Speakers

Meet some of our fantastic speakers lined up to speak at the Conference, with more to come 

Rt Hon Winston Peters
Deputy Prime Minister &
Minister of Foreign Affairs

Bio

Winston Peters entered Parliament in 1978 for the National Party as the MP for Hunua and was MP for Tauranga from 1984 till 2005. Mr Peters left the National Party in 1993 to establish the New Zealand First party and has been its leader ever since.

Mr Peters grew up in Northland and holds a BA and LLB. He has worked as a primary and secondary school teacher and has practised as a Barrister and Solicitor, including in his own law firm.

He is a former New Zealand Māori rugby representative.

Mr Peters is the Deputy Prime Minister (Until 31 May 2025), Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister for Racing and Minister for Rail.

Prof. Caitlin Byrne
Griffith University
*sponsored by Australian High Commission

Bio

As Pro Vice Chancellor (Business), Griffith University, Caitlin is committed to the delivery of contemporary business education and scholarship that delivers a sustainable, inclusive and prosperous future for communities across the globe. Having spent the past five years leading the University's research and engagement agenda related to strategic developments in Asia and the Pacific as Director of the Griffith Asia Institute, Cailtin brings a global leadership outlook, strengths in building multi-stakeholder partnerships, and a commitment to diversity. 

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Sam Sachdeva
Newsroom

Bio

Sam Sachdeva is the national affairs editor at Newsroom, where he focuses on foreign affairs and trade among other topics. He was chairman of the Parliamentary Press Gallery from 2019 to 2020, has covered visits abroad by four different New Zealand prime ministers during his decade-plus career as a journalist, and is the author of The China Tightrope: Navigating New Zealand's relationship with a world superpower.

Derek Grossman
Rand Corporation

Bio

Derek Grossman is a senior defense analyst at RAND and a professor of policy analysis at the Pardee RAND Graduate School. His research focuses on a range of national security policy and Indo-Pacific security issues. He closely tracks intensifying U.S.-China competition throughout the region, including Northeast, Southeast, South, and Central Asia as well as Oceania. He has led or participated in numerous RAND studies assessing regional responses to competition, with a particular emphasis on Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Pacific Island states, Philippines, Vietnam, and Taiwan.   

Read more here> 

Prof. Jason Mika
University of Auckland

Bio

Jason is Tūhoe, Ngāti Awa, Whakatōhea, and Ngāti Kahungunu. Jason works at at He Manga Tauhokohoko, University of Auckland Business School, Waipapa Taumata Rau as a Professor of Māori Management and Associate Dean Māori. Jason's research focuses on Māori and Indigenous business in multiple sites, sectors, and scales, including Indigenous trade.

Prof. Bethan Greener
Massey University

Bio

My research focuses on how states and others seek to provide for security and what this means for world order. This has resulted in books on international policing (2009), police and military roles in peace and stability operations (2014 co-authored with Will Fish) and an edited collection on the New Zealand Army (2017). Ongoing research interests include the relationship between liberalism and the use of force, how states seek to use their various agencies for security provision, international policing through the UN, South Pacific security, gender and security, and the nature of the relationship between public and private security.

Dr Reuben Steff
Waikato University

Bio

Dr Reuben Steff is Senior Lecturer of Geopolitics and International Relations at the University of Waikato, New Zealand. Prior to his time in academia, he spent 2.5 years working on international security issues in the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. His research includes great power competition, emerging technologies, nuclear deterrence theory, and New Zealand geopolitics. He has multiple journal publications, including ‘“Our region is now a strategic theatre”: New Zealand’s balancing response to China’ (Pacific Review, 2024) and is author of five books, including: New Zealand’s Geopolitics and the US-China Competition (Palgrave Macmillan, 2025), US Foreign Policy in the Age of Trump Drivers, Strategy and Tactics (Routledge, 2021), Emerging Technologies and International Security: Machines, the State and War (Routledge, 2020).

Emily Mosley
Australian Institute of
International Affairs

Bio

To come... 

