Susan Peterson chairs Vista Group. Photo / Brett Phibbs
Susan Peterson chairs Vista Group. Photo / Brett Phibbs
Susan Peterson is a prominent figure in New Zealand’s business landscape, focusing on innovation, technology, and sustainability.
As the chair of Vista Group and an independent director on the boards of Xero, Mercury, Arvida and Craigs Investment Partners, her work emphasises ambition for New Zealand with a special interestin using technology and inclusion to create a better future for all.
Peterson’s past directorships include ASB Bank, Trustpower, Property for Industry, Compac Sorting and the New Zealand Merino Company. Susan served on the New Zealand Markets Disciplinary Tribunal for nine years and has been a long-serving member of the Global Women Board.
Peterson is a chartered fellow of the IOD (Institute of Directors in New Zealand) and has been a finalist in the New Zealand Women of Influence Awards.
Liam Dann is the business editor at large for the New Zealand Herald. He has been a journalist for nearly 30 years, covering business for more than 20. He writes news, opinion pieces and commentary covering markets, economics and politics.
He hosts the Market Watch video show and Money Talks podcast series. He has also worked in the banking sector in London and travelled extensively.
Rob Campbell is the chair of Ara Ake Limited and NZ Rural Land Company. He also holds the position of Chancellor at Auckland University of Technology.
Campbell has more than 30 years of experience in capital markets and has previously been a director of or adviser to a range of investment fund and private equity groups in New Zealand, Australia, Hong Kong and the United States.
In 2019, he was made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit 2019 (CNZM) and received the Distinguished Alumni Award from Victoria University of Wellington. Campbell holds a Bachelor of Arts with First Class Honours in Economic History and Political Science and a Master of Philosophy in Economics.
Diversity and Inclusion Leadership
Juliet Tainui-Hernandez
Juliet Tainui-Hernandez.
Juliet Tainui-Hernandez (Ngāi Tahu, Te Whakatōhea) has 25 years of experience across varied executive leadership and governance roles internationally and in NZ in the legal, financial services and iwi spheres. She has worked as a lawyer, professional adviser, strategy and transformation leader and central banker.
Until April 2024 she served as an assistant governor of Te Putea Matua, the Reserve Bank of NZ, and is now a non-executive director on the boards of Ngai Tahu Holdings and ASB Bank. Tainui-Hernandez is passionate about diversity, equity and inclusion, system transformation and leadership with a long-term strategic outlook, including the opportunities for Aotearoa through integrating te ao Māori to create a stronger and more prosperous Aotearoa.
Ranjna Patel
Ranjna Patel.
Ranjna Patel, with her husband Kanti, set up the East Tamaki Healthcare business in 1977.
Tamaki Health has 50 clinics serving more than 330,000 registered patients and is the largest private primary health care and telehealth provider in NZ.
In 2014 she founded Gandhi Nivas, a family harm initiative that has seen amazing results in non-recidivism in men. Patel has extensive involvement in charitable and community groups for which she received a QSM (Queen’s Service Medal) in 2009 and was made an ONZM (Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit) in 2017.
She sits on many advisory boards – Diversity Works NZ (deputy chair), Mental Health, ISSO Swaminarayan Temple, NZ Police National Ethnic Forum, Counties Manukau Police Advisory Board and chair of Indian Ink. Over the years she has been on the National Advisory Council on the Employment of Women, Lotteries Distribution Committee, Middlemore Foundation, Co of Women, Global Women, and a director of Bank of Baroda. She was past chair of the NZCIA (New Zealand Central Indian Association) Women’s Group and president of the Manukau Indian Association.
Simon Moutter
Simon Moutter.
Simon Moutter is best known from his time as the managing director of Spark New Zealand between 2012 and 2019.
Moutter was responsible for the overall leadership and strategic direction of Spark, through its various business divisions and brands which provide digital services to millions of New Zealanders and thousands of businesses. He led the reinvention of Telecom to Spark, to better reflect the fast-changing new world of digital services in which the business now operates.
As a passionate and committed Kiwi, he embodied Spark’s purpose of helping all of New Zealand to win big in a digital world.
Today Moutter is the chairman and a director of the management of three privately owned companies – Les Mills International Ltd, Smart Environmental Ltd and Designer Wardrobe Ltd. He works alongside the management teams of these companies to help accelerate their growth.
Impact Investor
Katie Beith
Katie Beith.
Katie Beith has been in the responsible investment industry for almost 20 years, with the first part of her career spent overseas, mainly in Britain. On returning to New Zealand in 2015, she joined the New Zealand Super Fund as a senior investment strategist for responsible investment.
In November 2021, Beith joined Forsyth Barr as the head of ESG (environmental, social and governance) where she is responsible for incorporating ESG principles into Forsyth Barr’s firmwide operations and investment process, including assisting advisers with specific client needs.
Beith currently serves on the External Reporting Board’s Stakeholder Advisory Panel (XRAP), is deputy chair of the NZ National Advisory Board for Impact Investing and is also on the investment committee for NZ impact investor Purpose Capital.
Kate Wilson Butler
Kate Wilson Butler.
Kate Wilson Butler is a leading New Zealand voice on sustainable business. As the director of Before’s climate, sustainability & ESG practice, she specialises in the intersection between climate and sustainability policy, law and strategy. She regularly speaks and advises on global and local developments in climate and ESG, including corporate climate action, target setting, disclosures and transition planning.
Before joining Chapman Tripp, Wilson Butler was head of climate action at the Sustainable Business Council, where she worked with some of New Zealand’s largest companies to build a more sustainable future.
Previous roles include climate change negotiator at the United Nations climate talks and private secretary to the Minister of Climate Change.
