speakers

MASTER OF CEREMONIES		Brett Rutledge
		Brett Rutledge graduated from the University of Auckland with degrees in Marketing, Commercial Law, Management Studies, and Labour Relations. He received Senior Prizes in both Marketing and Management Studies in recognition of the best years work from an undergraduate in each discipline. Supporting himself through University, Brett started his own business. Hard work and ingenuity saw the business grow to employ up to 10 people and at the completion of his studies, Brett sold the business as a going concern. His degree completed, Brett joined a management consultancy firm, initially as a Consultant to develop H.R. experience. A promotion to Senior Consultant eventually led to Brett’s appointment as General Manager overseeing the H.R., recruitment and training division of the Company as well as the external consultants, psychologists and legal associates. In 1998, Brett formed his own company specializing in the analysis and development of organizational culture. In 1998 Brett became the 4th person outside North America and the youngest ever to win the coveted World Championship of Public Speaking. Since then he has worked full-time as a professional speaker with speaking engagements throughout, New Zealand, Australia, Asia and the United Kingdom. In al these markets he is among the rarest of performers who are both entertainer and business speaker. A regular speaker to both community and business groups, Brett draws upon his spontaneous humour and rare ability as a mimic to both entertain and inform. Brett’s two hundred-plus voices and characters, practical business knowledge and professional speaking experience means that he is without a doubt the most fun you have ever had being serious!
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
		Alan Patching Alan is Chairman of a consulting group that offers expertise in Leadership and management, performance and project management. He’s a gifted and inspiring international communicator on management, leadership, marketing and motivation who speaks from a wealth of practical experience. Alan was formerly the Chief Executive of the organisation that owns the largest Olympic Stadium ever built, Sydney’s Olympic Stadium, and was also the owner’s Project Director, responsible for managing and overseeing the design and construction. Alan delivers an original, strong and creative presentation (with lots of humour) and gives his audience valuable take-away information that can be used immediately to help grow their business.
		Hamish Carter Hamish is one of the finest athletes New Zealand has produced. His career at the top of world triathlon spanned an incredible 15 years with his crowning glory coming with gold at the 2004 Athens Olympics. Hamish was ranked No 1 in the world for several years, has won Commonwealth Games medals and 25 professional triathlons, including 12 World Cup races. Turning the disaster of the Sydney Olympics into triumph in Athens is the hallmark of this inspirational Kiwi. Retired from professional triathlon, Hamish has turned his focus to business as a relationship manager with New Zealand tech start-up Xero.
		Peri Drysdale Peri Drysdale trained as a nurse and was destined to marry a Canterbury sheep farmer and settle down but instead she built an export apparel business from nothing, pioneered high-performance eco-friendly fibres and set up a charitable foundation to foster young leaders in a sustainable future. Peri has an MBE “for services to manufacturing and export” and is a New Zealand businesswoman and entrepreneur who has a vision for the country successfully exporting top of the range lifestyle New Zealand branded fashion wear. She has been called a “wonder woman; tenacious, tireless and truly inspiring” – where others see barriers she just sees fence to climb and opportunities to be grasped with both hands. Her business integrity and conviction are well documented and she’s an icon of the NZ fashion industry that has been named North & South Magazine’s New Zealander of the Year.
