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Judges for 2018

Meet our judges

· Wellington Climathon

Vicky Robertson, Chief Executive, Ministry for the Environment.

Vicky Robertson is the Secretary for the Environment, appointed in April 2015. An internationally experienced executive with a background in law and economics, Vicky is a champion for inclusive growth, finding new ways of working, transparency and accountability in the state sector. Before her appointment at MfE, Ms Robertson was a key member of the Treasury’s senior leadership team, where she held Deputy Chief Executive, Chief Operating Officer and Acting Secretary and Chief Executive positions. She has worked closely with senior Ministers and has been involved in significant interdepartmental strategic policy programmes.

Vicky’s roles at the Treasury and now at the Ministry for the Environment (MfE) have placed her at the heart of some of the biggest policy issues of our time, including social inclusion, climate change and the environmental sustainability of key export industries. These are complex issues that involve diverse, competing interests, and can only be solved by collaboration and a willingness to innovate. This requires the public sector to be much more outward facing and open to new ideas.

Vicky is passionate about diversity as a critical factor in high performing organisations and speaks regularly at business and industry forums. She has worked extensively with iwi throughout her career and in recent years has attended Treaty of Waitangi events as a senior representative. Vicky won the Women of Influence Public Policy category for her continued focus on results and ability to work effectively across a wide range of stakeholder groups.

Geoff Todd, Director of VicLink.

Geoff serves on a number of technology and medical companies, is a core participant in a start-up medical device company and previously had a leading role in the establishment of three technology companies. Geoff was General Manager, Business Development at Industrial Research Ltd (now known as Callaghan Innovation) for over 10 years.

Geoff has extensive and well-recognised international skills at raising capital, buying and selling technology businesses, formulating joint venture agreements and adding significant commercial value to technology projects.

Iona Pannett, Wellington City Councillor.

Iona is a representative for the Green Party as a Wellington City Councillor and has been an advocate for sustainable cities for over 20 years. As part of her role, she is a passionate advocate for a paradigm change in the way we live within the environment especially in the areas of resource use, water, waste, green space and heritage. She believes climate change is the most pressing issue that the city and country must address and is proud to be here supporting the outstanding participants in this year’s Climathon.

Conrad Lendrum

Conrad is passionate about materials and how they can be utilised to transform people’s lives.  Materials underpin everything we see, touch and feel, and represent the ultimate enabling technology. Conrad leads the Advanced Materials Group at Callaghan Innovation, which seeks to help New Zealand firms maximise value from their materials choices, from conceptualisation, prototyping, scale up and production through to end of life.  Conrad has a PhD and over 15 years’ experience in applied research and product development.  During this time Conrad has contributed to the development of products and processes in the fields of polymer composites, advanced ceramics, mineral processing, and materials for energy generation. In a previous life Conrad worked in retail banking and has an understanding of financial management. 

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