Speakers

Rod Drury is the CEO and co-founder of Xero and serves on its Board of Directors. As the visionary behind Xero he has been acknowledged by his international peers through many technology and business awards, including 2013 EY New Zealand Entrepreneur of the Year, NZ Herald Business Leader of the Year in 2012, member of the NZ Hi-Tech Hall of Fame, NZ Hi-Tech Entrepreneur of the Year in 2006 and 2007, World Class New Zealander for ICT in 2008, and Honorary Fellow of the Institute of IT Professionals NZ. Before starting Xero, Rod was involved in a number of successful startups including Context Connect, Glazier Systems and Aftermail.

Anna joined Xero in February 2016 as Managing Director for New Zealand, bringing a deep experience of online, financial services and operations. She has a strong passion for driving the success of New Zealanders and their businesses through technology. Formerly General Manager Internet Banking at ASB, Anna's leadership saw the launch of many digital world firsts across the Bank, including Virtual Branch, Facebook Payments and LikeLoan, along with awards recognising world class digital experiences. Her tenure at ASB also included leadership roles across Marketing, Innovation & Design, BankDirect, Contact Centre and Audit, and she was recognised globally as a Judge for the EFMA Innovation Awards over consecutive years. Most recently Anna was General Manager Digital First at Spark. She is a Capacity Partner with the Springboard Trust and is also an alumni from the Global Women 'Breakthrough Leaders' programme.

Gary Turner is co-founder and managing director at Xero UK and is responsible for Xero's business interests across Europe, Middle East & Africa. Xero is the multi award winning global leader in online accounting software with more than 1 million paying subscribers around the world.
Under Gary's leadership Xero UK has scaled from a three person startup in 2009 with annual revenues of £50,000 to reported revenues of £26m in early 2017.
A native of Glasgow, Scotland, Gary previously held executive positions at Microsoft, Systems Union and Pegasus Software. He's an engaging speaker, writer and thought-leader on start-ups, digital transformation, and leadership inside hyper-growth organisations. Gary has also served as a mentor to early stage Fintech startups at Techstars London.

Emma is founder of small business network Enterprise Nation, the UK's most active small business community. Helping thousands of people start and grow their own successful business, it offers a voice to government for members too. Emma has written a number of best-selling business books, including Spare Room Start-Up, Working 5 to 9, Go Global and the StartUp Kit. Emma was awarded an MBE for services to enterprise in 2012.

He is the founder and CEO of Leberecht & Partners, a consulting firm that helps leaders and organisations with their vision, story, and transformation. Tim is the author of the international bestseller, The Business Romantic: Give Everything, Quantify Nothing, and Create Something Greater Than Yourself published by HarperCollins in 2015. He is also the founder of The Business Romantic Society, a global collective of strategists, advertisers, curators, artists, developers, designers, researchers, and data scientists with the shared mission to bring beauty and enchantment to business.

Professor Richard Susskind OBE is an author, speaker, and independent advisor to major professional firms and to national governments. His main area of expertise is the future of professional service and, in particular, the way in which the IT and the internet are changing the work of lawyers. He has worked on legal technology for over 30 years. He lectures internationally, has written many books, and advised on numerous government inquiries.

Oliver is the general manager for Commerical Small Business for Xero. In his current role, Oliver leads the teams bringing Xero's products and strategy to market successfully. Previously at Xero, Oliver served as head of product development for a number of Xero's products and has experience living and working across all of Xero markets.

Rachael Powell is the Chief People Officer and is responsible for Xero’s People Experience function globally. She has previously held positions in talent management, strategy, business development and marketing across online and technology businesses. Passionate about nurturing talent, Rachael believes in strength-based leadership and positive engagement programs to effectively mobilise the business strategy and support sustainable growth.

Matthew Syed is married and a father to two young children (Evie and Teddy), and a trustee of Greenhouse Sports, a charity that empowers young people from disadvantaged communities through sport. He is a columnist for The Times, the author of two acclaimed books on the science of high performance – Bounce and Black Box Thinking – and a former international table tennis champion.
Matthew challenges organisations to avoid institutionalism and open themselves up to change. Feedback should be shared with everybody. Just as the entire aviation industry learns from each aircraft’s black box after an incident, failure should become an opportunity to adapt and grow.