Craig began his career in the stock and station industry in Otago in the late 1970’s , working as a stock agent with Reid Farmers. In the late 1980’s Craig transitioned into real estate sector.

Craig has a deep understanding of the Otago region.

As a avid mountain biker and serves as race director for the Naseby 12 hour bike race. He has also been the Executive of Mountain biking Otago for 25 years, also the Event Co-ordinator and Land owner liaison for the trail access and building.

Ollie is one of the leading carbon forestry experts in the country. A pioneer in New Zealand’s emissions trading industry with nearly 20 years of experience, Ollie is a member of the Government’s ETS Technical Advisory Group. He holds a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) and a Bachelor of Arts (BA).  Ollie is the Managing Director of Carbon Forest Services Limited which provides services to the NZ ETS forest sector, and a Director of Permanent Forests NZ Limited, which focuses on the voluntary carbon market.

After spending the early part of my career  working in the apple computer Industry I joined Niagara in 2013 as the Group Sales and Marketing manager.

My role at Niagara involves managing the sales, customer support, and marketing teams.  Niagara has a proud history exporting both sawn and manufactured timber to Southeast Asia, Australia, and USA.  We are also a key supplier of manufactured timber products to the New Zealand market.  

Aidan has always had a passion for trees. He began his career as a utility arborist, after studying at Otago Polytechnic, before completing a BSc in Botany and Ecology at the University of Otago. He then spent three years working in conservation conducting predator control around Dunedin and Fiordland. 

He joined the Forestry Support team at Te Uru Rākau – New Zealand Forest Service in 2024 where he has been working to help establish the service in the Otago and Southland Regions. His team supports landowners and forestry stakeholders through technical expertise, regulatory guidance, and strategic support. 

As an emerging young forester in the sector, Aidan is motivated by the opportunity to help the New Zealand forestry and wood sector to adapt to a rapidly changing world. He brings a steady and considered approach to engaging with complex challenges facing New Zealand Forestry.

Penny is a North Canterbury farmer and founder of Social Licence Consulting, specialising in trust, stakeholder risk and social licence strategy. Raised on a hill country farm, she combines lived agricultural experience with a background in film and political journalism, having worked as a video journalist in the Parliamentary Press Gallery for Sky News. Her career spans media, strategic communications and governance, giving her a sharp understanding of how perception, power and narrative shape operating environments. Penny works across agribusiness, industry bodies and leadership teams to help organisations identify emerging trust risks, navigate sector tensions and embed resilience beyond compliance. Her approach is practical, commercially grounded and focused on building durable relationships that strengthen both business performance and community confidence.

John has spent the last 40 years in the construction property industry in varying senior management positions.

Avid outdoors activities from Hunting to Mountain biking keep me busy outside work hours.

My role is the Lower South Island Business Development Manager for Calder Stewart Property.

Calder Stewart is a 70-year-old business with its head office in Milton with a vertical integration model that includes forestry, construction & property.  

The two development projects I am working on are the Milburn Inland Port & the Awarua Quadrant industrial site in Southland.

Both sites have scale and are in total over 600ha of industrial zoned land, geopolitical unrest has seen significant interest in overseas occupiers wanting to establish in New Zealand on these sites.

A mechanical engineer by training, James’ involvement in turning biomass into heat energy and electricity dates back to the late 1990s when he was involved in developing and operating New Zealand’s first biomass fuelled cogeneration plant at the Kinleith Pulp and Paper mill in Tokoroa. James’s career later turned to a different form of fibre recovery, when he managed a nationwide recycling business which collected and processed paper and cardboard for reuse in the Penrose and Kinleith Paper Mills.

More recently he has been working in the energy sector in the UK and New Zealand with a primary interest in electricity generation and trading.

He is currently the General Manger of Pioneer Energy Renewables and is responsible for their electricity generation and thermal energy production businesses. He is based in Alexandra (at Pioneer Energy’s Head Office) and is a resident of Wanaka having relocated to Central Otago from Auckland in September last year. 

Chris leads the resource management team at Saunders & Co. Over the past 25 years Chris has worked on many projects throughout New Zealand within urban and rural environments. He has particular expertise in urban planning and greenfield development. He also has a thorough understanding of the RMA challenges facing the plantation forestry sector. Chris has worked with the sector for many years across a wide range of resource management and environmental issues.

Mia graduated with a B.For.Sc (Hons) from the University of Canterbury at the end of 2024 and has continued to gain forestry experience in a Graduate role with Matariki Forests since. Joining the Southland team in a mixed forester / environmental coordinator role, Mia has gotten stuck into Matariki's annual planting and thinning operations, wilding control programme and ecological area management. A self-proclaimed explorer, she has appreciated the opportunity to explore across the Southland region since moving here.

