Meet the Judges of the 2021 awards

Mindful Money’s CEO, Barry Coates, consulted widely across the finance sector to find judges who met the criteria of experience and skills; independence and avoidance of any conflict of interest in the category; and willingness to donate their time and expertise on a voluntary basis. With very few exceptions, all of those who were approached generously agreed to participate as judges. Read more about the robust judging process here.

Mindful Money is hugely grateful to the following judges. It is their integrity, insights and experience that have made these awards so robust.

	Anake Goodall Having been infected with the philanthropy bug from his father, Anake established Seed the Change | He Kākano Hāpai in 2017, being a culmination of decades of working for a more sustainable and equitable world. “I’m really interested in governance as a vehicle for social change, and in contributing to increased resilience and self-determination at the community level,” he says. “I’m attracted to the role of support function for people who have bold ideas around meaningful change. And the Holy Grail I’m always attempting to identify is that combination of financial, human and other capitals in ventures that create collective good over the long run.”
	Angela Spain Angela is an award winning communications practitioner with more than 20 years experience in corporate relations, stakeholder engagement, issues and crisis management, marketing communications and strategic advice. Angela is the Managing Director of Archer and currently provides public relations advice to public and private companies across a range of sectors. Previously she headed up FCB New Zealand's PR, Activation & Social Media practice based in Auckland.
	Arti Prasad Arti's attitude in pushing boundaries led to a key legislative change in New Zealand’s financial institutions disclosure requirement for environmental, social and governance (ESG) practices (Kiwi Saver Scheme). This interest in working with financial institutions led her to embark on her existing career path with New Zealand’s 25 billion sovereign wealth Fund – New Zealand superannuation Fund. As a Senior Investment Analyst on Responsible Investment (RI) - Arti's speciality includes being a key change agent in promoting best practice in the management of the Fund’s portfolio. Arti's role includes integration of ESG factors into investments, portfolio monitoring of ESG breaches, due diligence of investments, and also leading the RI collaboration between the Fund and two other NZ Crown Financial Institutions.
	Bridget Coates Bridget Coates is an experienced global leader who has built and led businesses in both the United States and New Zealand in recent years. She has held Chairperson, Director and CEO roles across a range of public and private sector entities. She is currently Co-Chair of the Sustainable Finance Forum implementation team, Chair of Fonterra’s Sustainability Advisory Panel to the Board and Chair of Koi Tu (a think tank based at the University of Auckland). She is also Chairperson of the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand and Director and Trustee of Mindful Money, a charity with a focus on encouraging responsible investment. She has been a Governor of the NZ Superannuation Fund and a Director of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand. Bridget has also been a Director of public companies, Sky City Limited, Tegel Group Holdings Ltd and Fisher & Paykel Appliances Holdings Limited. She was formerly CEO of Carter Holt Harvey Plastic Products and Director of Research for CS First Boston NZ Ltd as well as being a Member of the University of Auckland Council. Bridget has also held Board governance roles with Industry New Zealand / NZTE, a national economic development agency; Competitive Auckland Ltd, a regional economic development organisation; NZ Apple and Pear Marketing Board and Auckland Uniservices Ltd, a technology transfer company. She holds degrees in arts, economics and finance from the University of Auckland and also holds the Chartered Financial Analyst qualification: she is a Chartered Member of Institute of Directors. Bridget was a judge for the CFO of the Year Awards in 2020 and 2021.
	Cassandra Williams Cassandra holds over 20 years’ experience in financial services, covering funds management, investments, consumer products, financial education and ratings of financial instruments. She leads the Certification and Ratings Program for responsible investment products in Australia and New Zealand. RIAA’s vision is to aid the fund flow of investment capital to responsible investments and Cassandra is leading this charge through the world’s longest running and most recognised Responsible Investment Certification Program. Cassandra’s experience has been gained through international investment banks, FinTechs, ratings agencies and consulting services.
	Charles Ehrhart Dr Ehrhart has more than 20 years of professional experience working within governments, the UN, civil society and the private sector for sustainable development and an end to poverty in our world of plenty. For the past twelve years, Charles has focused on the challenges of mitigating and adapting to climate change. Charles currently works for KPMG New Zealand as Director, Sustainable Value. His primary interests are adaptation to climate change, sustainable land use, the transformative potential of environmental entrepreneurship, the role of green economic growth in nationally determined contributions to mitigate climate change (INDCs) and public-private partnerships for climate action.
