Team

Geoff Thomas : Chairman

Geoffrey Read Thomas LLB is Partner of Anderson Lloyd Caudwell, the largest South Island law firm.

He has just stepped down as Chairman of the Board of Management, during his term as Chairperson the firm was awarded outright winner of:

  • Large Law Firm of the Year in New Zealand 2005.
  • Resource Management and Environment Firm of the year in New Zealand 2005.
  • Runner up as Employer of Choice in New Zealand 2005.

Geoff concentrates mainly on business law and he holds a number of directorates including:

  • Funds Managers Holdings Limited – Financial services and venture capital. Company that established a trust of group investment funds which collectively havealmost $900,000,000 under management.
  • Technology Holdings Limited – a Company specialising in the finance of Eftpos machines and establishing franchises throughout New Zealand.
  • Dunedin Casinos Limited
  • Fund Managers Canterbury Limited – A Christchurch based Company managing a group investment fund with investments of approximately $260,000.
  • Swing Thru International Limited – A Company contracting the manufacture and sales of container cranes.
  • The Street NZ Limited (Chair).

Geoff is the immediate past Chairman of the Lawlink Group Limited.

Norman Evans

Dr Norman Evans is a serial entrepreneur who has built a number of companies:

  • Dr Evans has run three business incubators in New Zealand and Australia. Two of his incubated companies were 2nd and 3rd in the Deloitte Fast 50 measure of high-growth companies in 2004 (and 1st and 16th in 2003).
  • Apart from building several companies of his own, Dr Evans has 17 years corporate experience, including restructuring work in Telecom and Telstra.
  • His recent academic work has been on the behaviours of entrepreneurs in startups. He also has qualifications in engineering, and won the NZ Trade Development Board Prize in Marketing at Otago University during his MBA.
  • He has served on the Boards of a number of companies (all SMEs), and been an Institute of Directors member since 1996. He currently sits on the Boards of Dunedin City Holdings, Aurora Energy, Delta Utilities, Citibus, and City Forests, and on the Otago Forward economic development committee.

Bevan Dodds

Bevan Dodds has over thirty years of broadly based commercial expertise in New Zealand and abroad in:

  • Financial and general management experience across many industries- oil, electricity, tourism, contracting, forestry, transport and retail.
  • Directorships in a series of diversely ranging companies.
  • Local marketing, international treasury and export.
  • Successful mergers and acquisitions.

Bevan is currently CEO of DCHL which is the investment holding company of Dunedin City. It has assets in excess of $500m and revenues of over $145m p.a.

Bevan is currently director of:

  • Pacific Energy Ltd
  • Citibus Ltd
  • Dunedin City Treasury Ltd
  • The Street NZ Ltd

Colin Dawson

Colin Dawson is currently Chief Executive Officer of Otago Innovation Limited, the commercialisation arm of the University of Otago. Colin is involved on a daily basis in the identification, development and commercialisation of early stage technology.

Colin has held a number of senior executive positions in the public, private and not-for-profit healthcare sectors. Prior to joining Otago Innovation he was Managing Director of Medicus Capital, providing consultancy and investment banking services to the private health sector.

Colin is a foundation investor in start-up companies in the semiconductor, agriculture.

He is currently a director of:

  • Blis Technologies
  • MediaLab
  • Pacific Edge Biotechnology
  • Isotrace NZ
  • Delta S Technologies
  • Dunedin incubator Upstart.
  • The Street NZ Ltd

He is a member of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, the NZBIO advisory group the NZ Institute of Directors and is an alumnus of the Stanford University Senior Executive Programme.

CEO

Nigel Kirkpatrick

Nigel has spent his business career leading businesses and innovation globally. He started his career in 1982 with Unilever where he worked in the areas of research, business to business marketing and innovation. Nigel has working experience in New Zealand, Indonesia, Malaysia and Switzerland.

Nigel left his role is global innovation leader in Switzerland to return to New Zealand as CEO of Industrial Research Limited. Industrial Research is a Crown Research Institute which has spun out many globally successful companies based on its world leading research and technology.

Nigels experience is in leading the creation of innovative products and businesses and ensuring they are marketed globally.