Join us for an inspirational day of learning from world class New Zealand speakers + many networking opportunities at the Spruce Goose Hanger - Google's Playa Vista Campus. From Olympic medalists, coaches and mentors to top business leaders and entrepreneurs to world class musicians and health experts - there is something for everyone. See Schedule Below.

EVENT SCHEDULE

8:00 - 9:00 am - Registration

9:00 - 9:15 am - Welcome

• Hon. Maurice Williamson -New Zealand Consul-General in Los Angeles

9:15 - 10:00 am - Kiwis Can Fly

• Rod Dixon - Olympic Medalist, NYC marathon winner, Founder Rod Dixon's KiDSMARATHON Foundation

10:00 - 10:45 am - How a Kiwi Learnt to Fly

• Claudia Batten - Founder, Entrepreneur, Speaker and Director

11:00am - 12:00 pm - Creative Kiwi Arts Panel

• Karen Maurice-O’Leary - Public Speaker, Artist and LA Creative Director
• Chris Sharp - Los Angeles Based Mixed-media Artist
• Sam Blakelock - CEO and Founder of Pickup Music
• Skye Duncan - Global Designing Cities Director at National Association of City Transportation Officials (Moderator)

12:00 - 1:00 pm - Networking Lunch

1:00 - 1:45 pm - Healthy Kiwis

• Gary Fraser MD, PhD - Professor of Medicine and Professor of Epidemiology, Loma Linda University, Leading World Expert on Preventive Cardiology, Diet, and Nutrition
• Margarete Enziwa, MD, MPH - Assistant Professor Preventive Medicine & Family Medicine, Loma Linda University (moderator)

1:45 - 2:45 pm - Kiwi Business Leaders Panel

• Shane Fleming - VP Global Commercial Launch Services, Rocket Lab
• John Stokes - CEO and Founder, John Stokes Financial
• Neil Matheson - Chairman Atlantis Healthcare and CEO E4 Health Group, LLC
• Divya Dhar MD, MBA, MPP - Young NZer of Year Winner; Product Manager, Google
• Paul Viskovich - CEO, Optima Curis; Past President, Orion Health (moderator)

3:00 - 3:45 pm Kiwi Master Coaching & Mentoring

• Rick Laing - Coach to NZ Olympic Swimmers and Mentor to Danyon Loader - Double Olympic gold medalist. Son of Legendary Coach Duncan Laing
• Anna Gardner - Former Olympic and International Swimmer (moderator)

3:45 - 4:30 pm - Kiwi Family Success

• Chris Lewis - 1983 Wimbledon Finalist, Former World Junior #1 and Former Coach of Ivan Lendl, World #1
• Geneva Lewis - World Class Violinist (who also will perform)

4:30 pm - Closing Remarks

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

Rod Dixon - Olympic Medalist, NYC marathon winner, Founder Rod Dixon's KiDSMARATHON Foundation

Olympian Rod Dixon winner of the 1983 New York City Marathon and bronze medal winner of the 1500 meters at the 1972 Olympic Games. Rod also competed in the 1976 Montreal Olympics and prior to Montreal (1995) Track and Field magazine ranked him first in the world for the 5000 meters event. He eventually turned to road-running and was one of the more successful athletes on the US road racing circuit in the early '80s, including wins at the Falmouth Road Race (1980), Bay to Breakers (1982 & 1983), the Lynchburg, Virginia 10 miler (1981 & 1983), and the Philadelphia Half-Marathon (1980, 1981). His gradual move to longer distances culminated in his 1983 marathon victory in New York City. He finished 10th in the marathon at the 1984 Summer Olympics, and in the 1985 Bay to Breakers when he was unable to compete due to an injury he guided a blind runner to the finish.

Dixon's athletic triumphs include: winning the national 1500m titles of New Zealand, France, U.S.A, and Great Britan; running the fifth fastest 1500m of all time (3:33.89) in 1974 at the Christchurch Commonwealth Games. Over his career, Dixon beat all the greats - Steve Prefontaine, John Walker, Lasse Viren, Henry Rono, Ben Jipcho, Brendan Foster, Dick Quax, Emil Puttemans, and many other world-class runners. In addition to his running, for three years he was race director of Auckland's Round the Bays run, which boasts some 80,000 runners, and was appointed as the coach for the Fijian Olympic team at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta.

