Colin Holden is General Manager System Strategy and Initiatives in the Digital Public Service Branch at Te Tari Taiwhenua, the Department of Internal Affairs.

He leads the Branch’s work on system and strategic initiatives, which are aligned with the Strategy for a Digital Public Service.

The Strategy sets the direction to modernise and transform the public service, putting citizens and businesses at the centre of government services. It’s committed to the unified Public Service, and focuses on the people, behaviours and government system settings that will enable a modern public service to implement, adapt and grow in a rapidly changing world.

Ross is the Chief Technology Officer at Atomic, an in-app customer engagement solution. With over thirteen years in tech startups, he has acted as a founder, engineer, and a leader. He has a strong focus on integrating rigorous data privacy and security measures in product development, even with a lean tech team. Atomic’s customers include enterprise and financial services organisations that set a high bar for data management. Ross offers a perspective on the balance between speed, security, and privacy in startups working with high-stakes customers.

Rajan Barara is the Product Management Director at Entrust where he leads the Global identity and fraud business from Canada. Mr. Barara joined Entrust in 2016, before joining, Rajan held various leadership positions in Cloud and Managed Services segment. Mr. Barara holds an MSc in Data Engineering from Keele University in UK and a B.E. in Electronics and Communication Engineering from Delhi College of Engineering.

Elle has been involved in Iwi, Business, Industry, Government, and Community development for 27yrs.

With a background in Science, Geospatial Technology, Education, Infrastructure, and Emergency Management. Elle now finds herself in varying leadership positions across the region, nationally, and globally. Her kaupapa is centred around collective leadership, progressive governance, learning futures and non-lineal pathways, digital equity, inclusion in action, integrated ecosystems, strategic foresight, and tactical application.

Current Spaces:
• Chair, Te Matarau, The Māori Tech Association
• Chair, Waitaha Digital Equity Joint Committee
• Chair, Canterbury Welfare Emergency Management
• Chair, Selwyn District Local Welfare Committee
• Managing Director, ELG Global
• Director, Network 4 Learning
• Director, Archland Investments: Commercial Property Investment and Development
• Trustee, Learning City Christchurch, Āko Ōtautahi
• Board Trustee, Central Plains Water Trust and Chair: Education and Biodiversity Portfolio
• Kaiarahi, Ngāti Tamaterā, Digital Strategic Framework
• University of Canterbury, Guest Lecturer, Progressive Governance/Omni-Cultural Leadership
• Centre for Entrepreneurship, Speaker, Business Advisory and Mentor
• UC PhD Candidate, Impact-Led Omni-cultural Governance

Tim is currently Manager, Business and Market Development in the Service Delivery and Operations Branch within the Department of Internal Affairs in New Zealand.  He is responsible for the ongoing product and market development of core digital identity capabilities, including RealMe authentication and identity services and Identity Check.

Tim has been involved in all aspects of identity management during his time at the Department – including policy & standards, product development, operational management, strategy and investment  

Prior to joining the Department, Tim held roles in the Public Services Commission (formerly State Services Commission) and Land Transport Safety Authority (now part of Waka Kotahi).  He was part of the team within the Commission that initiated the e-Government Programme. 

Tim’s interest in identity stems from a desire to make it easier for citizens to engage with government and businesses in a frictionless way whilst maintaining integrity, security and privacy of data.

Dr Vica Papp is a dual forensic-biometric identification specialist (MSc Forensic Speech Science; MA Forensic Linguistics, PhD Speech Science). Their post-doctoral research at NZILBB at the University of Canterbury focussed on mapping social-behavioural traits on the acoustic speech signal, such as drug use and speaker height. Since 2009 they’ve served as an independent forensic expert in speaker comparison in anonymous recordings and authorship analysis of anonymous documents. They are currently a Principal Data Scientist at MBIE where they test, optimize and consult on high-throughput biographic entity resolution and biometric identification solutions in the face and fingerprint domains. When not working, they roam the South Island high country or dance Argentine tango.

Michelle has 20+ years of experience in leveraging technology for transformation across government and financial services, including 4 years with New Zealand Police. 

In her current role at Police, Michelle focuses on assessing potential technology including the privacy, ethical, and human rights implications before decisions are made to pilot or introduce new technology capabilities.

Shanon O’Connor (Ngāti Porou, Ngāi Tahu) is the Director of Tōnui Collab, a values-led kaupapa-driven specialist bilingual charitable trust dedicated to creating innovative STEMM learning opportunities for rangatahi o Te Tairāwhiti so that rangatahi are supported to explore the diversity of science, technology, engineering and maths and their intersection with Mātauranga Māori. She is also on the board for Te Matarau, the Māori Tech Association and is a Council Member for EdTech NZ.

Nancy Taneja is the Chief Information Security Officer for Primary Health Sector (CISO-P) at Te Whatu Ora Health New Zealand.

She comes from a family of doctors and has always been passionate about healthcare and, the role technology will increasingly play in our health and wellbeing.

Nancy has comprehensive international and national work experience in technology and cybersecurity. Nancy works extensively with primary & community healthcare providers including general practices, pharmacies, allied health professionals, vendors, suppliers and, other community healthcare services providers for, technology and cybersecurity capability uplift initiatives.

Comprising of approximately 170,000 workforce, hundreds of systems, and thousands of small to medium sized businesses in Aotearoa, digital & data is playing a critical role in delivering primary health care. “We must work collectively to build understanding of the risks and, the role that we all play uniquely in practicing cyber security when using o, delivering digital & data capability for the ultimate purpose of improving the health and wellbeing of our community,” she says.