Catherine Beard
Director, BusinessNZ

Bio

Catherine Beard is Director of Advocacy for BusinessNZ, New Zealand’s largest business advocacy network, representing thousands of businesses of all sizes.

BusinessNZ represents most large companies in New Zealand through our Major Companies Group, our Gold Group, the BusinessNZ Energy Council, ExportNZ, and Buy NZ Made. We also have more than 70 affiliated industry associations in our membership.

BusinessNZ is the ‘voice of business’, working for members large and small, including four large regional business associations, EMA, Business Central, Business Canterbury and Business South.

Catherine works with government and other key decision makers on issues of concern to New Zealand business.

Catherine has spent the last 30 years as a lobbyist and advocate for a wide range of industries on a wide range of issues, including climate change issues for the energy intensive sector, the insurance sector and the exporting and manufacturing sectors. Catherine has participated in Minister led trade to many countries and represents BusinessNZ at various international meetings.

Shamubeel Eaqub
Simplicity

Bio

Shamubeel Eaqub makes economics easy and fun. Shamubeel is the Chief Economist at Simplicity. He is also an author, media commentator and a thought leading public speaker. He graduated with Honours in Economics from Lincoln University and is also a CFA Charterholder.He has over two decades of experience as an economist in Wellington, Melbourne and Auckland in leading international banks and consultancy (ANZ Bank, Goldman Sachs JBWere, NZIER, Sense Partners and Simplicity). He balances a portfolio of economics, consulting, public speaking, governance and family duties. He lives in Auckland with his wife and two sons.

Prof. Lise Howard
Georgetown University
*sponsored by Fulbright NZ

Bio

Lise Morjé Howard is a tenured Professor at Georgetown University, with joint appointments in the Department of Government and the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service. She teaches and conducts research on matters of war, peace, and security. 

Dr. Howard earned her A.B. in Soviet Studies from Barnard College of Columbia University, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley. She studied Philology at Leningrad State University, and then Soviet Constitutional Law at the re-named St. Petersburg State University, during the collapse of the constitutional order. She has held yearlong residential fellowships at Stanford University (CISAC), Harvard University (Belfer Center), and the United States Institute of Peace.

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Dr James Kember
Chair, NZIIA

Bio

James Kember has a career in public service, primarily as a diplomat with assignments in Asia, the Pacific, Africa, Europe and at the United Nations, but also three years as director of the NZ Asia Institute at the University of Auckland, and nearly three years as adviser to a foreign minister.  He has also been an observer and occasional writer on foreign affairs topics, his last major piece being a chapter on Africa in the recently published book on New Zealand’s 2015-2016 term on the UN Security Council. From 2002-2006 he served on the board of New Zealand Pacific Economic Cooperation Council. He  has at various times served on the boards of the Wellington Youth Orchestra and of Wellington Chamber Music. He now chairs the management committee at the New Zealand Portrait Gallery, which oversees fundraising initiatives and operational matters.

Dr Hamish McDougall
Executive Director, NZIIA

Bio

Hamish McDougall is Executive Director of the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs Whare Tawahi-a-mahi i Aotearoa. He is a historian of international relations with a focus on the Cold War, decolonisation and New Zealand’s foreign and trade policies in the Twentieth Century. He has a Ph.D. in international history from LSE, which was awarded the Michael L. Dockrill Prize by the British International History Group for the best thesis at a British University in 2021. His other published work includes a book chapter in Ian McGibbon (ed.), New Zealand’s Foreign Service: A History, and articles on the negotiations for European Community enlargement; and the international aspects of the 1981 Springbok rugby tour of New Zealand. Outside of academia, he has an award-winning career in corporate and marketing communications in New Zealand and the United Kingdom. 

Zichen Wang
Center For China and Globalization
*sponsored by NZ China Council

Bio

Zichen Wang is the founder and editor of Pekingnology (www.pekingnology.com) and The East is Read (www.eastisread.com), two most-subscribed English-language newsletters on current affairs in China from within China. He is a Research Fellow and Director for International Communications at the Center for China and Globalization (CCG), a leading non-governmental think tank in Beijing since October 2022. Before that, he was a senior journalist for over 11 years at Xinhua News Agency, China’s state news agency, in China and Europe. Zichen has a Master in Public Policy (MPP) from the School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA), Princeton University.  He has been quoted and profiled in Western mainstream media and invited to speak at various international forums.

