Keynote Speakers

We are delighted to introduce this year's speakers. 

This page is being updated regularly. Please check back later for more information.

Campbell Barry

Mayor Campbell Barry was elected to the Wainuiomata Community Board in 2010 and served as Wainuiomata's ward councillor for two terms before being elected Mayor in October 2019.

He was born and raised in Lower Hutt and attended the local primary, intermediate and high school in Wainuiomata. He lives there with his wife Laura and is actively involved in the local community - playing club cricket and refereeing rugby. 

As a Councillor, Campbell advocated for a range of issues, including the implementation of the Living Wage, ensuring effective spending of public money, and genuine engagement with local communities in decision making. 

Upon being elected Mayor in 2019, Campbell said that he would lead a Council that got back to basics - investing in the assets and services that support all of Lower Hutt's people to thrive. His priorities include improving transport in the Hutt, fronting up to the housing crisis, building infrastructure required for growth, and protecting the environment. 

Parliamentary Under-Secretary Simon Court

Simon Court MP is the Parliamentary Under-Secretary to the Minister for Infrastructure and the Minister Responsible for RMA Reform. Simon also serves as the ACT Party Spokesperson for Climate Change and Energy & Resources and was first elected to Parliament as an ACT Party MP in 2020. Before politics, Simon worked as a Civil and Environmental Engineer with 23 years' experience in roles for the private sector and local government. This includes 10 years leading engineering, planning, tendering, and construction teams primarily in Auckland, Wellington, and Fiji.

Hon. Simon Watts, Minister for Energy, Minister of Local Government and Minister of Revenue

Simon Watts was elected as the Member of Parliament for North Shore in the 2020 election. He is the Minister of Climate Change, Minister for Energy, Minister of Local Government and Minister of Revenue.

Simon grew up in the Waikato, where is family were farmers and orchardists. He is married, has two sons, and lives on the North Shore with his family. 

He studied accounting and Finance at Waikato University and worked in investment banking in Asia, Europe and the United Kingdom. He has worked for one of the world's largest investment banks, the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), where he held several management roles during and in the aftermath of the Global Financial Crisis. 

Simon has also completed a Health Sciences degree at Auckland University of Technology. He continues to volunteer with St John as an ambulance officer and is a registered Paramedic alongside his duties as a Member of Parliament. 

Rodney Wong BSc DistFInstD FNZIFST

Who said collaborating in Public Projects was easy?
Rodney is a 3rd generation New Zealand-born Seeyip Cantonese Chinese. He brings over forty years' experience across a variety of private and public business sectors. With an initial background in food production technology, he has held CEO roles (including NZ managing director of FMCG brands e.g. Yoplait, Birdseye, Edgell & Leggos). More recently he has held numerous professional board roles as Director & Chairman of many diverse organisations e.g. High Value Engineering, Iwi Investments, Airports and Social Service Agencies. He is a former Chair of Crop and Food Research and led the merger to form Plant & Food Research before becoming their Deputy Chair. He has been awarded Distinguished Fellow of the Institute of Directors and a Fellow of the New Zealand Institute of Food Science and Technology. He received the Palmerston North City Civic Award, its highest recognition for voluntary service to the community, for leading projects such as co-founding the Wildbase Recovery Centre & establishing a foundation to build the new Palmerston North Hospital Children's Emergency Department.