SPEAKERS ON THE NIGHT
This year's event is shaping up to be one of the biggest yet, with celebrated New Zealand entrepreneur, chef and television personality Nadia Lim headlining the evening.
Best known as the winner of MasterChef New Zealand, Nadia is a qualified dietitian, bestselling author, television presenter, farmer and co-founder of My Food Bag, one of New Zealand's most successful food businesses. Much of her life today is centred around farming at Royalburn Farm, which plays a significant role in shaping her approach to food, sustainability and business.
Since launching My Food Bag in 2013, she has helped transform the way thousands of Kiwi families prepare meals at home while building one of the country's most recognisable consumer brands. Her contribution to business, food education and public health saw her appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit (ONZM).
Guests will enjoy an exclusive one-hour live Q&A with Nadia, where she'll share her journey through entrepreneurship, resilience, innovation and building a successful New Zealand business.
Brodie davis
Grew up on a sheep and beef station in the hills of Motu, where hard work, practical solutions and family were part of everyday life.
Today, Brodie is the General Manager of Project Parore, a community-led environmental organisation working from the hills to the harbour across the northern Tauranga catchments.
Brodie is passionate about bringing people together around a shared purpose. While in his role with Project Parore, the amazing staff and wonderful volunteers, alongside supportive landowners, partners and funders, have helped grow the organisation into a nationally recognised catchment group. Together they have restored waterways, planted hundreds of thousands of native trees, helped to connect communities with conservation, and helped Project Parore become one of Aotearoa's Freshwater Champions in 2024.
When he's not at work, you'll find him spending time with Sarah, Harvey and Poppy, talking farming, surfing, hunting, or dreaming up the next project for consideration.
"From the hills to the harbour, good things happen when communities get stuck in"
Nadia Lim
Jason topp
Founded SMYD Accounting / Advisory in 2016, building it into an award-winning practice recognised for its innovative approach to accounting and advisory. A Chartered Accountant with a BCom from Victoria University of Wellington, Jason built his early career in commercial finance roles across New Zealand and London, with Spark NZ, Icebreaker, and Insurance Australia Group, before a desire to take control of his own future led him to step out on his own.
SMYD's origins couldn't have been more grassroots, a post in a local Auckland Facebook group that set everything in motion.
Alongside the growing business was a growing family.
Jason and his wife (and business partner) Leah, had a clear vision of the life they wanted - a relocation to Waihi Beach in pursuit of a better lifestyle while continuing to build something on their own terms.
What that move unearthed went far beyond a lifestyle upgrade. It proved that you can take a business out of the big smoke and not just survive, but thrive. It also revealed that outside New Zealand's main centres lies a remarkable depth of entrepreneurial talent, people running businesses at national and global scale from places most would assume couldn't support them. It's an insight that has fundamentally shaped both how Jason works and who he works with.
Since planting roots on the coast, SMYD has grown to a team of ten, with Jason finding no shortage of unicorn talent right here in this little slice of paradise. The team now serves clients from Northland to Southland, with a significant and enduring presence in Auckland. A proactive, future-focused approach to business positions SMYD at the leading edge of where the accounting and advisory industry is heading.
At the heart of SMYD is a staunch belief that human-to-human connection comes first. Beyond working closely alongside his team and clients, Jason has built a wider presence in the business community, hosting his own podcast Strength in Numbers, running retreats for business owners in Fiji, and regularly appearing as a panellist for CAANZ, the professional body representing accountants across Australia and New Zealand.
A decade on (almost to the day), SMYD is still growing, still innovating, and still proving that the most important business decision Jason ever made was choosing the life he wanted first, and building the business around it.
chris simpson
Is going to share his philosophy on being in a team and managing chaos with clarity.
He and his wife, Sheree, live in Bowentown, after their blended family of five kids flew the nest from the family home in Auckland. Even though he has aspirations of retiring, he still runs his Major Events company remotely.
Chris has always been an avid ‘team’ sportsman, playing representative rugby and cricket when growing up down South. However, his ultimate sport of choice was basketball. He played professionally as a point guard for the New Zealand Tall Blacks for almost 10 years. Not quite a Tall Black, but more a Short White, his prominent nose was dangerously at the level of most opponents’ elbows, resulting in numerous breakages as well as a few lost teeth! His main role in the team was to dribble the ball up under pressure and tell the big guys, who were all running around in chaos, what to do. On the fly, he had to figure out who was hot and who was not in order to get those winning shots in the hoop.
He reckons that helped him with his future career in understanding how to get the best out of people, forming a team, and setting his goals high. It also gave him the lifelong skill of staying calm amongst chaos – a trait that bode him very well within the stressful major events industry.
One of Chris’ proudest achievements was leading the bid in Paris for New Zealand to win the co-hosting of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup. This was a 15 year journey he went on with FIFA after he was the original CEO of a FIFA Age Group Women’s World Cup. He also did the same in bringing to New Zealand the 2017 World Masters Games and the ICC Cricket World Cup. He was the Event Director of a (WSL) World Surf League event and the 2011 Rugby World Cup Opening Ceremony to name a few.
Chris was the Head of Major Events Auckland Unlimited after covid, overseeing the hosting of events like New Zealand Fashion week, Women’s Cricket World Cup, Rugby Women’s World Cup, World Rally Championships, All Blacks tests, ASB Tennis Classic and many global touring concerts including Coldplay and Ed Sheeran.
He received the 2024 Outstanding Contribution to the New Zealand Events Industry and was the founding author of the governments Major Event Resource Bank and was a former consultant to FIFA in Zurich.
It is fair to say he paved his career, and the challenges of parenthood, because he thrived on being in a team and managing chaos with clarity – otherwise known as “equanimity”.
EVENT CONTACTS
We’d love to hear from you. For anything awards-related, please get in touch:
Jacqui Knight
Promotions Manager,
Katch Katikati
Hollie Jones
Events Coordinator, Waihī Beach Events
& Promotions
PROUDLY BROUGTH TO YOU BY:
The Katikati & Waihī Beach Excellence Awards are delivered in partnership by Waihī Beach Events & Promotions and Katch Katikati, brought to you by Barfoot & Thompson, and proudly supported by Western Bay of Plenty District Council.
