Nick Pyke

Nick is a Founder and Director of Ag Innovate Ltd and Leftfield Innovation Ltd. AgInnovate focusses on supporting innovation through high quality applied research and deliver benefits to New Zealand food producers and the agricultural industries. Leftfield Innovation is a social enterprise which uses market insights to develop diversified sustainable land uses delivering food for consumers. Nick has governance experience with agricultural businesses, farms, industry good organisations and a sports organisation and is currently Chair of AGMARDT, a director of Cropmark Seeds and Pāmu and chairs the advisory board of Auld Distillery.. He was CEO of FAR (Foundation for Arable Research) from its inception for over 20 years. He has held positions on a number of national advisory groups and is the recipient of a number of awards recognising his contribution to agriculture.

Ben Tosswill

Ben is the owner/operator of a 1300ha sheep and beef farm in Central Hawkes Bay. The business also includes a luxury glamp site, production forestry, and QEII protected native forest. A keen advocate of adopting technology on farm, Ben was an early adopter of cloud-based technology to drive efficiency. Prior to farming Ben worked as a rural bank manager before travelling throughout Africa, South America, and Europe. He lived in London for 3 years, where he worked as an analyst in corporate and investment banking. This experience, including working through the Global Financial Crisis, gave him insight into global finance, investment, and ignited a keen interest in future investment trends and technology. With a drive for continuous improvement, Ben has seen first-hand the positive impact that up-skilling and supporting innovation can have on a family, business, community, and wider industry. Ben is also the Chair of the Beef+Lamb NZ Eastern North Island Farmer Council and is a member of the Beef+Lamb NZ Farmer Council National Executive.

Justine Gilliland

Justine is an independent director and strategy consultant. Currently, on the boards of Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research; ESR; health provider Tui Ora; and Economic Development NZ, Justine is the former chief executive of Venture Taranaki. Prior to Venture Taranaki, Justine was Deputy Director-General Sector Partnerships and Programmes at the Ministry for Primary Industries, where she led multi-million dollar investment and R&D programmes, Māori partnerships, regional development, and previously ran the Ministry’s research and development and other external grants and funds. Before joining MPI, Justine led the Canterbury Earthquakes Royal Commission of Inquiry, and has held a range of senior management positions across communications, strategy and policy. Justine has also been admitted as barrister and solicitor of the High Court of New Zealand

Miriana Stephens

Miriana is a director for Wakatū Incorporation (Wakatū), its subsidiaries and various committees. Miriana is currently leading AuOra™ which is an associated business of Wakatū that invests in a portfolio of nutrition and ingredient applications which are sourced from the natural biomatter of Aotearoa, New Zealand that provide solutions for digestive, brain, inflammatory and metabolic health challenges. Miriana is also trustee on Te Āwhina Marae in Motueka and Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Rārua. She is a member of Nuku ki te Puku™ (a national Māori Food and Beverage cluster), the MPI Primary Sector Council, an assessor on the MBIE Endeavour Fund Impact Panel, an alumni of Te Hono (NZ agribusiness leaders) and the programme director for the Te Tauihu Intergenerational Strategy which is a new way of approaching regional development

Trish Rankin

Trish is a keen agvocate, combining her love of farming and as a project lead of Taranaki community catchment groups to help shape a flourishing farming future for NZ. With over 20 years in education roles alongside farming, she spends her time improving her knowledge and capability so she can help others grow, innovate, inspire and thrive too. With recent Post Grad study completed in Business, Innovation and Circular Economy, alongside attending the International Agribusiness Seminar from Harvard Business School, Trish can see that NZ is the Possible - where her four children can be proud to say their family works hard for our NZ agricultural sector. With AGMARDT, Trish looks forward to seeing tomorrow's problems being solved by new and intuitive thinking.

Lee-Ann Marsh

Lee-Ann is the General Manager of AGMARDT based in Auckland. A global marketer, Lee-Ann brings a powerful consumer lens the food and fibres sector. Prior to joining us as General Manager in 2021, Lee-Ann was Global Market Innovation Manager at Beef + Lamb New Zealand (B+LNZ). Previously she worked for Fonterra and Nestlé having moved to New Zealand in 2010 off the back of an international career working with blue chip clients across fast moving consumer packaged goods, healthcare, and technology. Lee-Ann is passionate about New Zealand’s global leadership role setting standards for healthy and sustainable food and fibre production, and moving beyond meeting market needs to actively anticipating them to positively impact people and the planet.

Kerryl Brazendale

Fiona Hatzilamprou