LANZBC Board Members:

Jean

Barr

Executive Director, LANZBC

Jean Barr is the founder and CEO of Top Achievers Sales Training, a leading provider of Customised Sales Taining.  I speak at Events and Conferences. I am passionate about increasing trade between New Zealand and Latin American countries. I have a Business Management Dip, Sales Dips, Marketing Dip and am currently working towards completing my MBA. I have a background in Sales, Marketing and Training and am a part of a variety of networks.

Clare Callow

Deputy Chairman

Agritour Associates Ltd

Barry Brook

Professional Director

Barry has extensive experience in agribusiness both in New Zealand and internationally.

His experience includes leadership of New Zealand’s largest nationwide agribusiness, PGG Wrightson with turnover of $1.2 billion and 3000 staff.

He led the mergers of Wrightson with Williams and Kettle and Pyne Gould Guinness in the period 2004 to 2006.

He was responsible for the establishment of New Zealand’s largest primary sector business investments in South America, mainly in Uruguay but also in Argentina and Brazil. These included the launch of New Zealand Farming Systems Uruguay and its listing on the NZX50; and acquisition of a number of businesses in the seed, livestock, real estate, rural supplies and irrigation sectors.

Barry is qualified in agricultural commerce and economics and is currently operating as an independent agribusiness consultant.

Hamish Gow

Rhianon Berry

NZTE

Rhianon is International Market Manager South America for New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (NZTE). She is thus the New Zealand based representative for the NZTE teams in Chile, Brazil and Argentina.  Rhianon has recently returned to New Zealand after working as Business Development Manager in Chile for NZTE since 2006.  In Chile, Rhianon was focused on  working with companies whose strategy was to engage more effectively in South American value chains and worked on projects such as the Food Value Chain, Pastoral Farming Systems and Global Agribusiness.  Rhianon is married to a Chilean and her two young children were born there.

Prior to this Rhianon held various roles in NZTE from 2003 which has built her network with the NZ private sector largely in the Agritech, ICT, Specialised Manufacturing, Food & Beverage and Biotech sectors. Previous roles include Marketing Coordinator & Special Programmes Manager at a successful English Language School in Auckland, New Zealand and 4 years teaching English as a Second Language in Japan and Russia.  Rhianon has a Bachelor of Arts majoring in Spanish and Geography and a Graduate Diploma in Business.Rhianon's professional, educational and personal experiences span 17 countries, primarily in Asia, Latin America and Oceania. She is fluent in Spanish and speaks conversational Japanese. Rhianon's professional interests are focused on International Business Development in South America and on building business networks that can be leveraged to assist New Zealand companies with their market entry and development strategies.  Rhianon is based in Auckland.

Matthew O ‘Meagher

Dr Matthew O’Meagher is a Senior Adviser – International Relations Office of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Strategic Engagement) University of Auckland. Latin America has defined his career since his 1994 PhD in modern Latin American History from Duke University. As the founding Director of New Zealand’s first research centre of Latin American Studies from 2002-07, he worked assiduously to connect the worlds of academia, government and business by organising conferences on business opportunities for New Zealanders in that region. As the New Zealand government’s first Education Counsellor in South America from 2007-09 he was directly involved in integrating New Zealand tertiary institutions into the Becas Chile scholarship scheme, in promoting New Zealand education expertise in Latin America, and in supporting schools, polytechnics and universities recruiting South American students. Most recently, he has been instrumental in raising awareness across his institution of the research, recruitment and consultancy opportunities available to its scholars  in fields as diverse as educational leadership, English language provision, community health, environmental science and alternative energy.

Katia MacKenzie

Discovery Education and Travel

Katia MacKenzie is the director of Discovery Education and Travel, which in

2010 celebrates its ten years of activities.

Discovery is an educational travel agency, specialized in recruiting

overseas students for a study experience at New Zealand secondary schools.

The company started working with Brazil only, Katia's homeland, but now

welcomes students from Mexico and Europe.

