News of New Zealanders via Global Media

Portland Researcher Jonathan Bird on Ocean Energy

Portland Researcher Jonathan Bird on Ocean Energy

If New Zealander Jonathan Bird succeeds, one of the most significant obstacles to marine energy development could be overcome – along with his own doubts about the viability of generating energy from waves and…

Peter Beck’s Space a Domain for All

Peter Beck’s Space a Domain for All

New Zealander Peter Beck was one of the most talked about entrepreneurs at this month’s EY’s World Entrepreneur of the Year conference in Monaco, because 40-year-old Beck, who grew up in Invercargill, is about…

Crawford Falconer to Head Post-Brexit Deals

Crawford Falconer to Head Post-Brexit Deals

Britain’s Department for International Trade (DIT) has hired New Zealand’s former trade head Crawford Falconer as chief trade negotiation adviser to manage the UK’s free trade deals once the country leaves the EU. The DIT…

Audette Exel on How Profit and Purpose Intersect

Audette Exel on How Profit and Purpose Intersect

Founder and chair of the Adara Group, New Zealander Audette Exel was interviewed recently at the 2017 EY World Entrepreneur of the Year Forum in Monaco. When you picture success in the corporate world, Exel’s…

Local Fundraising Hopes to Save Chocolate Factory

Local Fundraising Hopes to Save Chocolate Factory

A crowdfunding campaign to save Dunedin Cadbury chocolate factory has raised $3.3 million in less than two days, prompting hopes that locals can continue the tradition of chocolate-making – and eating. Mondalez International announced in…

Biologist Nicholas Wu Studies a Maligned Toad

Biologist Nicholas Wu Studies a Maligned Toad

University of Queensland PhD candidate, New Zealand-born biologist Nicholas Wu plucked 25 cane toads from the university campus for a study to determine whether skin shedding caused health effects in amphibians. Unlike athletes who sweat…

NZ Launches Into Space Race With 3D-Printed Rocket

NZ Launches Into Space Race With 3D-Printed Rocket

Rocket Lab, a Silicon Valley-funded space launch company, has just launched the maiden flight of its battery-powered, 3D-printed rocket Electron from New Zealand’s remote Mahia Peninsula. “Made it to space. Team delighted,” Rocket Lab said…

Quake Scientists Make Surprising Find Underground

Quake Scientists Make Surprising Find Underground

When Victoria University of Wellington researchers drilled deep into Alpine Fault, they stumbled upon a discovery they say could provide a significant new energy source for New Zealand. The scientists found the water in the…

Hamish MacDonald’s Healthy Approach to Data

Hamish MacDonald’s Healthy Approach to Data

The days of haphazardly following a GP’s advice will be over if New Zealander Hamish MacDonald’s health app The Diary has its way, The Australian reports. Many of us fall victim to waning interest in…

Former Te Papa Chief Rick Ellis Crosses the Ditch

Former Te Papa Chief Rick Ellis Crosses the Ditch

Chartered Accountants ANZ has appointed former Te Papa boss Rick Ellis its new chief executive as the organisation seeks a “transformational leader” to remain relevant to its 117,000-strong membership. Ellis, who will take up the…

Alan Walmsley Digs Up Historical Narratives

Alan Walmsley Digs Up Historical Narratives

At a recent conference in Manama, the capital of Bahrain, archaeologists – including New Zealander Alan Walmsley – working in over 14 Islamic countries around the world participated in a first of its kind…

Face Mask That Fights Pollution

Face Mask That Fights Pollution

“It’s a ubiquitous sight in cities like Beijing: pedestrians walking under a thick blanket of smog with their faces obscured by flimsy cloth face masks. These masks aren’t an ideal solution to dealing with the pollution,…

Kiwi Researcher Lifts the Lid on US Medical-Care Prices

Kiwi Researcher Lifts the Lid on US Medical-Care Prices

“The US has the highest medical-care prices in the world. Now, Kiwi researcher Miriam Laugesen has lifted the lid on why this is,” in her book Fixing Medical Prices: How Physicians Are Paid, writes…

Xero’s Rod Drury Promotes the Global Ecosystem

Xero’s Rod Drury Promotes the Global Ecosystem

“As the world becomes more tribal, global platforms, which enable the flow of global commerce, will help build communities, foster understanding and deliver economic prosperity,” Xero founder and chief executive officer, New Zealander