	Chris Douglas Chris is a Principal at MyFiduciary, one of New Zealand’s largest independent investment consultants, where he leads the fund research coverage and adviser services. Chris has over two decades of investment experience working in Auckland, London, Sydney and Chicago. He previously spent 12-years at Morningstar where he held leadership roles within the firm’s research and data group before joining MyFiduciary in 2018.
	Clive Pedley Clive has been advising, coaching and training for growth in the social purpose sector in New Zealand and Australia since 2000. During that time he has been responsible for raising tens of millions for many of New Zealand’s leading charities. He is well regarded as a thought leader, an informed, enthusiastic practitioner and practical presenter. Clive is a former President of the Fundraising Institute of New Zealand (FINZ) from 2011 to 2013, was a member of the FINZ National Council from 2009 to 2015 and was named a fellow of the Fundraising Institute of New Zealand in May 2014. In 2017 Clive was appointed to the Responsible Investment Association of Australia Impact Investment Forum committee and has been directly involved in establishing New Zealand’s inaugural Impact Investment Advisory Board. This level of international engagement has led to a sound understanding of traditional philanthropy and emerging international best practice in areas such as social impact investment.
	Erica Miles Erica works across all elements of the investment value chain, from ESG policy and strategy, ESG due diligence (pre- and post-acquisition), stakeholder engagement and materiality, governance, ESG integration, environment, health and safety (EHS) management systems, compliance and assurance frameworks, through to impact measurement, and disclosure (reporting and assurance) (including more recently the requirements of the Taskforce for Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). Erica was co-secretariat and co-author of the Sustainable Finance Roadmap for New Zealand (January 2019 – November 2020) and is one of only two New Zealand-based approved independent verifiers for the Responsible Investment Association of Australasia’s (RIAA) responsible and impact investment certification programme. Erica holds a B. Technology (Biotechnology and Bio-Process Engineering), Honours, Massey University, 1993 as well as a Grad Diploma in Occupational Safety and Health, Massey University, 2017.
	Fiona Stephenson Fiona is Head of Communications & Marketing at the Sustainable Business Network. She is one of NZ’s most experienced communicators of sustainability, with 25 years’ experience. She was speech writer for the UK’s chief sustainability advisor for four years and Oxford University’s first PR advisor on the environment. In NZ she has worked on sustainability communications for organisations of all sizes and at different stages of their sustainability journey since 2000. She has Honours and Masters degrees from the University of Cambridge, specialising in Environment and Development.
	Glen Saunders Glen Saunders is Chair of the Gift Trust, director of Social Enterprise Finance Australia and trustee of Sustainable Investments Fund Trust. He was formerly Chair of international research firm Sustainalytics, Guardian of the NZ Superannuation Fund (chairing its Responsible Investment Committee), Chair of Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), and founder/Managing Director of Triodos Bank UK.
	John Horrell John founded Makao Investments to help more investors in New Zealand and the Pacific achieve their investment objectives. He takes a holistic approach to investment advice ensuring quality and detail in our research at all times.
	Joy Marslin Joy has a passion for balancing profit with impact and believes New Zealanders should have access to quality financial advice.  Her career within the financial services industry has spanned 30 years including as Head of Westpac Private Wealth Management and Head of ANZ Wealth. Since leaving Westpac Joy holds a number of governance and for purpose roles including Executive with Auckland Foundation, Simplicity NZ Ltd Board Chair, Independent Director with Strategi Group, and Director of Impact Enterprise Fund.
	Justine Sefton Justine leads KPMG’s sustainable finance practice and thought leadership. Justine is a climate change and sustainability specialist with more than 20 years’ experience across public and private sectors internationally and broad sector expertise. She has worked for the New Zealand Superannuation Fund, AMP Financial Services (NZ) and Australian industry pension fund, Cbus, on climate change and broader responsible investment policy and products. She also advised New Zealand electricity ‘gentailer’, Mercury, on corporate sustainability leadership. Previously, Justine worked on a range of donor-funded consulting projects, providing climate policy and finance support to developing countries.
