Keynote speakers
Learn about our inspirational keynote speakers.
Holly (Te Arawa, Ngāti Whakaue, Ngāti Pikiao) is the managing director of lobbying firm Awhi, and founder of government relations training organisation Engage. She is driven by a keen desire to ensure the government relations industry is accessible to all. Holly was named Young Business Person of the Year at the Newmarket Business Awards in 2022, while Awhi won the People and Capability Category at the MWDI Māori Business Women Awards. In 2023 Holly was named in the University of Auckland’s 40 Under 40 list. She is a lawyer by trade, and a former columnist for National Business Review (NBR) and Newsroom.
Jon Duffy is the Chief Executive of Consumer NZ. Jon has made a career of fighting for consumers. He has a deep interest in sustainability and the environmental impacts of consumption, data ethics and promoting equity. Jon was previously the Assistant Privacy Commissioner, Head of Trust & Safety at Trade Me and worked as a Senior Investigator at the Commerce Commission.
Dr. Lucy Hone is a world-leading authority on resilience, blending academic expertise with personal experience. As director of the New Zealand Institute of Wellbeing & Resilience and a Psychology Today blogger, she has helped thousands globally develop practical resilience strategies. Her TED Talk, Three Secrets of Resilient People, has been viewed over nine million times.
Lucy’s expertise is grounded in research—she holds a master’s degree in resilience psychology from the University of Pennsylvania and a PhD in wellbeing science from AUT University. Her work is widely published in peer-reviewed journals and cited internationally. As a self-described "pracademic," she bridges the gap between research and real-world application, making resilience science accessible and actionable.
Her bestselling book, Resilient Grieving, offers a powerful framework for navigating loss, shaped by personal tragedy. She also co-authored The Educator’s Guide to Whole-School Wellbeing, supporting schools in fostering resilience. Featured in The Guardian, The Washington Post, and the BBC, Lucy is committed to helping individuals and organisations overcome adversity and embrace fulfilling lives, proving that resilience is not just possible—it’s teachable.
Having worked in multiple industries, Lisa is obsessed with helping people to be better - better leaders, better employees and better entrepreneurs. She understands the tricky balance of being all things to all people running several business and being a mother of four children. Lisa is guaranteed to leave you inspired, energised and ready to change the way you think about life. Passionate about inspiring action and helping people get out of their own way, Lisa has the unique ability to deliver heavy messages in a light and relatable way. After more than a decade on stage, Lisa is consistently top-rated in conference evaluations. Participants love her straight-talking, refreshing wisdom and infectious laughter. She's written seven books, with her latest focussed on energy, bringing awareness to the importance of getting, guarding and giving energy.
Contaminated Land Management keynote speakers
Professor Brett Robinson - School of Physical & Chemical Sciences, University of Canterbury - seeks to create economic and environmental value from biowastes by ensuring that biowastes and the nutrients they contain improve our soils rather than degrade our waters. While the programme is based on Environmental Chemistry, it requires significant contributions from ecologists, ecotoxicologists, microbiologists, experts in land management, social scientists and Māori knowledge.
Confidence in New Zealand’s food products and the marketing of NZ as “100% pure” rely on our land-based industries combining a high level of production while minimising the entry of contaminants into foods or local environments. New Zealand’s economy is vulnerable if contaminant are found in NZ produce or our land and water becomes degraded to the point where it reduces the tourist dollars spent here. Biowastes (wastes of biological origin) are arguably the most important contributor to the degradation of New Zealand’s economy and environment when they enter waterways, contaminate high-value land, or require costly disposal. Biowastes in the form of nutrient-rich animal and human wastes currently contaminate rivers, lakes, and harbours. Most of New Zealand’s biosolids go to landfills - at great expense. Pine waste is dumped in large piles that leach tannins and degrade waterways and composts made from municipal green waste are under-utilised.
Jackie Wright is the Director/Principal of Environmental Risk Sciences Pty Ltd. She has more than 30 years’ experience in human health and environmental risk assessment in Australia.
Experience includes the conduct of numerous risk assessments of varying complexity, leading and developing a national risk practice group for a major consultancy, providing professional training and direction, developing technical standards and guidance, developing appropriate risk models, providing peer-review and expert evidence.
Jackie has been heavily involved in the development of national guidance and investigation levels as presented in the National Environment Protection Measure (NEPM) for Site Contamination (2013), CRC CARE Technical Guidance on Petroleum Vapour Intrusion and Silica-Gel Cleanup, Australian Crime Commission Assessment and Remediation of Clandestine Drug Laboratories (2011) and Australian Voluntary Code of Practice, Assessment, remediation and validation: Former clandestine drug laboratories and other methamphetamine contaminated properties.
WasteMINZ exists to make a positive environmental impact on Aotearoa New Zealand