CONFERENCE SPEAKERS
Dr Sven Hansen Sven is a medical practitioner who has pioneered preventative medicine, stress mastery, emotional intelligence and cognitive training. He has a specific interest in developing leadership teams and the application of biological principles to leadership, strategy, influence, creativity and decision-making. Sven qualified as a doctor in 1986 and went on to complete an MBA in 1993. He is married with two children. He founded the Resilience Institute methodology in 2002 which helps organisations and their leaders across New Zealand, Australia and Asia. Simon Tupman, MBA A former practising solicitor in London, Simon has spent the past 20 years helping lawyers and law firms achieve a more enjoyable and profitable practice. He is the director of 'Lawyers With A Life', an international practice development consultancy. Simon addresses conferences and facilitates law firm retreats worldwide. His writing career has included articles published in law journals globally and on-line . He has written two top-selling books, ‘Why Lawyers Should Eat Bananas’ and ‘Why Entrepreneurs Should Eat Bananas’ (Marshall Cavendish) the latter translated into Portuguese and Spanish. Martin Hunter Martin Hunter, General Counsel, IAG New Zealand Limited. Martin was appointed General Counsel at IAG in April 2007. He is responsible for managing the Legal and Business Risk and Compliance teams, and he is also company secretary. Prior to IAG he was at ASB for 7 years and prior to that he was in London working in investment banking and funds management. Dominic Thurbon Dominic Thurbon is a world top-ten speaker and a leading authority on Generation Y. As Head of Research for Peter Sheahan, he has researched and written a wide variety of articles and reports on the impact of Gen Y in our workplaces and broader society. His speaking skills have been recognised with consistent top-ten Australian, Australasian and World rankings in debating. In 2006, he was a semi-finalist at the World Debating Championships (the largest gather of speakers in the world) and was the 7th ranked speaker in the world. His intense passion for the subject, unrivalled communication skills and desire to bring the Gen Y research to the world makes Dominic a powerful and dynamic presenter, capable to shifting the mindsets of leaders out of the world as it used to exist and into the world as it exists today. Jonathan Robinson Jonathan Robinson is admitted as a solicitor in England and Wales, and a barrister and solicitor in New Zealand. He is currently Chief Legal Advisor at the Ministry of Social Development. Since qualifying with international law firm Baker and McKenzie in London, he has had a number of roles in the public sector in London and with the European Commission in Brussels. These have included managing litigation by the European Commission against the UK for breaches of EU environmental law, respresenting the EU in international fora, and managing a team of lawyers in the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs responsible, among other things, for developing the UK Emissions Trading Scheme and the EU Emissions Trading Scheme. He is co-author and joint editor of "Climate Change Law: Emissions Trading in the EU and the UK", published in July 2007. Kate Radka Kate is a senior associate in Bell Gully's Wellington office where she practises commercial law, specialising in climate change, procurement, health and intellectual property. Her climate change expertise has included advising the Government on the development of the New Zealand emissions trading scheme. She advises both the public and private sector in New Zealand and internationally on carbon trading, the implications of the Kyoto Protocol and New Zealand's emissions trading scheme. Colin James Colin James is a political journalist with more than 30 years experience and “Political Columnist of the Year in 2003”. Colin is an associate of the Institute of Policy Studies at Victoria University of Wellington, and is Managing Director of The Hugo Group, a forecasting panel with a memebership of around 90 medium to large corporates and also makes presentations on the strategic environment to companies, industry associations, government departments and other groups. Adrienne Meikle Adrienne Meikle was appointed Chief Legal Advisor at the New Zealand Food Safety Authority in November 2007 and heads up a team of 4 lawyers. NZFSA separated from the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry in July 2007 and it is now a government department in its own right. Before joining NZFSA, Adrienne was a Parliamentary Counsel and has also worked as a lawyer for the Department of Corrections and the Ministry of Education Jil Toovey Jil is the Director of the Institute of Knowledge Development (IKD), a wholly owned subsidiary of Freehills. IKD has deep expertise in executive education for laywers. Jil has developed a deep understanding of the role of lawyer through her coaching and executive development work with both in-house and firm-based lawyers. Jil drives focuses on building capability beyond technical expertise in areas including strategic thinking, leadership, innovation, leveraging organisational politics, commercial intelligence and developing high performing legal teams. Simon Watt Simon Watt is a partner at Bell Gully, specialising in climate change law and in providing commercial and public law advice. Leading the firm’s climate change practice, he has been at the forefront of legal developments in the rapidly developing area for a decade, including advising on climate change legislation and emissions trading. Chambers Global 2008 named Simon as one of only 10 partners world-wide- and the only New Zealand lawyer -in its list of international legal experts in climate change. Anthony Drake Anthony is a senior associate in Bell Gully’s employment practice. He advises on all aspects of employment law and has particular expertise in investigation and employment advocacy. He has been involved in working with computer forensic investigators and advising employers on a range of interesting cases across the private and public sectors in New Zealand. Before becoming a lawyer, Anthony was a founding member of the New Zealand Serious Fraud Office. Mike Spence Mike launched leading New Zealand computer forensics company deCipher and has over 27 years’ experience in the IT industry gained in New Zealand, UK, Australia and Switzerland. As a senior IT manager with the NZ Police, he established the Northern Region computer forensics department and headed NZ Police IT Security Systems for the 1999 APEC world leaders meeting in Auckland. Mike regularly gives evidence as an expert witness and also acts as the guest lecturer in computer forensics at Auckland University.