Theresa Gattung – Global Women Chair
Theresa Gattung is a New Zealand business leader, entrepreneur, author, philanthropist and investor. Her best-selling autobiography Bird on a Wire was published in 2010. Most recently launched the Gattung Foundation with her sister Angela Gattung.
Theresa is involved with a number of not-for-profit and philanthropic interests, including being on the Global Board of World Pulse, being co-founder of the World Women Charitable Trust and Patron of the Cambodia Charitable Trust. She is a supporter of The Pūriri Education Charitable Trust, Kootuituiki Papakura, Gandhi Nivas, the Aunties, and Amnesty International.
Karleen Everitt
Karleen Everitt is on the board of Global Women and the was the first wāhine and Māori to be appointed as the Chair to Northland’s Regional Economic Development Agency, Northland Inc. She holds a Masters in Management for the University of Auckland and was appointed as the Kaitohu Rautaki Maori Head of Te Ao Maori Strategy ANZ in June 2021.
Dame Jenny Shipley
Dame Jenny Shipley was New Zealand’s first female Prime Minister and retired from politics in 2002 and returned to the private sector while still retaining her intense interest in the development of leaders here in Aotearoa New Zealand and globally. Today she is a Director, Advisor and Keynote Speaker with a special interest in mega trends in business, economic and social development opportunities globally.
Dame Marilyn Waring
Marilyn Waring CNZM is a New Zealand feminist, former politician, author, academic, and activist for female human rights and environmental issues.
She is best known for her 1988 book If Women Counted, and she obtained a D.Phil in political economy in 1989. Through her research and writing she is known as the principal founder of the discipline of feminist economics. Since 2006, Waring has been a Professor of Public Policy at the Institute of Public Policy at AUT in Auckland, New Zealand, focusing on governance and public policy, political economy, gender analysis, and human rights.
Honorable Margaret Wilson
Margaret Anne Wilson DCNZM is a New Zealand lawyer, academic and former Labour Party politician. She served aAttorney-General from 1999 to 2005 and Speaker of the House of Representatives from 2005 to 2008, during the Fifth Labour Government. Wilson strongly promotes various social causes such as feminism and multiculturalism, and opponents often painted her as Labour’s most “politically correct” minister. She was the Minister responsible for the introduction of the new Supreme Court, which was controversial at the time, as well as changing the law on dividing property between partners after a separation, known now as relationship property law.
Tania Simpson
Tania Simpson DLJ is a Director of Auckland International Airport, Meridian Energy and Tainui Group Holdings, a member of the Waitangi Tribunal and an accredited fellow of the Institute of Directors. She is Chair of the Sustainable Seas National Science Challenge and Deputy Chair of the Waitangi National Trust. She is also a member of the governance group of the Deep South National Science Challenge.
Prue Kapua
Prue Kapua is the principal of Tamatekapua Law and has an extensive background in resource management and the Treaty sector. She has supported whānau, hapū, and iwi claimants in several Waitangi Tribunal inquiries. She was a member of the Refugee Status Appeals Authority, Deputy Chair of the Medical Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal, and a director of First Health NZ Ltd (a Southern Cross NZ Ltd subsidiary).
Amanda Ellis
Amanda Ellis is currently based in Hawaii as Executive Director Hawaii/Asia Pacific for philanthropist Julie Ann Wrigley’s ASU Global Institute Of Sustainability and Innovation. Amanda served as New Zealand’s inaugural Ambassador for Global Women’s Issues, and as Ambassador/Head of Mission to the UN in Geneva and Prime Minister’s Special Envoy (2012-16), playing a key role in New Zealand’s successful UN Security Council bid.
Catherine O’Connell
Catherine O’Connell is Principal & Founder of her commercial law firm, Catherine O’Connell Law. She is the first foreign female to set up a law practice in Tokyo. She won Boutique Law Firm of the Year Award 2023 and Foreign Lawyer of the Year Award 2022, and is the recipient of the Entrepreneur of the Year 2020.
Significantly she has been appointed in June 2023 as an Independent Audit & Supervisory Board Member of TOYOTA Motor Corporation and in June 2022 as Outside Audit & Supervisory Board member of FUJITSU Limited – becoming the first non-Japanese female in Japanese corporate history to serve in this role on both boards.