Rod is the founder of the Rod Dixon's KiDSMARATHON charity which helps educate KiDS about exercise and nutrition, empowering them to take their health into their own hands, and inspiring them with visits from running champions.

Claudia Batten - Founder, Entrepreneur, Speaker and Director

From Claudia’s roots in commercial law she has been a founding member of two highly successful entrepreneurial ventures. As part of the founding team of Massive Incorporated, a network for advertising in video games, she helped pioneer “digital” as a media buy. Massive was sold to Microsoft in 2006, where Claudia then spent 3 years scaling the in-game network. In 2009 she co-founded Victors & Spoils, the first advertising agency built on the principles of crowdsourcing. After two years in market, V&S was acquired by French holding company Havas Worldwide. In 2014 Claudia cofounded Broadli with Ale Lariu and Mary Abraham to redefine how we use digital connectivity to power networking.Claudia most recently spent three years running North American operations for NZTE, with the goal of bringing disruption into government while supporting the growth of NZ exports in North America. She is a Director of NZX listed digital travel company Serko, and digital advisor to the board of Westpac New Zealand.

Claudia graduated Victoria University of Wellington in 1998 with degrees in Law (Hons) and Commerce. At Russell McVeagh she specialized in contract, IP, and technology law before moving to New York in 2002. She became the youngest person appointed to the New Zealand Government’s Trade and Exchange US Beachheads Board in 2007. Claudia has achieved great success in the US market, but remains a strong supporter of the New Zealand start up scene. In 2013, she was awarded a Distinguished Alumni Award from Victoria University in recognition of her commitment to New Zealand and her achievements in tech. In 2014 she was the youngest ever recipient of the prestigious “World Class New Zealand Supreme Award”. Claudia’s work across the NZ entrepreneurial and tech ecosystem has been recognized by all the major New Zealand awards: she was Next’s woman of the year in 2015, received a Sir Peter Blake Leadership award in 2016, awarded the Outstanding Contribution to Technology and Business in award at the 2017 CIO Awards and named 2018’s Flying Kiwi at the New Zealand Hi-Tech Awards. You can follow Claudia most everywhere @claudiabatten and she blogs at squigglylife.com.

Chris Lewis - 1983 Wimbledon Finalist, Former World Junior #1 and Former Coach of Ivan Lendl, World #1

Chris Lewis is one of New Zealand's greatest tennis players and sportspersons. As a former professional tennis player, he reached the 1983 Wimbledon final against John McEnroe, which was one of New Zealand's greatest sporting moments. Also in 1983, he received the New Zealand Sportsman of the Year Award.

During Chris’ career, he won three singles titles, reached the final of ten Tour events, and achieved a career-high singles ranking of World No. 19 in April 1984. He also won 8 doubles titles during his 12 years on the professional tour. Lewis became the only third player from New Zealand to reach the finals of a Grand Slam singles event, and he is the last player from New Zealand to reach the finals of a Grand Slam. In 1982, he led the NZ Davis Cup team to the semifinals in which New Zealand lost a close tie against France. In 1975, Chris was ranked the number one junior in the world, winning Junior Wimbledon and finishing runner-up in the US Open Juniors. As a coach, Chris has coached some of the top players in the world, including Ivan Lendl (former world no. 1), Carl Uwe Steeb (former world no. 14), and New Zealand's Marina Erakovic (former world no. 39). Lewis is currently Co-founder and Co-Owner of the Brymer Lewis Tennis Academy in Irvine, CA, where, together with his two partners, he is responsible for the development of over 500 aspiring young players.

Gary Fraser MD, PhD - Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology, Loma Linda University, Leading World Expert on Preventive Cardiology, Diet, and Nutrition

Gary Fraser was born in Christchurch, New Zealand (NZ). In 1963, he received a Junior University Entrance scholarship (Mt Albert Grammar School) and in 1969 received his medical degree from Otago University, Dunedin, NZ, and a few years later PhD in epidemiology and a postgraduate diploma in mathematical statistics both from the University of Auckland, NZ. He has an FRACP (NZ medical specialist) qualification and American Boards in Cardiovascular Medicine.

Professionally, Gary has received more than $30M in research support (mainly from NIH) and has, so far, 210 peer-reviewed publications and two books published by Oxford University Press. He is Professor of Medicine and Professor of Epidemiology, Loma Linda University, has spent a year on a Senior NIH Research Fellowship at Cambridge University, U.K., and is still collaborating with investigators at Harvard and Oxford Universities. Gary has served on many grant review committees at the National Institutes of Health, including a standing committee regular member for 4 years. For 32 years he was the Director of Adventist health studies at Loma Linda, till a few months ago. He has mentored 20 post-doctoral fellows, and has been on the dissertation committees of many doctoral students. At different times has been Chair of the Epidemiology Dept., School of Public Health and Assoc. Dean for Research, School of Public Health.