Dr Jason Young
New Zealand Contemporary
China Research Centre
*sponsored by Asia NZ Foundation

Bio

Jason Young is the Director of the New Zealand Contemporary China Research Centre and an Associate Professor in the School of History, Philosophy, Political Science and International Relations at Victoria University of Wellington. His research focuses on Chinese politico-economic and institutional reform, Chinese foreign policy and New Zealand-China relations. Jason is author of China’s Hukou System (Palgrave 2013) and a number of journal articles and chapters in both English and Chinese. His current research focuses on China's comprehensive strategic partnerships. Jason spent four years studying Chinese at Fu Jen and Tunghai Universities and travels regularly to China and Asia.

Emer. Prof. Roberto Rabel
Te Herenga Waka -
Victoria University of Wellington

Bio

Emeritus Professor Roberto Rabel is a Professorial Fellow at the Centre for Strategic Studies, Victoria University of Wellington (VUW). From 2006 to 2016, he was Pro Vice-Chancellor (International) at VUW. Since then, he has taught intermittently in International Relations at VUW and as a visiting professor at the University of Warsaw, Poland.

 

Professor Rabel holds a BA Honours degree in History and International Politics from VUW and a PhD in History from Duke University, where he was a Fulbright Scholar. From 1986 to 2006, Professor Rabel was in teaching and management roles at the University of Otago. He has authored or edited over 50 books and articles, including an official history, New Zealand and the Vietnam War: Politics and Diplomacy (2005). He is a Life Member and former National Vice-President of the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs (2009-2021).

Dr Julia Macdonald
Asia NZ Foundation
*sponsored by Asia NZ Foundation

Bio

Dr Julia Macdonald is Director of Research and Engagement at the Asia New Zealand Foundation and Senior Fellow with the Center of Strategic Studies at Victoria University of Wellington. Prior to joining the Foundation she held senior positions in New Zealand government and academia. Julia holds a PhD from the George Washington University, an MA (Hons) from the University of Chicago, and a BA(Hons) from the University of Canterbury, New Zealand.

Distinguished Prof.
Steven Ratuva
University of Canterbury

Bio

Steven Ratuva is the Pro-Vice Chancellor, Pacific as well as Distinguished Professor and Director of the Macmillan Brown Center for Pacific Studies. He is Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand and Chair of the International Political Science Association research committee on Climate Security and Planetary Politics. Steve is also member of a number of public boards including the Royal Society Te Apārangi, Climate Change Commission, Independent Accountability Group of the Human Rights Commission, and PBRF Sector Reference Group, to name a few.  

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Dr Anna Powles
Massey University

Bio

Anna Powles is an Associate Professor in the Centre for Defence and Security Studies, Massey University. She has been with Massey University since 2013. Her research focusses on geopolitical dynamics in the Pacific, Pacific security architecture, and security cooperation in the Pacific; and New Zealand foreign and defence policy.

Read more here>

Raf Manji
AsiaNZ Foundation
*sponsored by Asia NZ Foundation

Bio

Raf has a background in governance, risk, policy and strategy. Most recently, he led The Opportunities Party into the 2023 General Election. Prior to that, he served two terms as a Christchurch City Councillor, where he was Chair of the Finance Committee. 

He also acted as an Independent Advisor to the Christchurch Foundation on the distribution of donated funds and support to the victims of the 15th March Terror Attack. He was a director of Christchurch City Holdings Ltd and a member of Local Government working groups on Funding, Risk and Localism and the Central Government Working Group on Trade for All. 

Raf spent 11 years trading global markets and providing high-level macro-economic advice for investment banks in London from 1989-2000. He left banking to work for an environmental start-up, Trucost, which became a pioneering company focused on measuring and accounting for the environmental costs of business. 