	Kate Vennell Kate Vennell has extensive knowledge in financial services having held senior executive roles with Legal & General Group plc, the UK’s largest provider of individual life insurance and retirement funding products. More recently, Ms Vennell has provided consultancy to a range of financial services clients including life insurance, retail fund distributors and a nationwide advisory firm. Kate is also director of Lifetime Group, one of the largest financial advisory firms in NZ
	Kath Dewar Kath Dewar (FCIM) is the inspiring thought-leader who founded GoodSense. A marketer with over 30 years’ experience and a business-owner since 2001, Kath is shaping marketing into a profession that serves society and nature, as well as an organisation’s stakeholders.
	Katie Beith Katie joined the Guardians of New Zealand Superannuation (Guardians) in February 2016. Katie is a Senior Investment Strategist in the RI team for the NZ Superannuation Fund. She is involved primarily in leading their engagement programme, working with external managers and driving positive investment across the Fund. She also provides support and expertise for the Fund’s Climate Change Investment Strategy. Currently Katie is leading a global collaborative engagement that is calling for the social media companies to strengthen controls to prevent the livestreaming and dissemination of objectionable content such as that of the Christchurch terror attacks. Katie is currently serving on the External Reporting Board’s Stakeholder Advisory Panel (XRAP) and is an observer on the NZ National Advisory Board for Impact Investing.
	Matthew Mimms Matthew Mimms is the founder and Managing Director of the Investment Store and a Board member of the Responsible Investment Association of Australasia. He has 29 years experience in investment management and financial services in NZ and UK and was previously Head of Retail Sales and Service at BT Funds Management.
	Noah Schiltknecht Noah founded Makao Investments to help lift the investment advice in New Zealand and the Pacific to a better standard, and to make advice more affordable for smaller institutional clients. Before founding Makao in 2019, Noah was the head of the institutional team at Russell Investments in New Zealand, advising a broad range of large institutional clients on investment strategy, asset allocation and manager selection. In his two decades in financial services Noah also gained experience in infrastructure valuation, capital management and structuring of insurance risk transfer solutions.
	Paul Richardson Paul Richardson is the Managing Director of Carina Capital, Director of AgInvest Holdings, Director of Chartered Financial Analyst Society of NZ. He was formerly CIO and Executive Director of Mint Asset Management, CIO of BT Asset Management, and Chair of NZ Corporate Governance Forum.
	Robert Sloan An experienced strategy focused England and Wales qualified lawyer with a track record of leading and coaching high performing teams. Following 14 years in private practice, in the UK and New Zealand, and five years at the Financial Markets Authority is currently CRO and GC at New Zealand’s oldest trust company.
	Rod Oram Rod Oram has more than 40 years’ experience as an international business journalist. He has worked for various publications in Europe and North America, including the Financial Times of London. He contributes weekly to Newsroom.co.nz, Radio New Zealand’s Nine to Noon, and to Newstalk ZB. He is a frequent public speaker on deep sustainability, business, economics, innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship, in both NZ and global contexts.
	Rod Severn As CEO of the Professional IQ College Rod brings over 30 years of senior management and executive experience to the table. Working in both Australia and New Zealand, Rod has a passion for the financial services sector and is keen to see ongoing improvements in the financial well-being of all New Zealanders. Rod sees the college as a perfect conduit to reach out to not only financial advisers across the wide spectrum of products and services offered within the sector, but to the wider audience both within and outside the industry. Improving the knowledge and experience of our members and other financial advisers, which in turn helps raise the financial literacy of their clients, is the real focus of the college.
	Sam Goldwater Sam has over 20 years of financial markets experience. Locally he worked in fixed income sales and trading for the National Bank of New Zealand Treasury, co-managed the bond desk at First NZ Capital, and immediately prior to Generate led the investment management of a sizeable portfolio of family assets. He also worked for three years in London in fixed income trading and origination. Sam co-founded Generate in late 2012
	Tim McMains Tim was a Peace Corps volunteer in West Africa before returning to the USA to complete an MBA at the University of Virginia. These different perspectives help him navigate the world, and have determined his work in community development and ESG investing. During his time as manager of the Tindall Foundation, he was instrumental in the extension of the community foundation and sustainable business networks in New Zealand. He uses a donor advised fund at Auckland Foundation to impact sustainability and economic equity in New Zealand.
	Trevor Slater Trevor is a highly-experienced dispute resolution practitioner specialising in the financial sector. He holds a Masters Degree in Conflict Resolution from La Trobe University, a Diploma of Business – Frontline Management from the Australian Institute of Management and is an accredited mediator. Trevor also has qualifications in accounting and adviser compliance.