Discovery also offers supervised tours for teenaged International students,

throughout New Zealand and Australia.

Katia has recently initiated activities in Australia and is looking forward

to the challenges of expanding into our neighbours' territory.

Thomas Manning

Manning Group

Manning Group Limited specializes in developing New Zealand export markets in Latin America for New Zealand products and technologies.Manning Group’s current projects encompass the expansion into Mexico and Argentina of internet-based information technologies developed in New Zealand for the tourism sector.Since 1987 Manning Group has successfully worked in a wide variety of sectors (principally in Mexico & Argentina but also in Peru, Chile and Uruguay) including Adventure Tourism (Shotover Jet Limited & A.J.Hackett Bungy Limited), Animal Health (MAFTECH), ESL Education (CITEC), Dairy Management (MAF Flock House Bulls), Post-graduate Education (Massey University), Food Processing (Watties Industries Limited), Trade & Product Promotions (Weddel Crown Corporation & NZ Meat Board), Construction (Puerto Vallarta Partnership) and Importing (Café Vallarta Partnership & Mexicorp Limited).In addition to the activities in Latin America Manning Group Limited has also successfully owned and managed a number of New Zealand-based enterprises in hotel management, property development & investment and latterly, feature film production.

Craig Musson

National Trade Academy Ltd

Craig is the Managing Director of the National Trade Academy Ltd which commenced business in January 2000.
NTA is a Private Training Establishment providing training courses in the Land Based Industries.

Prior to 2000 he was involved in training with the Agriculture ITO and previous to this had a number of years involved in the rural services
sector and service administration with the Waimate District Council.

In 2006 he started his involvement in South America with the  P4 Trade Mission to Chile with NZTE. Since 2006 I have been to South America a
number of times promoting our courses in Chile, Uruguay, Argentina Brazil and Colombia. Craig sees many opportunities in South America and is
very happy to be involved with the LANZBC.

Silvana Schenone

Minter Ellison Rudd Watts

Silvana Schenone is a partner at Minter Ellison Rudd Watts. She is qualified to practice as a lawyer in Chile and New Zealand, and is Master in Laws from Harvard University.

Silvana is experienced in advising local and foreign investors, both in English and Spanish, on a range of corporate matters, having acted for a number of clients on acquisitions, joint ventures and partnership arrangements, private equity investments, securities offerings and general corporate advisory work.

Before coming to New Zealand, Silvana lived and worked in the United States (Boston and New York) and before that she practiced law in Chile (where she was born), receiving multiple recognitions during her career.

Silvana now leads the Latin American practice of Minter Ellison Rudd Watts, the only major New Zealand firm with a dedicated focus and expertise in Latin America.

Minter Ellison Rudd Watts is a long established New Zealand law firm with more than 40 partners and over 120 other legal staff across their Auckland and Wellington offices. For over twenty years, the firm has been a member of the worldwide Minter Ellison Legal Group, which is the only recognised top-tier global legal grouping owned and operated from the Asia-Pacific region.

Giuliana Silveira

Kaplan International Colleges

Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Giuliana Silveira and I am the Principal of Kaplan International Colleges (KIC) – Auckland. I’m really pleased to say that I’ve just joined the board of LANZBC.

I was born in Brazil to an Italian mother and a Brazilian father. I grew up in Sao Paulo, but was bitten by the travelling bug from a young age. As a teenager I spent several months in Buffalo, NY, where I attended a local high school. Then, as a grown-up I studied in London and Australia, taught in Italy and London (again!). Finally, the southern hemisphere kept calling and here I am in this beautiful country called New Zealand!

I have been involved in education for 14 years. Here in New Zealand I have been at Kaplan for 1 year now. Before that I managed Eurocentres Auckland where I also oversaw all the activities of the school. This included marketing, staffing, quality assurance and academic matters. I am bilingual in Portuguese and English and also speak Italian.

I look forward to working with you and contributing to the LANZBC.

Ex-Officio:

Heather Ward

Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Trade