Air NZ Takes Top Spot on Australian Reputation Index

Air NZ Takes Top Spot on Australian Reputation Index

Rugby’s Bledisloe Cup. Cricket’s Chappell-Hadlee Trophy. Now New Zealand has taken the title of Australia’s most reputable company, James Thomson reports for Australian Financial Review. Air New Zealand has grabbed number one spot on…

Lucky Planet Hunters Discover Super-Earth

Lucky Planet Hunters Discover Super-Earth

NASA is adopting a planet hunting technique created by New Zealand scientists. Called gravitational microlensing, it helped Auckland and Massey University scientists Associate Professor Ian Bond and Dr Nick Rattenbury find a new giant…

Wellington Tech Talent Program Draws 48,000 Applicants

Wellington Tech Talent Program Draws 48,000 Applicants

The LookSee Wellington program to fly in 100 tech developers for job interviews has been “besieged” with more than 48,000 entries, according to a New York…

NZ Devises Manuka Honey Test to Fight Fakes

NZ Devises Manuka Honey Test to Fight Fakes

The New Zealand Government has tested 800 samples of honey from around the world to establish a scientific definition of genuine manuka honey and crackdown on alleged fakes, Eleanor Ainge…

Microsoft’s Lynch Wins IAPP Vanguard Award

Microsoft’s Lynch Wins IAPP Vanguard Award

Brendon Lynch, Chief Privacy Officer of Microsoft in Redmond, Seattle, has been named 2017 winner of the International Association of Privacy Professionals’ (iapp) Vanguard Award, writes Courtney Gabrielson on iapp’s…

Why Sarah Robb O’Hagan, CEO of Flywheel Sports, Embraces Failure

Why Sarah Robb O’Hagan, CEO of Flywheel Sports, Embraces Failure

“While by most metrics she’s now a success, Sarah Robb O’Hagan, who has held top jobs at Nike, Gatorade, and Equinox Fitness Clubs, doesn’t shy away from talking about her failures,” writes Jacob Passy…

New Zealand’s Rocket Man Peter Beck Taking Off

New Zealand’s Rocket Man Peter Beck Taking Off

When New Zealander Peter Beck arrived in Silicon Valley in 2013, he gave himself three weeks to secure funding for his small-satellite launch vehicle start-up, Rocket Lab, the Los Angeles Times reports. Instead of blanketing…

Martyn Connell Helping At-Risk UK Youth Find Jobs

Martyn Connell Helping At-Risk UK Youth Find Jobs

New Zealander Martyn Connell is the head of West Yorkshire recruitment firm Maze8 that aims to support the young in overcoming barriers to employment. From its semi-rural setting in Mirfield, Maze8 recruits specialist…

Farmer Eric Watson Smashes Wheat Growing Record

Farmer Eric Watson Smashes Wheat Growing Record

Ashburton farmer Eric Watson has broken the world record for the greatest wheat yield, with a “staggering” 16.91-tonnes/ha crop that left the current record of 16.5 tonnes held in the UK in its dust,…

Fast Food Exec Jason Marker has New US Role

Fast Food Exec Jason Marker has New US Role

New Zealander Jason Marker, who most recently was president of Yum! Brands’ Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) in the United States, has been named the new chief executive of CKE Restaurant Holdings, parent of another…

New Zealand Leading Country For Female Entrepreneurs

New Zealand Leading Country For Female Entrepreneurs

“New Zealand has been named the best country for supporting female entrepreneurship, according to MasterCard’s inaugural Index of Women Entrepreneurs,” writes Faaez Samadi for Campaign Asia. “While there is still work to do,…

Todd Corporation Saves Canadian Mine Plans

Todd Corporation Saves Canadian Mine Plans

The company behind a proposed tungsten and molybdenum mine in New Brunswick, Canada, which was running so low on cash six months ago it was borrowing money at credit card interest rates, is suddenly…

Parkinson’s Disease Breakthrough

Parkinson’s Disease Breakthrough

University of Auckland scientists have made a breakthrough in potential treatments for the debilitating Parkinson’s disease by identifying how it spreads in the brain. The scientists said they had the first strong evidence that the…