Daniel is the Founder and Managing Director of Abodo Wood, which he formed in 2002. Abodo is now a globally recognised brand in architectural timber products made from New Zealand radiata pine, supplying premium markets across the USA, UK, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand.
Daniel has focused his career on adding long‑term value to plantation forestry through advanced wood modification, rigorous performance validation, and international market development, working closely with forest growers and processors to turn radiata pine into durable, high‑value timber used in demanding exterior applications worldwide.

David is a technologist and innovator in the forestry sector, with a strong focus on applying advanced technologies across the forest industry value chain. His expertise spans resource yield modelling and valuation, forest mensuration, log optimisation systems, GIS, remote sensing, LiDAR, and carbon monitoring—translating complex technologies into practical, commercially impactful solutions.

As Chief Technology and Innovation Officer at Interpine, David leads the organisation’s technology and innovation strategy, driving the adoption of emerging tools to meet the evolving needs of the forestry industry. His work is centred on enabling better decision‑making and performance across forestry operations, helping shape today’s forests with the technology of tomorrow.

Bill’s expertise includes the assessment of forest quantity and condition and the projection of its wood supply capability and cash flows. These provide the primary elements of forest value estimation, which extends to include treatments of land cost, risk, and cost of capital. He has undertaken projects in forest estate modelling and valuation in Oceania, Africa, South and Central America and China. He remains involved in the development of standards for forest valuation and is the Head of Forest Valuation for Indufor.

Rodney and Amanda Lonneker are establishing a new family tradition at Pankhurst Sawmilling producing quality timber building and landscaping products.

Rodney is one of the most qualified people in the New Zealand sawmilling industry, with Timber Yarding, Timber Machining and Sawmilling apprenticeships under his belt. He has worked at the mill since 2003, building his way up from millhand, to head machinist, to operations manager, and now owner-operator.

In 2009, Rodney was named New Zealand Wood Manufacturing Association Trainee of the Year. He has done every job in the mill from stacking logs coming into the yard, to grading wood, to machining and turning out the finished timber product.
Rodney is an assessor for Competenz, the saw milling industry’s training association. Since taking over the sawmill, the couple have also enjoyed working with their industry colleagues as members of the Otago-Southland Timber Association.
Rodney is a past president of the Riverton Rugby Club, having previously played rugby for the Naas club in Ireland.

Todd McClay is the Minister of Agriculture, Minister of Forestry, Minister for Hunting and Fishing, Minister for Trade, and Associate Minister of Foreign Affairs.  

 Mr McClay has been a Cabinet minister in two National-led governments and has held the portfolios of Minister of Trade, of State-Owned Enterprises, and of Revenue. He has also been the Associate Minister of Health, of Tourism, of Trade, and of Foreign Affairs. 

Since entering Parliament Mr McClay has been the Chairman of the Finance and Expenditure, and Commerce select committees. He has been the Deputy Chairman of Social Services Committee, and a member of the Law and Order. He is a member of the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade committees.

Todd has previously been a diplomat and was the Cook Islands and Niue Ambassador to the European Union. He has worked in business in Europe as well as government and public relations internationally. 

Sam has a background in forestry dating back to the 1980’s.  However, he originally pursued an interest in marine biology and worked in an aquaculture facility following graduation.  Upon this facility closing and other aquaculture opportunities becoming a dead end he worked as an employee or contractor in both forestry and fencing.  Although operating privately in the King Country much of the forestry work was in the former Rayonier NZ Ltd CNI and Southern North Island estates.

Sam eventually succumbed to the pressure from Rayonier employees saying “Go and get a forestry degree, you’ll get a job with Rayonier.”

Sam has subsequently worked for the last 26 years in the Matariki Forests  Glenbervie forest headquarters near Whangarei.  Although employed as a Forester or Forest Manager the flexible role opportunity allowed Sam to gain significant experience in Establishment, Silviculture, Inventory, Roading and Harvest Planning.  Sam is currently employed as the MF Forest Estate Manager.

Rhys is the founder of Whirika Consulting, a team of 20, who are experts in carbon reduction and offsets, biomass energy, waste minimisation, biodiversity, restoration, integrated land use, and community development.
He has over two decades of experience at the intersection of ecological restoration, productive land use, and community development. His core expertise lies in forest restoration, and since 2000 has designed, managed, and advised on restoration projects across New Zealand, including the largest conversion of P.radiata forest to native forest in NZ, in Auckland's Hunua Ranges.
In Dunedin, Rhys leads Predator Free Dunedin, a large-scale predator-elimination project spanning 35,000 ha; and the Halo Project, a conservation project that works across public and private land over 16,000ha north of Dunedin.  

