David Bill, Interaction Designer
Booz Allen Hamilton

David Bill is an interaction designer. He has done research on, redesigned websites and mobile apps for, and brought service design to federal government agencies and startups.

David has a background in education and design. He taught secondary school world history and was an education technology director for two schools. As a design strategist, he redesigned classrooms, helped reimagine libraries, improved the service and customer experience at a mobile food market, and created the framework for and coached two incubator programs.

His passions are varied and lie at the intersection of design & technology, movement / wellness / mindfulness, learning, culture & society, biking, and porridge.

Greg Broadmore, Studio Director
Weta Gameshop / Magic Leap

I am a human male who likes to make things up and pretend that they’re real.

Kaila Colbin, Co-founder, Boma Global / CEO, Boma New Zealand
Boma Global / Boma New Zealand

She spearheaded the hugely successful SingularityU New Zealand and Australia Summits, introducing more than 2,500 people to exponential technologies and their impact on humanity. She is a certified facilitator of Brené Brown’s Dare To Lead™ programme.

Kaila is also a co-founder of the non-profit Ministry of Awesome; the Curator and Licensee for TEDxChristchurch in New Zealand and TEDxScottBase in Antarctica; Chair of the New York-based culinary school Natural Gourmet Institute; Deputy Chair of CORE Education; and Deputy Chair of ChristchurchNZ.

Her purpose in life is to be an uplifting presence.

Neil Meekin, Innovation Manager
Fire and Emergency NZ

Neil Meekin is Innovation Manager at Fire and Emergency NZ, one of Aotearoa New Zealand’s most trusted public organisations. He is helping to spearhead transformation and change by harnessing the collective intelligence of its 14,000 people as it goes through the biggest reform in its 150 years history.

As an active citizen Neil acts as an agent of change and utilises the Public sector as a vehicle for change and innovation for the benefit of all New Zealanders. He is passionate about building community and sharing knowledge and is a founding member of the New Zealand Public Sector Innovation Network.

He has a background and experience that spans New Zealand, the UK, Australia, Canada and the US setting up and running crowdsourcing and employee driven innovation programs for Government through to Fortune 500 companies.

Samantha Gadd, CEO / Director
Humankind / Kin

Samantha Gadd is Founder and Managing Director of Humankind, a business with the vision to create the best employee experiences in the world. Humankind (formerly HR Shop) was a 2015 Deloitte Fast 50 winner, and named fastest growing services business in the Wellington region in the same year.

Samantha is obsessed with Employee Experience and the difference it can have on business performance. Samantha has advised hundreds of organisations over the last 15 years on leadership, culture, performance and all things people. She is passionate about the future of work and the importance of modern leadership to attract and retain top talent. Samantha is currently focused on growing Humankind and recently launched Kin (sister company to Humankind) and building an exemplar employee experience in both organisations. In 2018 Samantha also launched the first Employee Experience Awards programme in New Zealand. Also Mum to three young boys, Samantha is experienced at blending life and work.

Topaz Adizes, Founder / Creative Director
Skin Deep / {THE AND}

Topaz Adizes is an award winning Writer, Director & Experience designer. His films have been selected to Cannes (BOY), Sundance (Trece Años, Laredo Texas, {THE AND} Marcela & Rock), IDFA, SXSW, Cinéma Du Réel, and other festivals around the world.

His interactive documentary {THE AND} won the Emmy for New Approaches to Documentary 2015 as well as the World Press Photo award for Best Interactive Documentary 2015. {THE AND} was also a viral sensation reaching #1 on Reddit and Buzzfeed and experienced by over 70 million users, featured on the CBS Morning show and Good Morning America and selected to numerous international digital storytelling competitions.

Trent Yeo, Co-founder / Director
ZipTrek Ecotours

I am a happy generalist. Happy to be generally in this space.

A very proud New Zealand resident. I grew up in Australia as a Chinese Malaysian Australian, spent a reasonable amount of time in Asia and have New Zealand business partners that are Canadian…to get a diverse view of the world.

My primary role was establishing Ziptrek NZ with a view that sustainability in tourism is both a responsibility and a characteristic that we must value. Earth is really a good planet and travel within it should be one of the most powerful forces for good.

As I generalist away I am a board member Tourism Industry Aotearoa, founding trustee of Startup Queenstown Lakes, retired TEDx organiser, sustainability broken record and active participant in all things new and shiny.

Vicki Phillips, Executive Vice President / Chief Education Officer
National Geographic

Dr. Vicki Phillips oversees the National Geographic Society’s education strategy and programs focused on transforming the classroom experience for millions of students and educators to inspire the next generation of planetary stewards.

Phillips’ career in education spans more than three decades, driven by a fierce determination to help all students realize their dreams. She has tirelessly championed students’ rights to a high-quality education through her many leadership roles, including as a teacher, state-level policymaker, nonprofit leader, superintendent of schools, chief state school officer and K-12 education director.

Prior to joining the National Geographic Society, Philips served as an education strategist in the United States and internationally; as CEO in Residence for Educurious; and, for nearly a decade, as the Director of Education, College Ready, at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

DK (Master of Ceremonies)
Creative Producer / Speaker Coach

As a Creative Producer, DK crafts delicious learning experiences for clients and is the TEDxWellington / TEDxWellingtonWomen licensee, plus the founder of the Creative Leadership NZ conference. He’s also a Speaker Coach, working with CEO’s and senior executives plus a random ex-All Black and Dame thrown into the mix. Previously, DK founded Mediasnackers and through it has over a decade of working in the social media space consulting / delivering training on five continents and to a cross-sector range of clients from UNICEF, Gates Foundation, BBC, Ubisoft, Hasbro plus spent time as a social media manager for a national education company in NZ. He also established Collider, a city-wide programme focussed on transforming Wellington into an internationally recognised Smart Capital (with 200 events in 14 months with over 5000 attendees averaging quality rating of 4.2 and above (out of 5)). DK loves ‽’s.