John Barnett, NZOM, CEO, South Pacific Pictures, Auckland

John Barnett is Chief Executive of South Pacific Pictures, New Zealand’s largest television and film production company.  In his 35 year career he has produced television drama, documentaries and feature films including Oscar nominated Whale Rider.
John has been active in industry politics.  He has served two terms on the New Zealand Film Commission and was on the NZ Screen Council.
He was a co-founder of OnFilm, the industry magazine and the Sundance Channel (NZ).
In 2002 he was SPADA/OnFilm Industry Champion.
In 2003 he was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to the film industry. 
In 2007 he received an honorary Doctor of Commerce Degree from Victoria University for his contribution to the NZ Screen Industry.

 “I’ve watched Rhonda develop Kiwa Media over quite a few years.  I’m absolutely impressed by the innovation shown by Rhonda and her team.  She sets out to solve a problem and whilst doing that she invents a new application. Their determination and “can do” approach is a lesson for all."

John Barnett

 

Prof. John Hosking, Director, Centre for Software Innovation, Auckland University Professor of Computer Science Department of Computer Science The University of Auckland

John is a Professor of Applied Computer Science in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Auckland. He is an active researcher with close to 200 refereed scientific articles published in areas such as visual languages, software tools, collaborative systems, and knowledge management. John works actively with local companies in consultancy and applied research, particularly in his role as Director of the Centre for Software Innovation. The Centre has had direct funded research contract with more than 60 organisations over the past two years and has two large FRST grants supporting its work. John is also a committed teacher having been awarded a University of Auckland Distinguished Teaching Award for Research Supervision in 2007 and a National Tertiary Teaching Excellence Award for Sustained Excellence in 2008. He is a Vice President of the Ako Aotearoa Academy of Tertiary Teaching Excellence.
John has had ongoing relationships with KIWA over many years and has admired the company's ability to develop innovative uses of information technology into product, either creating an entirely new market opportunity or providing a significantly superior solution to those of existing players. He believes KIWA's products have a strong emphasis on the human dimension, with excellent usability and a strong emphasis on user centred design. This makes them stand out as having both a wow factor in their excellent use of interaction techniques, but coupled with deep thought on the back end business processes that make a successful product ecosystem.
Prof. John Hosking

Ella Henry, Senior Lecturer Te Ara Poutama, Auckland University, Maori Media. BA, MPHIL (Hons), PhD Candidate, IWI: Ngatikahu ki Whangaroa, Ngati Kuri, Te Rarawa

Ella has an academic background in Sociology, Maori Studies and Management Studies, her Masters' thesis focused on Maori women in management. Ella has also been actively involved in Maori broadcasting. During the 1980s, while a member of Auckland University Students' Association, Ella organised the first on-campus Maori film festivals. In 1996 Ella and a group of colleagues formed Nga Aho Whakaari, the Association of Maori in film, video and television. In recent years Ella has worked more directly in Maori broadcasting, as a radio announcer for urban Maori Radio Waatea, presenting a show called Ask Your Auntie on Maori Television for three years and taking a number of other acting and presenting roles. Ella has returned to academia for the first time since leaving her post as Head of Puukenga School of Maori Education at Unitec, after working in business and media for a number of years, to pursue her research and teaching interests. Her experiences in Maori broadcasting underpin her PhD study, which explores Maori women as entrepreneurs in film and television.
Ella Henry