How Earth’s Newest Continent ‘Zealandia’ Was Found

How Earth’s Newest Continent ‘Zealandia’ Was Found

Scientist recently discovered that “earth has a brand-new continent called Zealandia,” writes Dave Mosher in an article for Business Insider Australia. “What’s less widely known about the discovery, however, is how it…

Xero’s Rod Drury on Succession Plans

Xero’s Rod Drury on Succession Plans

Succession planning is critical to the ongoing health and longevity of a company. New Zealand-based software company Xero’s succession plans were put to the test with the unexpected announcement that chairman, Chris Liddell, was…

Earth Has Brand-New Continent Called Zealandia

Earth Has Brand-New Continent Called Zealandia

“A new study of Earth’s crust, has found that there’s a seventh geologic continent called ‘Zealandia,’ and it has been hiding under our figurative noses for millennia.” New Zealand and New Caledonia are part…

Rocket Lab Is Preparing For First Launch

Rocket Lab Is Preparing For First Launch

Small satellite launch company Rocket Lab has announced that the first of its Electron rockets has arrived at its launch complex in New Zealand. “Its arrival commences a series of test items that need…

Wellington NZ Opens Doors To Tech Talent

Wellington NZ Opens Doors To Tech Talent

Wellington is welcoming tech talent from around the globe with a bold new recruitment initiative, LookSee Wellington, which launches this week and is aiming to address the city’s IT skills shortage. The…

Sarah Robb O’Hagan Appointed CEO of Flywheel Sports

Sarah Robb O’Hagan Appointed CEO of Flywheel Sports

Sarah Robb O’Hagan, the former president of Equinox Holdings has been “named chief executive of Flywheel Sports, the indoor cycling startup that launched in 2010 and has since grown to 41 studios,” reports  Christopher…

Farming Our Air for Chinese Market

Farming Our Air for Chinese Market

Pulling a trailer packed with dive tanks and a compression motor, the three co-founders of Breathe Ezy drive around the scenic mountains and valleys of New Zealand’s South Island collecting air Phillip Duval, Xu…

In the Head of AI Scientist Shane Legg

In the Head of AI Scientist Shane Legg

New Zealander Shane Legg, DeepMind Technology’s chief scientist, gives significantly fewer talks and far less quotes to journalists than his other co-founders, CEO Demis Hassabis and head of applied AI Mustafa Suleyman. Legg, 43, remains…

New Zealand Second Best Country For Business

New Zealand Second Best Country For Business

New Zealand has been identified as the second best country for business in 2017 in Forbes’ annual list of the Best Countries for Business. It’s the “11th straight year Forbes has gauged…

Britain’s Banking Watchdog Sam Woods Looks Ahead

Britain’s Banking Watchdog Sam Woods Looks Ahead

New Zealand-born Sam Woods, chief executive of the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), is one of the new generation of City regulators who cut their teeth in the financial crisis. At just 43, with the…

Financiers Make Debrett’s Most Influential List

Financiers Make Debrett’s Most Influential List

Two New Zealanders have made the 2016 Debrett’s 500 list of most influential people in Britain. CEO of the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) Ross McEwan (pictured), 59, and Mark Wilson, 50, chief…

Welcome to New Zealand’s Gateway to Space

Welcome to New Zealand’s Gateway to Space

New Zealand has become the unlikely frontier in a drive to open a private rocket-launch site, servicing a soaring market for tiny satellites, many the size of a shoebox, Rob Taylor reports for the…

Immunotherapy Researcher’s Aim for T-Cells

Immunotherapy Researcher’s Aim for T-Cells

In Seattle, at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Christchurch-born Dr Rachel Perret, a postdoctoral research fellow, spends her days – and sometimes her nights – working toward an “off-the-shelf” version of T-cell therapy. The…

Camelle Kent Named CEO of Boston’s WellPet

Camelle Kent Named CEO of Boston’s WellPet

Massachusetts natural pet food company WellPet has named New Zealander Camelle Kent its new chief executive officer. Kent, a graduate of the University of Auckland, said she was honoured to be chosen for the role…

Tim Norton Builds 90 Seconds as Global Nomad

Tim Norton Builds 90 Seconds as Global Nomad

If there’s anyone who embodies how the so-called “sharing economy” is changing the way people live and build a business, it’s the founder and CEO of 90 Seconds, New Zealander Tim Norton. Norton…

