Sustainable Business Awards

Barry Coates is founder and CEO of Mindful Money, a social enterprise shifting investment towards ethical investment and sustainability. Barry has been active in sustainability since the Earth Summit in 1992, working in NZ and internationally on fair trade, climate change and poverty. Barry has worked across business, government and charities. Since returning to NZ in 2003, he was head of Oxfam Aotearoa for a decade, initiated a sustainability programme at The University of Auckland and was briefly a Green Party list MP. Barry has a Master’s in Management from Yale University and was awarded Sustainability Champion in the 2016 NZI Sustainable Business Network Awards. Barry has many years of governance experience, including on boards of member organisations. He is an enthusiastic supporter of SBN’s work.

Dawn is a highly experienced sustainability business leader. She has a passion for embedding sustainability into core business strategy, building purpose led brands and strong customer and employee value propositions. Over the last 5 years, Dawn has worked with the integrated thinking and reporting (International Integrated Reporting Council) framework as a critical tool for understanding all forms of value creation.

Dawn has worked for 11 years as a sustainability professional working in New Zealand and Denmark, 8 years as Head of Procurement at Westpac Banking Corporation, New Zealand and 10 years in social housing in the UK.

She is the editor and initiator of the Change the World for $15 book in New Zealand.
Dawn holds a Masters of Science in Responsibility and Business Practice from Bath University, UK and is an alumni of the Cambridge Institute of Sustainable Leadership Executive programme.

Jacqueline is a founding Partner of The Purpose Business. She is a passionate advocate for values and purpose driven business, and bringing the customer’s voice into an organisation to drive better decisions, performance and results. She has over two decades of experience working with leading New Zealand businesses and brands to improve the quality of their stakeholder engagement and reputation capital. Jacqueline is recognised as a thought leader in sustainable business and brand strategy. In her previous role leading New Zealand’s most respected market insights agency, she created The Colmar Brunton Better Business Report, a seven year longitudinal study into the growth of conscious consumerism in New Zealand.

Dr Bruce Burns is an Associate Professor in Ecology at the University of Auckland. His passions are native plants and forests – how they work, how they survive in the face of multiple threats, and how we can conserve and restore them. He is also active in promoting and progressing sustainability within the University. Bruce previously worked as a scientist at Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research, is a past-President of the New Zealand Ecological Society, and has served previously as a trustee on several conservation and restoration committees and projects, e.g., Tāne’s Tree Trust, WWF-NZ, Motutapu Restoration Trust. Currently, he is a member of the Scientific and Technical Advisory Panel of Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari.

Marion heads Commonsense, New Zealand’s leading organic retailer.  She is Chair of the Organic Retailers of New Zealand and on the Board of Fair Trade Wellington.  She is a former Vice Chair of SBN and was Chair of the Board of the Central Region for several years.  Her focus is on making organic food more accessible to New Zealanders and developing a successful business paradigm based on a clear understanding of the interconnections between financial, environmental and social realities.

Olie Body is an Edmund Hillary Fellow, Obama Foundation Leader, TEDx Speaker and an award winning storyteller and social entrepreneur. Through giving people the tools to manage menstruation sustainably, she's is at the forefront of a paradigm shift: shaping what it means to inhabit this earth consciously, and with a pair of ovaries. Olie founded the social enterprise Wā Collective to connect people with their own bodies and to Papatūānuku (mother earth), using humour, heart and inclusivity.

Ralph has researched renewable energy and climate change mitigation for several decades. He chaired the Royal Society of New Zealand panel for the 2016 study Transition to a Low-Carbon Economy for New Zealand. He has also led author chapter teams for the Assessment Reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Ralph was Senior Researcher for Renewables at the International Energy Agency (IEA), Paris and currently serves on the Scientific and Technical Advisory Panel for the Global Environment Facility (GEF), based in Washington DC. He is contracted by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation to lead several projects on reducing greenhouse gas emissions in agri-food supply chains, has a major interest in sustainable cities, and has consulted for many organisations and businesses including OECD, Shell, Chevron, Meridian Energy.

Sophia is a woman on a mission; to effect positive change for future generations.

Her Te Ao Māori and Fa'asamoa upbringing have instilled in her a deep understanding and passion for kaitiakitanga - the guardianship and protection of the environment. She believes that one cannot be separated from the other, that we are all connected ancestrally.

