2022

Geoff Andrews was one of the original connectors of the Kiwi community in New York and is responsible for bringing together hundreds of offshore Kiwi over the decades. He first moved to the city to coach the New York Rugby team and loved the Big Apple so much he made it his home. He was a former US Regional Director for Kea as well as a retired Navy man and a Waikato farmer. During his early days in the US he organised a Kiwi style picnic for expats which still runs to this day. Geoff passed away in his sleep last year aged 76, and is being awarded a posthumous World Class New Zealand Award for all the work he did in establishing the Kiwi community in New York.

Arama Kukutai has been recognised for his work as a global leader in the agritech industry. He is of Ngāti Tipa, Maniapoto, Te Aupōuri, 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 and Partner at Finistere Ventures, one of the pioneering venture capital firms dedicated to agritech which has supported dozens of Kiwi startups. He has helped connect Kiwi tech entrepreneurs into Silicon Valley and is focused on helping provide Māori with opportunities to pursue careers in agritech. Arama is also the CEO of Plenty, an indoor vertical farming operation, aiming to revolutionise the way food is produced and ensure fresh food is available to all.

Dave is the co-founder of a technology company, Nuro, which is focused on accelerating the benefits of robotics in everyday life. In five years his company, which is based in California, has grown to employ 630 people and developed the first self-driving vehicle to receive a permit to operate on US roads. During the pandemic he volunteered his company’s technology to enable contactless delivery of food and medicine to essential workers in the community.

Before starting Nuro he was a principal engineer on Google’s self-driving program, and one of his algorithms is currently being used for long range autonomy on NASA’s Mars rovers.

He is passionate about getting other young Kiwi into the tech sector and has just created a scholarship for robotics students at University of Otago. His vision is to create a world where robots can take over the more mundane areas of our lives allowing us to have more time to connect with people and do the things we love.

Guled Mire has been recognised for his leadership and contribution to public policy and his efforts to better connect ethnic and minority communities into Aotearoa. He’s a human rights advocate who works to champion the way forward for a more inclusive New Zealand. Guled 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. He became a spokesperson for the Muslim community following the Christchurch Mosque attacks.

Zion Armstrong is a former Commonwealth Games athlete who represented New Zealand in athletics on the world stage in Kuala Lumpur. He started working in the sportswear industry at the age of 16 and later joined Adidas where he climbed through the company ranks working in Germany, Hong Kong, South Korea, and the US before being named president for Adidas North America. However Zion’s life could have gone down a very different track if it wasn’t for the help of a Kiwi cop and athletics coach who showed him a different path. Zion has never forgotten the impact of his first mentor and during his career has always worked to help anyone who asks for it. 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. He believes if you put people first, results will always follow.

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 successfully developing and implementing the transformational 2017-2025 women’s strategic plan, to promote, grow and commercialise the game. She’s a passionate advocate for women in sport and in 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. She’s also focused on developing participation in rugby in regions where women’s rights have previously been impeded – including Iran, Syria, Malaysia, Lao. For many years she has mentored others into sports management roles and has created programmes and pathways to connect other women into sport.

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2022

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