Neil McGregor Appointed Sembcorp Top Roles

Neil McGregor Appointed Sembcorp Top Roles

Energy expert New Zealand-born Neil McGregor will take over the position of group president and chief executive at Singapore’s state-linked conglomerate Sembcorp Industries in April 2017. McGregor, 61, is currently heading the energy and resources…

Antimicrobials from NZ Labs Help Make an India

Antimicrobials from NZ Labs Help Make an India

Eco-friendly antimicrobial agents developed by a team of researchers at the University of Auckland could contribute in some of the key identified sectors in the nation-building “Make an India” initiative, according to an Indian-origin…

NZ Attracting Entrepreneurs from Across the Globe

NZ Attracting Entrepreneurs from Across the Globe

New Zealand has been the home to Australian expats for years, and now New Zealander are muscling in on the startup world as low living costs and talented entrepreneurs continue to build the country’s…

Soul Machines Raises $7.5m in Series A Financing Round

Soul Machines Raises $7.5m in Series A Financing Round

“New Zealand-based artificial intelligence (AI) and avatar company Soul Machines has raised $7.5 million in a Series A financing round led by venture capital firm Horizons Ventures along with Silicon Valley firm Iconiq Capital,”…

Kester Black’s Anna Ross Wins Acclaim

Kester Black’s Anna Ross Wins Acclaim

Australia’s Young Business Woman of the Year has been named and she is New Zealand-born Anna Ross, founder of Kester Black Cosmetics, a brand customers rank better than global name Butter London and in…

Drones Delivering Domino’s Pizzas To Customers

Drones Delivering Domino’s Pizzas To Customers

Domino’s Pizza has started to deliver pizzas using drones in the town of Whangaparaoa in New Zealand and the company is planning to make it available at more New Zealand stores in the future,…

Get Naked with a 3D Fitness Tracker Mirror

Get Naked with a 3D Fitness Tracker Mirror

New Zealand-born Farhad Farahbakhshian and Briton Ed Sclater of Naked Labs have designed a mirror that lets you see, in real-time, the effect of your workout on your body. The Naked 3D Fitness…

Rocket Lab’s Peter Beck Building Business in Space

Rocket Lab’s Peter Beck Building Business in Space

Self-taught New Zealand-born scientist and CEO of Rocket Lab Peter Beck, 39, explains to accountancy industry magazine Acuity how – and why – he is making space more accessible. At its Auckland base, Rocket Lab…

Record Bilateral Trade Figures Mark Bank Of China New Zealand 2nd Anniversary

Record Bilateral Trade Figures Mark Bank Of China New Zealand 2nd Anniversary

(SPONSORED CONTENT) “Latest China-New Zealand trade statistics illustrate the value Bank of China (New Zealand) brings to the economic relationship as the bank marks its second full-year of operation in New Zealand,” as reported…

Qantas’ Lesley Grant Airline’s Saving Grace

Qantas’ Lesley Grant Airline’s Saving Grace

Qantas Loyalty chief New Zealand-born Lesley Grant is one of three individuals on the executive team who have helped the airline’s turnaround, according to chief executive Alan Joyce. Grant was an air hostess who worked…

NZ Model Set Up Luxury Travel Firm After Dare

NZ Model Set Up Luxury Travel Firm After Dare

“It’s often said that the inspiration for starting a business can come from anywhere. For Stephanie Chai it was a dare,” writes Sarah Porter for the BBC. The NZ-born model and former TV…

Jacky Scanlan Dyas Wins Person of the Year Award

Jacky Scanlan Dyas Wins Person of the Year Award

Jacky Scanlan Dyas, a Kiwi from Gisborne and a corporate partner at Hogan Lovells’ Tokyo office, has won the Person of the Year Award at this year’s British Business Awards at a gala event…

Keeping an Eye on Endace

Keeping an Eye on Endace

Designed by little-known New Zealand company Endace, a powerful piece of technology called the Medusa system, had one main purpose: to vacuum up vast quantities of internet data at an astonishing speed. And it…

Morgan Marquis-Boire Talks Tech Tough in California

Morgan Marquis-Boire Talks Tech Tough in California

New Zealand-born security researcher, hacker and journalist Morgan Marquis-Boire recently spoke on digital authoritarianism at an Ars Technica Live event in Oakland, California, “telling us,” according to the Ars Technica Facebook pages, “what we…