In 2002, he moved to New Zealand and has since been actively involved in governance, strategy and social enterprise. He has worked with the AsiaNZ Foundation, the Christchurch Foundation, the Volunteer Army Foundation, Refugee Resettlement Services, Christchurch Budget Services, Pillars and the Christchurch Arts Festival as both a volunteer and board member. 

He has a degree in Economics and Social Studies from the University of Manchester, a Graduate Diploma in Political Science and a Masters in International Law and Politics from the University of Canterbury.

Sione Tekiteki
Auckland University of Technology

Bio

Mr Sione Tekiteki is a lawyer and Pacific issues expert with over 20 years’ practice experience in the Pacific. He started his professional career in Tonga, where he served as the parliamentary counsel before being appointed the Clerk of the House. Mr Tekiteki has worked at the regional level for over 12 years – serving in various political advisory roles, and most recently as the Director Governance and Engagement with the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, where he was responsible for security, governance, strategic engagement, international law and nuclear related matters. Mr Tekiteki is currently a Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Law, Auckland University of Technology. Mr Tekiteki holds a Bachelor of Commerce/Bachelor of Laws, and a Master of Laws (First Class) from the University of Auckland, NZ.

Dr Sarah Bradley
Conference MC

Bio

Sarah Bradley is a journalist, radio newsreader and television presenter. She is probably most well-known for her six-year stint as the co-host of TVNZ’s Good Morning Show alongside Brendon Pongia. Sarah was also the Business Editor at Three News for five years. 

Sarah lived for 10 years in New York City in the 1990s where she worked as a television journalist for ABC and CNN.  She also produced and presented news stories for Three News and Seven Network Australia. For Three News she covered the 50th anniversary of the United Nations, where she politely asked French President Jacques Chirac about nuclear testing in the South Pacific! Sarah revisited New York 20 years later and worked for the New Zealand Permanent Mission to the United Nations during our most recent membership of the Security Council in 2015 and 2016.

Sarah is currently working in a freelance capacity as a newsreader on RNZ. She recently completed her PhD in International Relations at Auckland University. Her thesis examined the independence process in New Caledonia.

Sarah enjoys jazz singing, travel, skiing, scuba diving, pole dancing and spending time with her daughter.

Jacqui Caine
Te Rūnanga o Ngai Tahu 

Bio

Jacqui Caine is the Group Head, Strategy & Environment, of Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu, where she is charged with protecting and advancing the Ngāi Tahu settlements, engaging with the Crown across a range of kaupapa and protecting te taiao. 

Jacqui has 25 years of experience at the MFAT and was New Zealand’s Ambassador to Chile, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, and Bolivia, from 2015 to 2018. She is currently a member of the Te Hurumanu partnership group that aims to bring a Tirohanga Māori perspective to the strategic policy and organisational issues facing MFAT. 

In 2019 Jacqui was appointed as one of the two Commissioners to lead the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Christchurch Mosque Attacks on 15 March 2019.   Jacqui is a Trustee of Te Rūnaka o Awarua, a Board member of Kiwifruit New Zealand and Kaitiaki for the Koi Tū Forum on participatory democracy.

HE Vasyl Myroshnychenko
Ukraine Ambassador to New Zealand

Bio

Vasyl Myroshnychenko resumed the role as the Ambassador of Ukraine to Australia on April 1, 2022. Prior to that, he served as a member of the Supervisory Board of the Ukrainian Institute, a cultural diplomacy outfit of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine. 

Prior to joining the Foreign Service in March 2022, he was an active business and civil society leader for two decades. 

He was a Chevening Scholar and earned MSc in Politics of the World Economy from the London School of Economics and Political Science in 2006. He also holds two degrees in international relations from Institute of International Relations, Kyiv National Shevchenko University. Vasyl has two children Yaroslava (21) and Yurii (8) and is married to Liana.

Abhishek Sharma
Observer Research Foundation

Bio

Abhishek Sharma is a Research Assistant at Observer Research Foundation's Strategic Studies Programme and a PhD Candidate in Korean Studies at Department of East Asian Studies, Delhi University. His doctoral thesis examines the Strategic Utility of North Korean cyber capabilities. His research focuses on the Indo-Pacific regional security and geopolitical developments with a special focus on Northeast Asia. He has worked as a Research Associate with the Centre for Air Power Studies (CAPS). He has been a Non-Resident Kelly Fellow with Pacific Forum and NASC Fellow with Takshashila Institution. 

