About us
Governance

Our Board members are appointed by the Minister of Research, Science and Technology.

Chair

Bryan Gould

Bryan Gould has a record of significant governance experience, strong and relevant connections to the research sector and an excellent understanding of government processes. Mr Gould was a New Zealand Rhodes Scholar who served as a member of the UK parliament for 16 years before returning to New Zealand to become Vice Chancellor of Waikato University, a post which he held for 10 years until his retirement in 2004. Under his leadership, the University of Waikato undertook several significant initiatives, including the construction of the WEL Energy Trust Academy of Performing Arts, the establishment of the School of Maori and Pacific Development, and the creation of the Waikato Innovation Park. He is currently a director of Television NZ and Chair of the National Centre for Tertiary Teaching Excellence.

Deputy Chair

Jim McLean

Jim McLean is a director of Genesis Research and Development? Corporation Limited and chairman of NZBio, the New Zealand biotechnology industry body. He is also the Chair of HortResearch, and a member of the New Zealand Government Taskforce for the commercialisation of biotechnoloy. Jim has previously worked with firms that include Ernst & Young and Dunlop New Zealand Limited. He has a BSc (Hons) in chemistry and is a chartered accountant.

Board Members

Dr Bronwen Connor

Dr Bronwen Connor is an Associate Professor in Pharmacology and head of the Neural Repair and Neurogenesis laboratory at the University of Auckland where her research group is investigating the potential use of stem cell therapy and gene transfer techniques for the treatment of brain injury and disease. Bronwen graduated with a PhD in Neuropharmacology from the University of Auckland in 1997 and was the recipient of a Health Research Council of New Zealand Post-Graduation Scholarship. She then spent three years as a Post-Doctoral Fellow at Northwestern University in Chicago studying the potential use of gene therapy for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease. This position was funded by a Neurological Foundation? of New Zealand Post-Doctoral Fellowship (Wrightson Fellow). Bronwen has received a number of awards for her research, including the American Society of Neural Transplantation and Repair Young Investigator Award (1999), the Australasian Society for Clinical and Experimental Pharmacology and Toxicology New Investigator Award (2000), and the University of Auckland Emerging Researchers Award (2002). She has published widely in numerous peer-esteemed research journals and has been invited to lecture at various international conferences on her research into gene therapy and stem cell therapeutics. Bronwen is also a member of a variety of university and government agency committees and worked with the Ministry of Health in preparing ethical guidelines for the use of human embryonic stem cells in research.

Dr Diana Hill

Dr Diana Hill is a shareholder and Director of Global Technologies (NZ) Limited, a company established in association with New Zealand's largest meat company, PPCS. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand, and her extensive research career includes 35 years at the University of Otago. Diana has been the Chair of the Marsden Fund Council, and has served as Chair or as a member of a range of research funding assessment and review committees. She is also on the Board of Management of the MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology at Victoria University, and was a member of the Biotechnology Taskforce. She has a PhD from the University of Otago in Biochemistry and Molecular Biochemistry.

Professor Roberta Farrell

Professor Roberta Farrell has been a Professor of Biological Sciences at the University of Waikato since 1996. She was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand in 2005, and elected as a Fellow of the International Academy of Wood Science in 1990. She is also an Adjunct Professor of North Carolina State University, and has community involvement in education at all levels. She has extensive experience in biotechnology

Professor Pare Keiha

Professor Pare Keiha is the Tumuaki/Dean of Te Ara Poutama, the Faculty of Māori Development at the Auckland University of Technology. He has held a range of consultancy positions with private and public sector organisations and as a director of Port Gisborne. He was also on the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority board. He advises a number of Māori enterprises, including both tribal and pan-tribal organisations, and state sector entities in the areas of Māori business development, corporate governance and strategy. His tribal affiliations lie with the principal tribes of Turanga, specifically the whanau-a-Taupara hapu of T'Aitanga-a-Mahaki and Rongowhakaata. He has an MSc in chemistry, a PhD in chemical engineering, and an MBA and MComLaw in competition law and policy.

Mr Warren Larsen

Mr Warren Larsen is a director of several companies, including Air New Zealand, Landcorp Farming and Centreport Limited, and brings significant international business and marketing experience to the board. He was Chief Executive Officer of New Zealand Dairy Board for nine years and Bay Milk Products for 10 years prior to that. He is a graduate of Massey University where he qualified as a Master of Agricultural Science (First Class Honours) and a Bachelor of Business Studies. He is a chartered accountant.

Dr Tom Richardson

Tom is the Chief Executive Officer of Scion. He moved to New Zealand from the United States in 1990. During his science career he spent 14 years as a practising researcher, mainly in the field of plant genetics, and established the genomics research group at what was then Forest Research. In 1998 he moved onto the crown research institute’s executive management team.

Ms Denise Church QSO

Denise Church is a Wellington based consultant and company director. She was Chief Executive of the Ministry for the Environment from 1996 to 2001. Her experience includes management roles in central government, industry and the voluntary sector, and she has studied and worked in New Zealand, the United States and the UK.

Denise has a range of governance roles. She is chair of the Wellington Zoo Trust and WWF New Zealand, and was a director of Landcare Research from 2001 to 2007.

As a consultant and adviser, Denise has worked on a range of tertiary education and research issues, and served on reference panels for sustainability research priority setting and investment for the Foundation and the Centre of Research Excellence funding panel (2007). She is also involved in leadership development activities. Denise Church holds Masters degrees in Urban and Regional Planning and in Resource Management, and Bachelors degrees in Zoology and in Economics.