Shane Fleming - VP Global Commercial Launch Services, Rocket Lab

Founded by New Zealander Peter Beck in 2006, Rocket Lab is an American aerospace manufacturer with a wholly owned New Zealand subsidiary. Rocket Lab develops and launches advanced rocket technology to provide rapid and repeatable access to orbit for small satellites. Shane Fleming is responsible for the management operations of Rocket Lab's headquarters in Huntington Beach, California. Previously, Shane managed the operations at Rocket Lab's Auckland, New Zealand facility, as well as Launch Complex 1. With a decade of experience developing and commercializing innovative and disruptive technologies, Shane is accustomed to leading diverse teams and navigating complex international projects. Prior to Rocket Lab, Shane spent seven years at biotechnology firm LanzaTech, leading the Global Engineering Operations and managing teams of engineers, scientists, and technicians at five production facilities in four countries across China, Taiwan, Japan, and the US. Shane has a background in mechanical engineering from the University of Colorado Boulder.

Karen Maurice-O’Leary - Public Speaker, Artist and LA Creative Director

Karen is a LA Creative Director in Technology and mobile media. She’s a storyteller with a passion for AR/VR for good. A public speaker on all topics from diversity, transformational technology to creating compassionate workplaces. Her personal ‘Home for Bolognese’ story has been adopted and used by advertising agencies and corporate brands across the globe.

She has won over 40 advertising industry awards from all corners of the globe, including a Grand Prix in Cannes and a Grand Clio in Miami. She also regularly creates large scale public installations for music festivals as an independent artist connecting people to spaces and positive emotions. Karen has been an art and creative director for multiple businesses and has a business degree from MIT and diploma in creative advertising.

Sam Blakelock - CEO and Founder Pickup Music

Sam Blakelock is the founder of Pickup Music, an online music education platform. Blakelock is a Pacific New Zealander who lives Los Angeles. He holds a Master of Music from the City University of New York in jazz performance and has performed in off-broadway shows in New York City, as a music director on cruise ships internationally, on TV shows including American Idol, and at the Blue Note Jazz Club in NYC, Smalls Jazz Club, Hotel Cafe, Rockwood Music Hall, and Carnegie Hall.

His work in social media been featured at the NAMM trade show and ‘How To Make It in the New Music Business’ which is taught at Berklee College of Music. He has given talks at US and New Zealand colleges on social media for musicians. Blakelock is also the co-founder of OpenStage, a social video app for musicians. Instagram @samblakelock

John Stokes - CEO and Founder, John Stokes Financial

Raised in a family of 11, John worked at an early age performing various jobs to help support his family financially and gained valuable leadership skills that have shaped his independence. In his youth, his passion for soccer led him to play competitively in New Zealand. Now married with two sons and residing in Southern California, John also owns a pro development soccer team, Newport FC, which advances a player’s skills for play at the collegiate and professional level.

After starting his professional career, John found himself laid off and forced into a transition. Soon after he found his new calling in helping others in transition—through financial advising. John received extensive training at a Fortune 100 financial services company. Then, in 2004, he founded John Stokes Financial, a privately held wealth-management firm, with locations throughout California. An accomplished speaker and educator, John speaks at workshops across the country for corporate professionals (from Fortune 500 companies, professional firms, international corporations, outplacement firms, and federal and state agencies) who are facing life-changing events. John holds Series 7, 63, and 66 securities registrations and is a Life, Disability, Health and Annuity Agent with the California Department of Insurance (license #0D16679). He is also investment advisory licensed in 32 states. John also spends time speaking to youth organizations, sharing his own story and advice that demonstrates that from anywhere you come, a better life is possible. He considers his greatest accomplishment being a mentor to others, including his employees and his children.

