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Kea World Class New Zealand award winners 2022
In 2022 we celebrated the theme of connection. As a nation of explorers and exporters, connection to the world has always been crucial to our success, however, this has never been more apparent than during these challenging pandemic times. Our 2022 award winners were chosen by our judging panel as members of the World Class network who have demonstrated the unique power of Kiwi connection and used it to the benefit of all of Aotearoa.
Award presented by
SUPREME AWARD WINNER
Miranda Harcourt
Miranda Harcourt is an acclaimed actor, director, writer and leading acting coach, whose clients include Nicole Kidman, Melanie Lynskey, Erik Thomson, Miriama McDowell and her own daughters Thomasin and Davida McKenzie. Her career spans more than 30 years and during that time she has been responsible for using her vast global network of writers, actors, producers and directors to place Kiwi talent into roles and experiences all over the world. She was head of acting at Toi Whakaari for seven years and during this time was credited with accelerating the connection of the performing arts scene in New Zealand with the wider global community.
Award presented by
FRIEND OF NEW ZEALAND AWARD WINNER
Kaila Colbin
Kaila is originally from the US but moved to Christchurch in 2005. Just before the first earthquake she was responsible for bringing TEDx to Christchurch and immediately following the second quake she organised a further event which focused on the city’s rebuild – this event was attended by global speakers including people who had been instrumental in rebuilding quake damaged cities such as San Francisco.
A few years later she used her international connections to bring a panel of silicon valley experts to New Zealand for the country’s first Singularity University summit – a three day conference aimed at starting a conversation about our shared future, attended by top CEO’s business leaders, start-up entrepreneurs and school children.
Award presented by
WORLD CLASS AWARD WINNER
Katie Sadleir
Katie Sadleir is a former Olympic and Commonwealth Games athlete, and the first female CEO of the Commonwealth Games Federation. Prior to this, she was the General Manager of Women’s Rugby at World Rugby, where she was responsible for promoting, growing and commercialising the Women’s game. She’s a passionate advocate for gender equality in sport and during the first year of her role at World Rugby she oversaw the appointment of seventeen women to the World Rugby Council, a council which had previously been made up entirely of men.
Award presented by
WORLD CLASS AWARD WINNER
Zion Armstrong
Zion Armstrong is a former Commonwealth Games athletics champion who represented New Zealand in Kuala Lumpur. His first job was unpacking boxes at a Converse distribution centre at age 16. At 21 he joined the global brand Adidas where he worked his way up to become the President of Adidas North America. He is seen by his peers as a renowned leader and during his two decades offshore has used his Māori and Pacific values to connect and empower teams, foster a diverse and inclusive culture and grow talent. Zion didn’t finish high school and never attended university.
Award presented by
Kea charity partner
WORLD CLASS AWARD WINNER
Guled Mire
Guled Mire was a former refugee who came to New Zealand at age six. He is a passionate human rights advocate and has been recognised for his leadership and contribution to public policy and his efforts to better connect ethinic and minority communities into Aotearoa. He is a Fulbright Scholarship recipient who spent time at Cornell University in New York and is using the lessons learned during his time in the USA to help inform public policy in this country. He’s twice spoken on behalf of New Zealand at the United Nations and chaired conversations with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
Award presented by
WORLD CLASS AWARD WINNER
Dave Ferguson
Dave is the co-founder of a technology company Nuro which is focused on accelerating the benefits of robotics in everyday life. He graduated from Otago University and went on to study his PhD in robotics in the US. He was a principal engineer on Google’s self-driving programme and one of his algorithms is currently being used for long-range autonomy on NASA’s Mars rover. During the pandemic Dave volunteered Nuro’s technology to enable contactless delivery of supplies to heath and essential workers in order to help slow the spread of the virus and allow those in high risk jobs to limit their contact with the general public.
Award presented by
WORLD CLASS AWARD WINNER
Arama Kukutai
Arama is a global leader in the agritech industry. He is of Ngāti Tipa, Maniapoto, Te Aupouri, Parihaka descent, and started his career in finance at a time when Māori organisations were beginning to actively develop forestry, farming, and fishing assets. He served as executive chairman of PKW farms and also worked for the Government’s Trade & Investment agency in North America. Arama is a co-founder of, and partner at Finistere Ventures, one of the pioneering venture capital firms dedicated to agritech. He was responsible for the company’s global portfolios and used his connections to create a global agritech community to allow people to better share ideas and inspiration.
WORLD CLASS AWARD WINNER
Geoff Andrews
Geoff moved from New Zealand to the US in the 1980’s to coach the New York Rugby team, and loved the city so much he never really left. He served in the Royal New Zealand Navy for many years as well as working for a food import business in the US. He was one of the original instigators of the Kiwi community in New York and was one of Kea’s former US directors. Early on in his US tenure he organised an annual Kiwi picnic for NZ expats involving pavlova and lolly scrambles which is still running to this day.
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