-understand expert on the SME sector, gifted at presenting challenging technology concepts in easy to digest ways. This skillset (plus an interesting background in community theatre) has had him at the podium many times on behalf of a diverse array of organisations; from banks to business associations.

In fact it was with the Auckland Chamber of Commerce, where Warwick first met Di (who was then Marketing and Sponsorship Manager) and the two partnered up to develop and host many events focused on helping the NZ SME sector better harness the power of technology.

Warwick has judged many business awards, he’s an occasional contributing writer to numerous business magazines and has received several awards; which recognise his deep, sustained commitment to the business sector in New Zealand.

Terry Copeland

CEO, Federated Farmers

Terry Copeland is the Chief Executive of Federated Farmers, having been in the role since August 2018. This role is responsible for 70 staff who provide the delivery of advocacy and policy development on behalf of farmers, continuing the development of the benefits of membership for 13,000 Federated Farmers members and for influencing rural leadership and community resilience.

For the previous five years, Terry was Chief Executive of New Zealand Young Farmers whereby he rejuvenated this next generation membership organisation into a talent attraction provider to the Primary Industries, specialising in school engagement and career focus as well as showcasing agricultural excellence to the wider New Zealand audience.

From May 2021 to February 2023 Terry chaired the Food & Fibre Leaders Forum Chief Executive Group, 13 primary sector organisations with key issues of commonality to support engagement with Government Ministers.

For most of Terry’s career, he spent more than two decades in the wine industry working on wine quality improvement and developing key export markets. Terry has also been a highly respected and experienced international wine judge since the late 1990’s.

Kirk Hope

BusinessNZ, CEO

Kirk Hope is Chief Executive of BusinessNZ, New Zealand’s leading business advocacy group, representing thousands of businesses of all sizes.

Kirk and the team work with companies, organisations and political and other decision makers, advocating for New Zealand’s success through sustainable economic growth.

Before joining BusinessNZ, Kirk was Chief Executive of the New Zealand Bankers’ Association. Prior to that he was Executive Director of the Financial Services Federation, the industry body representing the non-bank sector. He previously held a range of senior positions at Westpac, including Head of Government Relations and Regulatory Affairs. He holds an LLM and a BA (Hons) in political science, and is a Commission member of the Tertiary Education Commission, a member of the Defence Employers Support Council and a board member of INFINZ.

Todd Charteris

CEO, Rabobank

Todd has headed Rabobank, New Zealand’s only specialist food and agri bank, since January 2018. He leads a team of more than 500 banking professionals backed by a global research team of 100 experts, supporting food and agri producers through a network of 27 offices and offering online retail savings and deposit services.

Before taking on the CEO role, Todd served more than 15 years in regional roles in New Zealand and as a former National Manager of Country Banking in Australia. He brings a wide knowledge of diverse farming systems, the realities facing producers and the importance of sustainability for the sector as it responds to a changing environment.

Todd grew up on a sheep and beef farm in Otago. He joined Rabobank in 2000, following his Bachelor of Commerce (Finance) studies at University of Otago and early career experience as a livestock agent, and in investment banking in London.