Neil Matheson - Chairman Atlantis Healthcare and CEO E4 Health Group, LLC

Neil has a Diploma of Physical Education from the University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand. He started his working life as a High School Teacher at Westlake Boy’s High School in Auckland, New Zealand. Neil joined the pharmaceutical industry as a sales rep for Ciba-Geigy in 1983 and then held positions at Ebos Dental & Surgical and Adis International before relocating to the United States to build and expand Adis International US. When Adis was sold in 1994 Neil founded Oxford Clinical Communications (OCC) North America, Inc and then founded ApotheCom Associates, LLC in 1999. Neil created a holding company called AXIS Healthcare Communication which owned ApotheCom, Helix, Axiom and several other entities. He sold AXIS to UK-based Huntsworth plc in 2007.

In 2009 Neil was appointed Global CEO of Huntsworth Health reporting to Lord Chadlington, CEO of Huntsworth plc. He built Huntsworth Health into a US$165M group of best-in class agencies specializing in strategic consulting, medical communications, branding and brand promotion, interactive media, and sales training for the global pharmaceutical, biotechnology, diagnostics, and medical device industries. Neil is presently the Chairman of an innovative behavioral psychology company headquartered in NZ but expanding rapidly in the US and the UK. From his 30 years of experience in healthcare marketing experience, he founded E4 Health Group. Neil has served on the Board of the American Lung Association, the Board of St Mary’s Medical Center in Philadelphia, and the Board of Steel Orca—an environmentally friendly data center. Neil is presently the President of the Alumni of University of Otago in America (AUOA). He has been involved in the Ambassador’s Shield Rugby match with various NZ Ambassadors for the past 15 years and has also worked with NZ Trade and Industry assisting NZ healthcare technology companies understand the US healthcare market.

Geneva Lewis - World Class Violinist

Originally from Auckland, New Zealand, violinist Geneva Lewis has performed as a chamber musician and soloist throughout the United States and Europe. She has been a member of many prize-winning ensembles, including the Chimera Quartet and the Incendium Quartet. She was also a member of the Ravos Quartet, which was selected as a New England Conservatory Honors Ensemble in 2016 and 2017, as well as a current member of the Callisto Trio, which was the recipient of the Bronze Medal in the senior division at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, as the youngest group to ever compete in the finals. Most recently, the Callisto Trio participated in the Masters on Tour series of the International Holland Music Sessions, during which they performed at such locations as the Philharmonic Bratislava and the Het Concertgebouw Amsterdam.

Geneva has been the recipient of a number of solo and chamber music awards, including first prizes at YoungArts, the Music Center Spotlight Awards, ENKOR, Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, St. Paul’s String Quartet Competition, and the M-Prize, among others. She was also a finalist at the Naumburg Competition. As a soloist, she has performed with the Pasadena Symphony, Pasadena Pops, Symphony NH, Diablo Symphony Orchestra, Culver City Symphony, Sierra Summer Festival Orchestra, Brentwood Westwood Symphony Orchestra, and Antelope Valley Symphony Orchestra. Geneva is currently in her third year of studies at the New England Conservatory, pursuing a Bachelor’s Degree in Violin Performance, where she is a student of Miriam Fried. She has spent past summers involved in solo and chamber music at such programs as the Ravinia Steans Institute for Piano and Strings, the Perlman Music Program’s Chamber Workshop, the International Holland Music Sessions, the Taos School of Music and the Heifetz International Music Institute. This summer, she will be attending the Marlboro Music Festival and has been selected for the prestigious Performance Today Young Artist Residency. Geneva plays on a 1731 Carlo Antonio Testore violin, generously on loan from the Ravinia Steans Music Institute.

Divya Dhar MD, MBA, MPP - Young NZer of Year Winner, Tech Business, Product Manger, Google

Divya a physician from University of Auckland Medical School and has was awarded the Young New Zealander of the Year, Young University of Auckland Alumni of Year and Indian New Zealander of Year. She is co-founder of Swish, Augmented reality for beauty and wellness, and P3 Foundation. She cofounded and sold her last health tech start up Seratis. She is currently working for Google in Mountain View as a product manager for Google Maps. Divya is a Fulbright Scholar and has an MBA and MPA from Wharton Business School, University of Pennsylvania and the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.

Chris Sharp - Los Angeles Based Mixed-Media Artist & designer

An accomplished professional, originally from Dunedin, with over 10 years of design agency experience both in New Zealand and London, in 2013 he relocated to Los Angeles to start a family, and pursue his love of fine art. Chris's recent work often sees him channeling what he interprets as an ancient code of primordial organic circuitry. A stream of consciousness consisting of symbols merged & stripped of their cultural references.⁣ Chris is inspired by how technology is now intrinsically linked to our collective evolution. His work strives to act as a catalyst to return us, even for a moment to our primal nature & spirit, beyond the conditions of our society and our environment, into the true environment of energetic reality. A window into your own spirit. ⁣He sees the Artist as an experiencer, someone who's seeing and bringing forth to those yet to see. Chris pieces now hang in private collections alongside iconic work from modern art legends like Banksy and Shepard Fairey.