Caroline Rainsford
Caroline Rainsford has extensive leadership experience with most of her career involving positions on leadership and executive teams. Caroline is currently the Country Director for Google NZ where she is responsible for driving the overall revenue and business strategy for NZ as well as representing NZ and partnering with Government, Policy teams and NZ business leaders. As Country Director, one of Caroline’s goals is to set a long-term vision for how NZ businesses can grow and transform in the digital age. Caroline is a passionate supporter of Women in Leadership and throughout her career has been involved in many programs to support the sponsorship and coaching of future female leaders, including a leadership role in Women@GE and Google’s “SheLeads” program. She is currently an executive sponsor at Google for young female talent. Caroline has a Bachelor of Commerce degree in Marketing and Management and also a Post Graduate Honours degree in Marketing from the University of Auckland, New Zealand.
Andy Blair
Andy is the President of the International Geothermal Association and co-founder of Upflow, a geothermal science, research and innovation company that builds expert teams to provide intelligent solutions to global industry.
Jenny Rudd
Jenny has a solid background of analysis and put this to good use having interviewed hundreds of people who excel in their chosen field for magazines UNO and SheEO, which she bought, grew and sold with her husband Mat Tomlinson. Her particular interest is in creating equality for women through business and discovering use cases for blockchain technology to increase transparency and ethical practices. Founder of Dispute Buddy, co-author of The Gender Investment Gap, on the board of Enterprise Angels in Tauranga, New Zealand’s one of New Zealand’s oldest and most established angel investing groups, specialist in the investment ecosystem in Aotearoa, particularly in capital raising, due diligence, product-market fit, pitch decks and marketing.
Gill Gatfield
Gill Gatfield is a sculptor, author, activist and entrepreneur. She founded Gatfield Studio in 1998, leads multi-disciplinary teams, and creates international award winning sculptures and public artworks that inspire audiences, shift mind-sets and challenge the status quo. Collaborating with arts institutions, foundations, corporates and curators globally, her abstract artworks advance the values of equity, diversity and inclusion through the dynamic media of sculpture in public space. Gill Gatfield’s artwork is presented in international forums in NZ, Australia, USA and Europe, and held in collections worldwide.
Anya Satyanand
Anya is an experienced education professional with pedagogical expertise, innovation and facilitation capability and strategic skills. She has worked for 20 years at local, regional, national, and international levels to grow learning programmes, cultures and communities. Anya is focused on equipping and empowering people to be learners, leaders and critically engaged participants in a rapidly changing world.
Claire Amos
Claire is a recognised education trailblazer in Aotearoa and a frequent global speaker on education disrupted and the new era of work skills. She is currently Principal at Albany Senior High School.She is also co-founder of DisruptED NZ and also sits on the board of NetSafeNZ, N4L, and 21C Skills Lab. Claire also enjoys contributing to a wide range of advisory boards and reference groups. Claire was also a founding council member for the Education Council, Aotearoa, NZ.
Caren Rangi
Caren is very proud to say she is the founder of the Cook Islands World Domination movement #CIWD – a small but passionate group of fellow Cook Islanders who promote and celebrate Cook Islands success where ever it happens, as a means of increasing community pride and awareness in the skills, experiences and achievements of Cook Islanders globally.
Sharon Zollner
Sharon graduated from the University of Canterbury and started her career as an economist at the Reserve Bank of NZ. She also worked at the Central Bank of Norway, before moving to the New Zealand private sector. Sharon became the Chief Economist of ANZ New Zealand in late 2017 and manages a team of six.
Agnes Naera – Global Women CEO
Agnes Naera Global Women Chief Executive, leans strongly into amplifying the importance of diversity and inclusion and advancing the aspirations of Māori and Pacific people. She is purposeful in her mentorship of emerging female leaders particularly early career academics and professionals.
Agnes is a trustee for a number of charities with a special interest in unleashing the potential of young people to enable them to ‘be the change they want to see’ in Aotearoa NZ. She brings a wealth of experience from her professional, community roles while drawing from her lived reality of her hapu, iwi Ngāpuhi experience.