Better together

Dr Sam Hazledine is one of New Zealand's leading medical entrepreneurs. The Ernst & Young – Young Entrepreneur of the Year and Sir Peter Blake Leader is the founder and Chairman of Australasia’s largest medical recruitment company, Medrecruit, which has featured in the Deloitte Fast 50 as the fastest growing service business in the country. Doctor wellbeing is Sam's life's work. He founded Medworld, and in 2017 he successfully lobbied the World Medical Association to include the health and wellbeing of the doctor in the Declaration of Geneva, the modern-day Hippocratic Oath.

Richard has a broad range of experience working for multinational corporations in the recruitment industries and leading teams in sales and financial services. Richard founded his own financial services business, which was acquired by the group. He has a Bachelor of Business Studies (Finance) from Massey University and is in the final stages of completing his MBA from the University of Canterbury. Richard reports to the Executive Chair and is responsible for the Senior Leadership Team and business performance.

Neil Jacobstein is the Chair of the Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Track at Singularity University. He is a MediaX Distinguished Visiting Scholar at Stanford University, where his work since 2007 focuses on augmented decision systems. He is actively involved in applying AI to practical business problems. Neil has served as a technical consultant on AI research and development projects for: DARPA, NSF, NASA, NIH, EPA, DOE, the U.S. Army and Air Force, GM, Ford, Boeing, Applied Materials, NIST, and many other organisations. He was CEO of Teknowledge Corporation, a pioneering AI company, where he worked on AI application systems for industry and government. He was a graduate research intern in Alan Kay’s Learning Research Group at Xerox’s Palo Alto Research Center (PARC).

Aaron is a 20 year tech industry veteran with leadership experience across a broad spectrum including managing portfolios over $1b in revenue. Most recently Aaron founded Centrality - a blockchain venture studio that partners with innovators in key industries to create a decentralised peer-to-peer marketplace of applications. In 2018 Aaron was awarded EY Entrepreneur of the Year for the technology and emerging industries category. In 2019 he was also named one of the top 50 technology leaders in IDG’s CIO50.

Jennifer is a finance, compliance, and risk specialist with over 26 years of broad commercial experience working for multinational corporations in banking, retail, media, and healthcare. She has a Bachelor of Commerce and Administration (Finance and Commercial Law) from Victoria University and is a Chartered Accountant.

Siobhan’s career has spanned over twenty years across sales, recruitment, local government and sales management, and she has been with Medrecruit for almost nine years. She has led the Australian arm of the business since August 2017, where she was responsible for increasing market penetration across all states and territories, winning key business, and executing strategy to deliver results. She was promoted to GM of Medrecruit Australia and New Zealand in 2021. She is a council member on AMRANZ (Association of Medical Recruiters Australia New Zealand).

Kate is a senior human resources professional with over 15 years of experience in local government and commercial privately owned organisations. Kate has a Bachelor of Tourism (Hons) and Bachelor of Commerce (Management) from the University of Otago. Kate is a Chartered Member of the Human Resources Institute of New Zealand and a Licensed Immigration Adviser. She has completed the Graduate Diploma in New Zealand Immigration Advice (Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology). Kate was a trustee on the Whakatipu Youth Trust between 2022 and 2024.

Jakub is a senior technology leader with a rich background in leadership, software engineering, and agile transformation. He has successfully led software product teams and facilitated transformations in multinationals and startups, including Air New Zealand, Visa, IBM, ASB Bank, and Orion Health. He is an active participant in technology and agile communities, sharing his knowledge through conferences, training, and mentorship. Jakub holds a PhD in Software Engineering from Poznan University of Technology in Poland.

Anna is a strategic brand, design, and digital customer experience expert with a background in leading design, communications, and digital agencies in Australia and New Zealand. Renowned for her creative insights and commercial acumen, Anna has partnered with many businesses throughout her career, including Air New Zealand, McDonalds, ASB Bank, Spark, and many more. Her expertise in leveraging customer experience and design thinking has produced impactful brand strategies and digital experiences that are useful, beautiful and deliver commercial results.

Haydn is a commercially focused CFO with 23 years of financial management experience. He has previously been the CFO at NZ technology company Straker Translations, which he took to IPO on the ASX. Haydn worked in London for a decade, gaining experience in senior financial roles for several successful, global technology companies. Haydn is a CA with CAANZ and holds a Bachelor of Business from Massey University.

With a degree in business and psychology, Kelly’s career over the last 20 years in Australia and New Zealand has been driven by a curiosity for people in business. Kelly worked with a Registered Training Organization focused on Leadership & Management skills, exposing her to 100’s of businesses resulting in the ability to see quickly into the heart and strategy of an organization as well as its people and coach for change. For the last 11 years, Kelly has applied that appetite for learning and growth in Medenterprises as a Project Manager, Business Improvement Manager, Program Manager, Head of Delivery and now Chief of Staff. Experienced in both managing large complex projects from a delivery perspective but also the human and strategic component to lead these projects to success. Kelly is now focused on enabling others to lead from a place of strategy. Kelly’s has a clear passion for connection; connecting with yourself, leading through connection and connecting with business strategy and direction - a very unique and valued set of skills. Outside of work, Kelly is passionate about community based suicide awareness and prevention.