Instagram: @chrissharp Website: www.iamchrissharp.com

Rick Laing - Coach to NZ Olympic Swimmers and Mentor to Danyon Loader - Double Olympic gold medalist. Son of Legendary Coach Duncan Laing

Senior Coach Rick Laing joined Ford Aquatics in May 2014. Before that Coach Rick was the Head Coach of El Dorado Aquatics from November 2008 - May 2014. Coach Rick moved to Tucson in 2000 from New Zealand, where he earned his international coaching reputation. With over 15 years experience on deck, coaching age groupers right up to Olympic medalists, he coached alongside his father, legendary New Zealand coach Duncan Laing. Coach Rick mentored New Zealand star Danyon Loader who won gold in the 200 and the 400 freestyle at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and silver in the 200 fly at the 1992 Barcelona games. He also coached Olympian Liz van Welie.

Under Coach Rick, EDAC swimmers competed exceptionally well in local, state, and regional meets. Locally, in non-USA swimming events, EDAC won the 2010 Santa Cruz SAAA League Championship, and placed well in high school state championships including an EDAC 2009 state champion in three events and two seniors, one of whom was a freshman, in A finals in 2010. At the year-around state level, EDAC swimmers amassed three top three high point trophies, multiple state titles and top three medals, as well as top 5 high point winners at Arizona Age-group State Championships in 2009-2010 seasons. Regionally, in 2010, six EDAC swimmers went to Far Westerns, winning one title and nine top 8 medals. Coach Rick has also coached three EDAC swimmers to top 10 or top 20 national rankings in their main events.

Anna Gardner - Former Olympic and International Swimmer

Anna Gardner (née Wilson) is originally from Dunedin. Anna is a former Olympian and top international New Zealand swimmer, winning multiple New Zealand titles and breaking multiple national records. In 1993, she was awarded NZ Junior (U21) Sportswoman of the Year, and in 1995 was ranked no. 2 in the world for the 400m individual medley short course. She represented New Zealand at the 1994 Commonwealth Games where she was 5th in the 400m individual medley, at the 1994 World Championships where she was 10th 400m individual medley, and at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, USA. Anna attended the University of Arizona on an athletics scholarship for Swimming and graduated with a BSc in Public Health in 2001 and a BSN in Nursing in 2004 (Summa Cum Laude). Anna is a registered nurse in Maryland and had MSN from Drexel University, qualifying as a family nurse practitioner. She lives with her husband Warren in Bel Air, MD with their two children.

ABOUT THE VENUE

Google-YouTube Playa Vista Campus - Spruce Goose Hanger

The Spruce Goose Hanger is one of Los Angeles' most historical and spectacular landmarks. The Spruce Goose Hanger, designed and built by visionary and film maker Howard Hughes, was home to the largest airplane ever built as well as Howard Hughes' famous film studios.

More recently, the Academy Award Winning film, The Titantic, Iron Man, Avatar, and other notable films have also been filmed in the Spruce Goose Hanger.

After a multi-million dollar design renovation, the Spruce Goose Hanger was converted into Google-YouTube's new Playa Vista Campus. Amongst the many notable features includes a state of the art conference room housing the largest LCD screen in California.

EVENT SPONSORS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We are extremely grateful for the support of Google-Youtube for hosting us at this incredible venue and for Agustín Caso Jacobs , Manager of Content Partnerships at YouTube for being our amazing host. Thank you to the Hon. Maurice Williamson, Consulate General of Los Angeles, Murray Bruges Deputy Consulate General, and all the staff at the New Zealand Consulate.

We sincerely appreciate the help and support of the following organizations for advertising our event and ongoing support to the Kiwi Leadership Network USA - Anna Shere and Ryan Mulcock at KEA New Zealand, Keith Flamark and Vicki Tyler at Kiwis in LA, Celeste Bowden at OC Kiwis, Lesley Tilley at KiaOra™ USA, Neil Matheson at University of Otago in America, Helen Dougherty at Victoria University of University and Geoff Andrews at New Zealand Newsletter.