Speakers

Sarah is a senior leader at BNZ, an EMA Board member, and mother to two boys, with 18+ years' experience in Banking across Consumer, Commercial, Corporate, and Risk, in New Zealand and the UK. In 2022, when her second child was 8 weeks old, Sarah was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer. The initial shock of dealing with a life-threatening disease could derail most people but Sarah saw it as an opportunity to reset her priorities and take back control of her life.  Balancing chemo and radiation with a newborn and three-year-old is no easy feat but Sarah learned some new skills to take a challenging situation and turn it into an opportunity for growth. Now fit, healthy and cancer-free the future is even brighter for Sarah.

Yvonne Lorkin has been the drinks editor for Dish magazine for the last 13 years, wine reviewer for CANVAS in the NZ Herald for 8 years, a senior wine show judge for aeons and has been a regular television and radio wine commentator since ages ago. She’s also the co-founder and Chief Tasting Officer of personalised wine subscription service WineFriend, a Deloitte Fast50 company. She’s the Chairperson of the Rose Gold Trust, one of New Zealand’s newest women’s midlife health charity and she’s also on the Hawke’s Bay Emergency Response Team – so if there’s a cyclone she’ll safely see us through. In addition to being a proud Hawkesbaylien, this mother of two and a wife of one and is ridiculously excited to be appearing at our conference! Check out her regular wine reviews at yvonnelorkin.com And if you’d like Yvonne to choose delicious wines for you and send them to your door on a regular basis, just visit winefriend.co.nz and use the promo code YVONNE for 24% off your first subscription case.

Armed with a clear vision and an understanding of how NZ women like to dress, Deborah Caldwell launched STORM in 2005. STORM represents a confident, contemporary woman with an inner Rock n Roll attitude. STORM’s design mission is to make timeless styles with an iconic edge, sourcing exclusive prints and luxurious fabrics to bring those designs to life. Collections are exclusive and pieces are rarely repeated. The longevity of our pieces, in style and quality, is STORM’s prerogative. STORM offers iconic wardrobe staples and statement pieces that will always stand apart.

Justin Flitter founded AI New Zealand in 2017 to inspire, inform and accelerate AI for business adoption. Today NewZealand.AI is where Kiwi companies start their AI journey. In the last 6 months he’s worked with leadership teams of businesses with 50 to more than 1,000 people, helping them identify the use cases and deploy AI powered solutions to power-up productivity, performance and competitiveness. What’s driving this remarkable technology? What are the use cases transforming operational performance vs creating that competitive edge? How should your organisation accelerate its AI journey, and what if you don’t?

Introducing a man of resilience and determination: Despite a notably rough start in life, Sharn Piper ardently believes in the power of actions to shape our outcomes. Overcoming adversity, Sharn has successfully started and sold 4 companies, personally closed over $400 million dollars’ worth of sales, was the Australasian Sales Director for a Fortune 50 and today leads "Attain," a prominent Sales & Marketing consultancy that has offices in three countries. With a defining aspiration, Sharn’s life goal is to be known as the “most successful, unsuccessful person to ever live”, epitomising the spirit of triumph over trials.