Abhishek graduated in International Relations from South Asian University in 2021. His writings have been featured in several prominent publications including The Korea Times, Lowy Institute, The Hindu, Indian Express, Nikkei Asia, East Asian Forum, NK News, South Korea Pro, and SCMP. He has also published for peer-reviewed journal.

Dr Serena Kelly
University of Canterbury

Bio

Dr Serena Kelly is the vice-chair of the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs (NZIIA) President of the European Studies Association Australia and New Zealand (ESAANZ), and Principal Research Fellow at the Institute for Indo-Pacific Affairs. 
Her current research uses content media analysis to examine the impact and reception of external players in the Indo-Pacific and New Zealand.

Prof. Alan Tidwell
Georgetown University

Bio

Alan Tidwell is Professor of the Practice and Director of the Center for Australian, New Zealand and Pacific Studies (CANZPS) at the Georgetown University Walsh School of Foreign Service. His areas of interest include Australian-American relations, smaller states of Oceania, and conflict resolution. 

His recent publications have focused on Pacific Islands statecraft, subnational actors in the Indo-Pacific, Australia’s diplomatic engagement with the US, and the strategies of small state advocacy in Washington. 

In 2023, he received the School of Foreign Service Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching. 

Before joining Georgetown University, he was a program officer with the USIP, specializing in conflict resolution and capacity building in maritime Southeast Asia, particularly in the Philippines and Indonesia. 

In 1992, Tidwell, a Washington D.C. native, moved to Sydney, Australia, where he was a senior lecturer at the Macquarie Graduate School of Management, focusing on conflict management and negotiation.

Dr Ashalyna Noa
University of Canterbury
*sponsored by Asia NZ Foundation

Bio

Ashalyna Noa has been a member of the Asia New Zealand Foundation Leadership Network since 2017. She is a Pacific Academic Lead in the Pacific Knowledge and Culture Hub at the University of Canterbury (UC). 

Ashalyna holds a PhD from the UC Macmillan Brown Centre for Pacific Studies, which explored New Zealand and China’s foreign aid in the Pacific and Samoan stakeholder perceptions. She remains passionate about amplifying Pacific peoples’ connections with Asia through her work with the 03: Talanoa on Asia. Ashalyna currently serves as the Vice President (Southern Region) for P.A.C.I.F.I.C.A. Inc, a national NGO for Pacific women in Aotearoa New Zealand, and has recently completed a term as President of PACIFICA Christchurch.

Kristy Harrison
Stantec

Bio

Kristy Harrison has over 20 years of experience in environmental and social risk management. She provides technical leadership in the areas of infrastructure development and climate finance across the Indo-Pacific Region.

Esther Guy-Meakin
NZIIA Board Member

Bio

Esther Guy-Meakin joined the Board of the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs (NZIIA) in 2024, bringing with her experience across diplomacy, trade, and public policy. 

She began her career at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, where she focused on trade negotiations, and later served as a diplomat in India for three years. Since leaving the Ministry, Esther has held senior roles within agriculture, consulting and the energy sector focusing on communications, government affairs, advocacy, and regulatory policy. 

Her cross-sector expertise and global perspective help contribute to informed and thoughtful policy engagement with pragmatic outcomes.

Caren Rangi
RangiKaitao Services

Bio

CAREN RANGI, ONZM, FCA (Cook Islands Maori -Rakahanga, Rarotonga, Aitutaki, Tongareva) Caren is a proud Cook Islander, experienced governor and facilitator, qualified accountant and auditor. Her current governance roles include Chair of Pacific Homecare Services, Pro Chancellor of Massey University, Director for NZ Rugby and Deputy Chair of Pacific Co-operation Broadcasting Ltd. In addition to her own board work, she works with aspiring governors and boards through governance training and support.

To come...

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