Jack is a Graduate Forester with Matariki Forests in Southland, currently 18 months into his role. Originally from Nelson, he spent much of his childhood exploring the outdoors from tramping, skiing, and mountain biking, to working on the farm and local orchards. Jack went on to complete a Bachelor of Forestry Science at the University of Canterbury’s School of Forestry. He now works primarily in harvesting operations, with exposure to silviculture, technical forestry, and forest investment. He also serves as Matariki’s National STICKS Coordinator, leading company‑wide data and analysis initiatives. He is excited about the future of forestry, particularly the role technology and data play in improving decision making and operational performance.

Mark is a current Member of Parliament within the New Zealand First Caucus, and is the Minister for Rural Communities, Associate Minister for Agriculture and Associate Minister for Regional Development. Mark previously served as a Member of Parliament within the New Zealand First Caucus from 2017-2020.

Mark is an Otago sheep and beef farmer with more than 30 years of farming experience under his belt. Known as the ‘Minister for Wool’, he is an ambassador for strong-wool and actively supports the reinvigoration of the NZ woollen fibre industry and raise farmer returns.

From 2021-2023 he was the Chair of Otago Federated Farmers. Locally, Mark has a long background of community involvement and has contributed to significant community projects in roles such as Chair of the Lawrence to Waihola Cycle Trail, and Deputy Chair of the New Zealand Century Farms committee.

Janelle has spent the first decade of her career in conservation, focused on historic heritage and visitor assets like huts and structures. That work deepened her appreciation for Aotearoa’s indigenous forests, and at the same time it sparked a growing interest in the sustainable utilisation of our indigenous species. Wanting to specialise in that area, she went on to complete a Bachelor of Forestry Science.

Janelle now works in MPI’s Indigenous Forestry team, regulating Part 3A of the Forests Act 1949. Her role has two key functions: one involves using forest science to help landowners manage their indigenous forests sustainably; the other focuses on compliance, ensuring the industry remains sustainable well into the future.

Alison Slade is Innovation Manager at Forest Growers Research, where she bridges the gap between forestry research and industry impact. With 38 years' experience spanning environmental engineering, research management, investment funding and knowledge brokering, she brings a unique perspective to forestry’s research and innovation ecosystem. As the Research Manager at Scion for 12 years, Alison worked closely with industry to secure multiple research grants for forest management. Prior to joining FGR, she was the Principal Investment Manager overseeing the Endeavour Fund at the Ministry for Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE), giving her valuable exposure to government funding processes.  At FGR, Alison supports diverse impact pathways from extension and practice change to policy influence — recognising that meaningful impact often comes through adoption and practice change rather than pure commercialisation. Alison holds a Bachelor of Technology (Hons) from Massey University.

Olivia is the Director Forestry Systems at Te Uru Rakau – New Zealand Forest Service and has been at MPI for over 6 years in a variety of policy roles, including ETS Forestry, Water and Rural Communities. In her current role she leads teams that provide advice on operational policy for forestry in the Emissions Trading Scheme, and the National Environmental Standard for Plantation Forestry as well as advising  the government on supporting growth and development in wood processing and productive use of wood biomass.

Richard, is Group Manager of the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council Integrated Catchment Management (ICM) group works alongside our communities to address key environmental challenges, including soil erosion, pest control, and the protection of indigenous biodiversity.  The science, monitoring, and data functions of ICM play a critical role in our effective resource management, while environmental monitoring and sampling help track the health of our ecosystems.  Our actions continue to support a thriving environment for now and for future generations.  Richard Wakelin joined Hawke’s Bay Regional Council in 2021 as a Senior Catchment Advisor and subsequently became the Manager of Rural Recovery post Cyclone Gabrielle, then Manager of Rural Partnerships before he was appointed GM.  Richard has more than 20 years of experience in senior roles in the Primary Sector.  

Andrew is a Principal Advisor in the Overseas Investment Office at Land Information New Zealand (LINZ).  He has experience as a lawyer in private practice and local government specialising in planning and environmental law including time in the UK, before joining LINZ. 

At LINZ Andrew has a leadership role in the overseas investment function responsible for advice and decision-making on applications for consent under the Overseas Investment Act.  Andrew has been with the Overseas Investment Office for 7 years where he has been involved in the screening of foreign direct investment into New Zealand with a focus on investments for commercial forestry, as well as for residential development.  He brings a perspective of engaging with overseas forestry investors and their advisors and the evolution of regulatory settings for overseas investment into the New Zealand forestry industry.