As Social Responsibility Manager, Sophia fosters Dempsey Wood's kaupapa, implementing initiatives and long-term objectives that positively contribute to, and enhance our social fabric.

Sarah Holden has 20 years’ experience helping organisations achieve measurable success through business sustainability. She has worked with a range of businesses including Westpac NZ, IAG NZ, AA Insurance, Suncorp NZ, Audi, Allpress Espresso, Spark NZ, Stride, Bupa, Naylor Love, Stuff, OfficeMax, Oji Fibre Solutions, Port of Tauranga, European Motor Distributors and Trade Me on the development and execution of sustainability strategy and corporate responsibility measures.  

Sarah has a PhD in environmental and marine science, and is a member of Al Gore’s Climate Reality Leadership Corps, Carbon and Energy Professionals NZ.  She is a B Consultant, trained by B Lab ANZ to help companies become certified B Corps.  She is a volunteer in her local Fire Brigade.

Jen is co-founder of Wishbone Design Studio, a family-owned design and export business which aims to influence consumer and manufacturer behaviour in the global toy sector.  Wishbone's award-winning products are designed for multi-functionality, modularity, longevity & refurbishment. They use recycled raw materials for waste reduction. Prior to founding Wishbone, Jen represented New Zealand in multilateral fisheries and law of the sea negotiations. Jen has worked as an international lawyer in Wellington, London, New York, Washington DC and Africa, and as a ski instructor in Canada and Austria.

Juhi Shareef is the Chief Responsibility officer at Tourism Holdings Ltd where she oversees risk and sustainability for the business, including their commitment to the Future-Fit Business Benchmark. As Chair of the Battery Industry Group (B.I.G.), Juhi led the design of a product stewardship scheme for large batteries that supports a circular economy.

Juhi is Co-Founder of PROJECT:MOONSHOT, an initiative that aims to accelerate the shift to regenerative economic systems. The latest Moonshot initiative is the Moonshot Map of circular and regenerative projects across Aotearoa NZ.

Juhi is Global Strategic Advisor for Eco-Age. Working with Eco-Age in the UK she was responsible for sustainability strategies and ethical supply chain for clients including: Marks & Spencer, the Kering Group, Stella McCartney, Wembley Stadium, the British Film Institute (BFI) and The FA.

Rod has 40 years’ experience as an international business journalist. He has worked for various publications in Europe and North America, including the Financial Times of London. For more than a decade, Rod has been helping fast-growing New Zealand companies through his involvement with The ICEHOUSE, the entrepreneurship centre at The University of Auckland’s Business School.

He contributes weekly to Nine to Noon, Newsroom.co.nz and Newstalk ZB. He is a frequent public speaker on deep sustainability, business, economics, innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship, in both NZ and global contexts.

Chris Lijzenga is a Sustainability Advisor at New Zealand Trade & Enterprise. Chris supports kiwi exporters on their sustainability journey and also represents NZTE on collaborative projects with the Sustainable Business Network like the Climate Action Toolbox and Go Circular. Chris has a Masters in Sustainable Entrepreneurship from the University of Groningen in the Netherlands.

Gerri has over 15 years’ experience in sustainability advice and strategy development. Previously, Gerri was the Head of Sustainability at Z Energy for over 8 years; leading Z’s decarbonization pathway, climate reporting, community impact initiatives, and waste reduction activities. Prior to Z she worked for central government for 7 years: first at the Ministry for Environment for 5 years, where she led the Carbon Neutral Public Service programme and voluntary carbon markets advice to business; and for 2.5 years at the Department of Conservation, where she led the Business and Biodiversity Offsetting CDRP Programme. She has a Masters in International Law from the University of Nottingham, and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Waikato. 

Vincent is an award-winning communications expert with 25 years’ experience in media and advertising. A creative thinker and business developer, he’s launched multiple brands, including Idealog and Good and been a co-founder of multiple awards programmes. Science, tech, sustainability and business are his thing. He established the Science Media Centre, taught science and maths at High School, and is the host of the podcast ‘This Climate Business’.

Now he’s turning that experience into advice, helping businesses grow their influence through storytelling and market-readiness. He’s an Executive Director with Anthem, an integrated marketing communications group, and a freelance consultant to startups and cool companies.