Keynote speakers
Listed alphabetically
Sinead Boucher
Sinead Boucher is Chief Executive Officer of Stuff. In 2020 Sinead completed a management buyout of the company, returning the business to local ownership. She has since charted a bold new era for Stuff, with a focus on making Aotearoa a better place and becoming the country’s most trusted organisation.
Prior to becoming CEO, Sinead held the position of Group Executive Editor for four years. In this role she was responsible for NZ’s largest newsroom, a significant stable of newspapers and magazines, and number one domestic website Stuff. Her journey in management is complemented by many years as a frontline journalist, both in NZ and the UK at the Financial Times and Reuters.
Precious Clark
Precious is the Chief Executive of Maurea and leads her team to fulfil their vision to see Māori culture drive Aotearoa forward.
With a background in Law, Public Policy, Business, Māori Development and Performing Arts, Precious established Maurea in 2012; and in 2016 she created Te Kaa – our highly acclaimed training programme that ignites your Māori cultural competency.
She has grown Maurea and its impact so that Maurea is now recognised as a leader in supporting Māori Cultural Competency development.
Precious has over a decade of governance experience and is currently on the board of Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei Trust and is the Chair of Te Taumata-a-Iwi. Her past governance roles include Whai Rawa Ltd ($2b investment company), Foundation North, Auckland Regional Amenities Funding Board, Centre for Social Impact, the Independent Māori Statutory Board and Chair of Te Tira Kautū.
Precious is of Ngāti Whātua, Te Uri o Hau, Waikato, Ngāti Hē, Ngāti Pāoa and Pākehā descent. She has two tamariki, loves being connected to nature and is passionate about wāhine leadership.
Shamubeel Eaqub
Shamubeel Eaqub is an experienced economist who makes economics easy. He is also an author, media commentator and a thought leading public speaker.
Shamubeel has over a decade of experience as an economist in Wellington, Melbourne and Auckland in leading international banks and consultancy. He is on various boards of charities and commercial firms.
He has authored multiple books on issues that matter to New Zealand and gives voice to the unheard including; "Growing Apart: Regional Prosperity in New Zealand", he co-authored "Generation Rent" and "The New Zealand Economy: An Introduction".
Sir Graham Henry
Sir Graham Henry is one of New Zealand's most in demand speakers - having coached the All Blacks to glory in the 2011 Rugby World Cup, and going on to be awarded Coach of the Year at the IRB awards, receiving this award for a record 5th time.
Graham finished his All Blacks career as one of the most successful rugby coaches of all time: he coached the All Blacks to 88 wins in 103 Tests for a winning percentage of 85.4 percent. As well as winning the Rugby World Cup 2011, the All Blacks have held the Bledisloe Cup every year since 2003, won the Investec Tri Nations five times and achieved three Grand Slams against the Northern Hemisphere Home Unions. In 2019, Graham was inducted into the World Rugby Hall of Fame.
Tahu Kukutai
Tahu Kukutai (Ngāti Tiipa, Ngāti Māhanga, Ngāti Kinohaku, Te Aupōuri) is Professor of Demography at Te Ngira Institute for Population Research at The University of Waikato and is Co-Director of Aotearoa's only Māori Centre of Research Excellence, Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga. Tahu specialises in Māori and Indigenous demographic research and has written extensively on population change in Aotearoa, official statistics and data sovereignty. She has undertaken research for numerous iwi, Māori communities, and Government agencies, and provided strategic advice across a range of sectors. Tahu is a Life Member of the Population Association of New Zealand and is an elected Fellow of the Royal Society Te Apārangi. She is also a founding Trustee of the acclaimed Pūhoro STEMM Academy and is a founding member of the Māori data sovereignty network Te Mana Raraunga. Tahu has degrees from The University of Waikato and Stanford University.
Abbas Nazari
Abbas Nazari is a former Afghan refugee who fled the Taliban in 2001. Abbas was one of more than 400 asylum seekers who were rescued by the Norwegian container ship, the MV Tampa, in the Indian Ocean as they sought asylum in Australia in 2001. After being denied asylum in Australia and held offshore for weeks by Australian special forces, Abbas and his family were eventually resettled in New Zealand. Having arrived as an eight year old with no English, Abbas went on to place third in the New Zealand Spelling Bee a few years later, play representative rugby, and graduated from the University of Canterbury with a Bachelors in Diplomacy and International Relations. In 2019 he was awarded a Fulbright scholarship where he has just completed a Master's at Georgetown University in Washington DC. While in the United States, Abbas wrote and published his family memoir, After The Tampa: From Afghanistan to New Zealand which has received critical acclaim and become a number 1 New Zealand bestseller. Abbas shares his journey, his experiences of thriving in a foreign country, and some lessons learned along the way.
