Mentors

Catherine Drayton

UC alumna, Catherine Drayton is a professional director. Her current directorships include: Guardians of New Zealand Superannuation (chair), Mint Innovation (chair), Christchurch International Airport (chair), Genesis Energy and Southern Cross (both Medical Care Society and Health Trust). Her previous directorships include Ngāi Tahu Holdings, Beca, Meridian Energy, University of Canterbury Council, and Powerbyproxi.

Catherine is formerly the partner in charge of advisory and assurance for PwC for Central & Eastern Europe (excluding Russia) and spent 20 years working overseas.

Don Elder

Don's an engineer (UC and Oxford).  He worked in NZ, Canada, Australia, UK and the US in energy, resources, environment, construction, manufacturing, tech and startups, many as CE/MD, and was a director of ASB Bank; Sovereign Life; Lyttelton, Napier & Halifax Ports; Orion & Alpine Energy; and multiple tech companies and startups.  He's been chair of Infratec, Spanbild, Concision, CCN (health alliance), and industry/business organisations in NZ & internationally.  

Don’s currently a director of Pioneer Energy, Wenita (forestry) and CSI (SaaS), chair of Family Help Trust and trustee of The Loft (social services).  He mentors CEs & executives, and enjoys helping them learn and develop with hopefully fewer scars than he acquired.

Don Miskell

Don, a founding director of Boffa Miskell, an environmental planning and design consultancy, was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2014 for his contributions to Landscape Architecture. Don was instrumental in the master planning of Christchurch following the 2011 earthquakes, amongst many other large projects he was involved with across New Zealand. He has also participated in executive education programmes at Harvard's Business School, Kennedy School, and Graduate School of Design.

Gillian Simpson

Gillian is a passionate educator and educational leader and brings a breadth and depth of experience locally and nationally in both management and governance in the sports and education sectors. She held various director roles including NZ Rowing and Anglican Schools NZ, and has been on the University of Canterbury Council, Canterbury Rugby Football Union Board, and Christ’s College Canterbury Board. As the founder and trustee of Educating Girls Globally (EGG), she works across seven countries to advance girls' education. Gillian continues to shape education as an independent consultant in strategy and organisational development as a member of Global Women NZ.

Guy Horrocks

Guy is a tech entrepreneur who is the co-founder of SOLVE, a data platform for ecommerce. He sold his last mobile startup, Carnival in 2016. Carnival's customers included many Fortune500 companies such as: Expedia, T-Mobile, Target, Sephora, CNN etc. and was backed by Google.

Guy began his career at UC, winning the Entré $60k competition for a blood spatter analysis startup. He founded the world's first iPhone app company in 2007, Polar Bear Farm, gaining the attention of Apple and launching over 100 mobile apps. Guy hosts a monthly Flat White Entrepreneur Meetup, and sits on the board of NZME.

Mark Verbiest

Mark is an experienced company director, currently serving as Chair of Meridian Energy and Summerset Group Holdings. He is a former Chair of Freightways, Spark,  Transpower New Zealand and Willis Bond Capital and has also been a director of ANZ NZ and other entities. He is a former board member of the Financial Markets Authority and former member of the Advisory Board to New Zealand Treasury, and was a member of the senior executive team of Telecom NZ, prior to which he was a partner in national law firm Simpson Grierson for many years.

Mark has had significant involvement and experience in the energy and technology sectors, as well as capital markets, in a variety of roles, over many years.  

Phil Veal

UC engineering alumnus, Phil Veal is working towards a more productive and sustainable world by investing in and building great New Zealand businesses. He is co-founder of private investment company Business Syndications, and a board director of air ambulance company Skyline Healthcare, leading landscaper Natural Habitats, and tourism technology firm Magic Memories.

Phil was formerly CEO of Rangatira, an investment company with stakes in Hellers, Rainbow’s End, and Tuatara Brewing. Earlier he worked in investment banking and management consulting, spending most of his career based in New York City. As Global Chair of Kea, Phil is Kaitiaki (guardian) of one of New Zealand’s greatest resources: our global talent network of over one million New Zealanders offshore.

Roger Gray

Roger became Port of Auckland's Chief Executive Officer in March 2022, and is leading a commercial, cultural and safety transformation of the port. Before joining Port of Auckland, Roger was CEO of Lyttelton Port Company for two years. Lyttleton is the main import and export hub of the South Island. Prior to that Roger worked for Air New Zealand for 6.5 years. His last role at Air New Zealand was Group General Manager Airports, in which he managed all ground handling and lounge operations at 55 airports around the globe, covering 2,800 staff who handle 18 million passengers annually.

He has held several senior leadership roles with Goodman Fielder, including Managing Director of Quality Bakers – New Zealand. Prior to joining Goodman Fielder Roger served for 20 years in the Australian Army, retiring as a Lieutenant Colonel. He holds an MBA, a Masters of Business in Integrated Logistics Management, as well as Bachelor Degrees in Economics and Arts. Born in Australia, Roger first came to live in New Zealand in 2007, he fell in love with our beautiful country and now calls it home. Four years ago, he became a New Zealand citizen. An Australian Rules tragic, Roger barracks for the Melbourne Football Club.

Rob Fyfe

Rob joined the Air Force before completing a Bachelor of Engineering at UC. He was a Flight Commander in charge of maintenance of No 75 Fighter Squadron at age 24 and has held positions with BNZ, National Australia Bank, Telecom, ITV in the UK and led Air New Zealand as CEO for seven years.

Rob has a UC Honorary Doctorate of Commerce, and was recently appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for his services to business and tourism. Today Rob splits his time between directorships of several public and private companies, investing in early stage businesses and mentoring their founders, and advising the Prime Minister and Government on New Zealand’s Covid recovery strategy.

Rob Waddell

One of New Zealand’s highly respected Sportsman, Rob is a World Champion, Gold Medal Olympian and a three-times Halberg Sportsman of the Year recipient. He’s also a previous crew-member of Team NZ for three gruelling, exciting campaigns.

Rob, former Chef De Mission for the New Zealand Olympic and Commonwealth teams, also has an honours degree in Business, and heads his own Strategy and Sponsorship Company supporting Sport’s Organisations and a number of different charities. Rob is no stranger to hard work, tenacity, and excellence - qualities emulated in his current leadership roles. Rob is also a devoted family man with a humble and philanthropic nature.

Sally Peterson

Sally is a for-purpose sector leader and is the founding Chief Executive of Live Ocean Foundation, a marine conservation charity established by champion sailors Peter Burling and Blair Tuke. Her passion and interest in the nonprofit and philanthropic sector has been honed over the past decade after spending her early career in corporate communications, specialising in crisis communications and media management.

Her knowledge of the charity sector was further enhanced at the Australian School of Non-profit and Philanthropic Studies (ACPNS) where in 2017 she earned distinction in a Graduate Certificate in Business (Philanthropy and Non-profit studies). Sally is also a trustee for the Duncan Foundation, a national support service for people living with neuromuscular conditions. She is an Alumni of the University of Canterbury and a New Zealand Broadcasting School graduate.

Sam Johnson

Sam Johnson is the Founder and Chief Executive of Student Volunteer Army. Each year the SVA has over 50,000 young people aged 6-26 engaged in their volunteering programmes across New Zealand. His work has focused on enabling students to self-organise projects and build on the legacy of the University of Canterbury student response to the Christchurch earthquakes.

Sam is an Adjunct Fellow in the school of Education and Leadership at the University of Canterbury, member of Westpac Bank Sustainability Panel and is on the board of the Isaac Theatre Royal and Prince’s Trust New Zealand.