KiwiNet Board Members

Katherine Sandford

KiwiNet Board Chair

LinkedIn

Katherine Sandford is passionate about helping New Zealand technology companies succeed on the world stage. With a background in governance and executive leadership—including at Nasdaq-listed Trimble—she knows what it takes to scale businesses globally. An active angel investor and mentor, Katherine has supported many early-stage New Zealand companies, with a strong focus on capital raising and leadership development.

Andrew Kelly

(Independent)

LinkedIn

Andrew has crafted a unique career spanning research, commercialisation, and investment. Beginning with a veterinary science degree, he progressed through leadership roles in research institutes and R&D organisations. In 2005, he co-founded BioPacific Partners, a pioneering venture fund in food, agriculture, and health. Andrew's strategic pivot in 2014 expanded the fund's reach globally. His expertise extends to various advisory roles, reflecting his influence in agricultural biotechnology, innovation, and national research networks. A seasoned speaker and educator, Andrew passionately shares his knowledge, fostering collaborations, and advancing impactful innovations.

Vignesh Kumar

CEO Journey Health

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Vignesh is CEO and co-founder of Journey Health and Venture Partner at New Zealand venture capital firm Global from Day 1 (GD1). Vignesh has a rich deep tech engineering background and has spent the entirety of his career focused on commercialising and scaling science anchored innovations across verticals such as medical devices and consumer electronics. At KiwiNet Vignesh brings to the table his diverse experiences working across global markets, and his deep involvement in the venture ecosystem to help KiwiNet in its goal of growing the funding, pipeline, and capability of its commercialisation partners. Vignesh’s specialties include: investment and entrepreneurship, deep tech, health tech, hardware enabled software, and go-to-market strategy.

Vignesh holds an MBA from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, where he was both a Wharton and Kaiser Fellow, as well as a Fulbright Science and Innovation Scholar, jointly awarded by MBIE and the Fulbright Commission (U.S. Department of State). He also holds a Bachelor of Engineering (Hons) degree in Biomedical Engineering and a Master of Engineering Studies (First Class) in Medical Device Design and Technologies from The University of Auckland.

Mark Cleaver

CEO Massey Ventures Ltd

LinkedIn

Mark has lead commercialisation team at Massey University since 2007. His passion and expertise has helped his team to build a strong pipeline of opportunities and deals that have produced a consistent track record of deal-making and outstanding examples of commercialisation impact. In doing so Massey Ventures has generated a strong portfolio of commercialisation success in the food, agritech and animal health areas, reflecting the historical strengths of Massey University. Mark’s achievements include the trade sale of NZ Veterinary Pathology Ltd in 2015 and the acquisition by Nestle in 2019 of a formulation to address iron deficiency.

Amanda Davies

Innovation Manager Scion

LinkedIn

Dedicated to realising science’s commercial potential, Amanda is a commercialisation advocate for Scion with a diverse applied science background.