2018 Awards Judges

Dr Andrew Kelly

Dr Andrew Kelly is a founder and co-CEO of BioPacific Partners, a business dedicated to bridging the best of life science innovations into global markets. His breadth of contacts and experience with multinational corporates is unparalleled in New Zealand.

Andrew previously founded New Zealand’s first specialist life science venture fund, the $100 million BioPacificVentures which invested in health, food & agriculture start-ups across New Zealand & Australia. Prior to that he has had long experience in product development, in research management and in R&D in both New Zealand & Australia.

Helen Robinson

Helen Robinson has led many technology companies over the past 25 years, including as CEO of Microsoft, New Zealand, and as Vice President of APAC, Pivotal Corporation, a Canadian CRM software company. Most recently Helen was the Founding CEO of the TZ1 Registry which was acquired by London based Markit Group Ltd in 2009, where she continued to act as Global Managing Director, Environmental Markets until mid-2011. Since then in addition to independent directorships Helen has been assisting numerous NZ companies including Rex Bionics and a number of (mainly technology enabled) businesses from within her own organisation, Penguin Consulting Ltd.

Helen is the Chair, The Network for Learning Ltd (N4L), a new crown entity charged with improving educational outcomes by transforming schools to technology-based learning environments. She also acts as a Director for a variety of organisations including the National Institute of Water & Atmospheric Research (NIWA), the NZ Business Excellence Foundation, and Mondiale Technologies Ltd, a company formed by Sir Ray Avery to develop disruptive, innovative medical solutions and ethical businesses to create a healthier world.

Paul Dyson

Paul Dyson, Entrepreneur and non-Exec Director
Paul has worked in international technology companies in 5 countries and has broad experience in the development, sales, marketing, general management and governance of a wide variety of technologies – principally in the healthcare, SaaS and in light electric vehicles (LEVs). He is currently Chairman of SimTutor  and a Director of SIMTICS.  In addition, for the past 12 years Paul has managed the business in the Middle East and Africa for ResMed (NYSE: RMD) and 2 years ago co-founded Scarecrow - Cafe, Grocer, Restaurant - showcasing the best of Auckland’s regional artisan food and wine producers.

Bridget Coates

Bridget Coates is co-founder of Kura™, the consumer nutrition division of California-based White Cloud Nutrition, LLC. She is also Chair of the Board of Directors for White Cloud Dairy Innovation Ltd, a New Zealand food and beverage innovation hub which is committed to taking the very best of New Zealand’s outstanding food and beverage products and ingredients to world markets.

Bridget was instrumental in the establishment of ArcAngels, an angel investment network. She is a current director of the Board of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand and has held several director-level board leadership positions in the past - Fisher and Paykel Appliances Holdings, Sky City, UniServices and the Council of the University of Auckland. She has managed an investment company in New York, focused on investments in healthy living companies.

Prior to that, Bridget was the chief operating officer of New York City’s strategic innovation consulting firm, Fahrenheit 212. Bridget was the inaugural chair of the ICEHOUSE, an incubator developed to create business opportunities between the University of Auckland and the wider business and government community. Bridget also held leadership roles in the Knowledge Wave Trust and in KEA, the global kiwi network.

Veronica Harwood-Stevenson

Veronica has a science background and experience in the start-up space as Founder and CEO at a biotechnology company, Humble Bee Ltd whose aim is to disrupt the plastics industry by reverse engineering the nesting material of a solitary bee and making it at scale.

Veronica has experience in research commercialisation space as a member of the Return on Science Momentum Investment Committee and as in strategic storytelling as a mentor at KiwiNet GetFunded events.