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Entrepreneurs

14 July 2023

From Ron Park to Associate Professor Sacha McMeeking, learn about the entrepreneurs UC is showcasing to celebrate our 150th anniversary!

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Horrocks
Guy Horrocks

LLB, BCom 2007聽

Guy Horrocks career in tech started at UC when he won the 2006 Entre Entrepreneurial Award for his first start up, a company which used software to analyse blood splatter at crime scenes. Guy established the world鈥檚 first iPhone app company Polar Bear Farm in 2007 before moving to New York with his mobile agency Carnival Labs. Guy鈥檚 impressive CV includes clients like DreamWorks, Coca-Cola, CNN and Sephora, and his skills and expertise in growing digital businesses have led to his appointment as independent director at NZME and New Zealand Mint. Known for his 鈥楩lat White Meetups鈥 hosting Kiwi entrepreneurs in New York, Guy is back in New Zealand with his most recent startup, Solve, tackling customer data management.

Ron Park
Ron Park

BCom 2018聽

Ron Park聽has always valued health and wellbeing. Channelling that passion, he founded聽NE Tech聽&聽K艒rure聽- companies at the intersection of food innovation, natural health and extraction technology. Motivated to create a sustainable New Zealand supplement company that genuinely sourced and made products in New Zealand, the success of Ron鈥檚 vision led to聽K艒rure聽winning the Business Innovation category at the 2022 NZ Food Awards. Ron credits the UC Entrepreneurship (UCE) Centre for acting as a catalyst to boost his entrepreneurial spirit聽and聽founded the聽UC Global Society聽club while at UC 鈥 bridging the gap between domestic and international students.

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Marcia Butterfield
Marcia Butterfield

BA 2004聽

In the aftermath of the September 2010 earthquakes, Marcia Butterfield聽noticed some negative perceptions聽surrounding聽Christchurch.聽Wanting to show people that there was still聽much to聽see and do in the area,聽she聽was inspired to聽create聽Neat Places.聽Originally a聽hobby blog profiling聽different businesses,聽Marcia's聽idea behind聽her blog聽was to unearth hidden gems聽in聽Christchurch.聽Now a guide for many cities, towns and regions, Neat Places has grown聽into聽an online and printed celebration of all that聽New Zealand has聽to聽offer.聽In addition to Neat Places, Marcia has also founded two additional businesses:聽Coo Coo聽in 2012 and聽Content NZ聽in 2017.

James-Powell
James Powell

BE (Hons) 2008

Getting a taste for aircraft design during his final year project, James Powell began his career in aeronautical consultancy before leading the design, certification, and manufacturing team at aviation provider, Airwork. Never one to dream small, James, his brother Stefan and three others co-founded聽Dawn Aerospace, a space transportation company commercialising green satellite propulsion systems and developing rapidly reusable launch capability. Grown to a 100+ member team in 5 years, with locations in New Zealand, The Netherlands, and New York, the mission for Dawn is to enable substantially more scalable and sustainable space transportation.聽

Max Ferguson
Max Ferguson

BE (Hons) 2014聽

Max聽Ferguson聽is on a mission to make education and software accessible to everyone. While still studying at UC and聽working on the city鈥檚 post-earthquake rebuild, Max聽saw the need to easily digitise documents. This inspired聽the first iteration of聽尝耻尘颈苍听鈥撀燼 tool for live document collaboration. After relocating to Silicon Valley, while completing his PhD at Stanford University, Max continued to develop his software and was soon met with thousands of downloads. Enticed back by the lifestyle聽and聽opportunity聽to expand the tech market here, he returned to Christchurch and grew his Lumin team to accommodate their user base of over sixty million.

Justine Ross
Justine Ross

顿颈辫罢听1989

Justine Ross has always had 鈥渁 real hunger to create things that are different and unique, that build a genuine sense of pride in our country.鈥澛燙o-founder of聽42 Below Vodka聽with husband Geoff Ross, Chairman of聽贰肠辞测补听and CEO of聽Moa Beer, Justine鈥檚 mini传媒 career has been fuelled by an innate sense of ambition.聽Writing her second book聽while managing a sheep and beef station with her family in Central Otago, she聽is聽also聽the author of best-seller聽鈥楨very Bastard Says No鈥聽- the story of how聽42 Below Vodka聽went from being brewed in a garage to an internationally renowned high-end spirit.聽Justine also sits on the board of United Nations Women Aotearoa.

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Tim-Williams
Tim Williams

BSc (Hons) 1993

Starting his career as a molecular geneticist in Auckland, Tim Williams pivoted and made his fortune pioneering internet marketing in Japan in the late 鈥90s and early 鈥00s. Tim and his business partner, Jonny Hendriksen, were the first foreigners to IPO a company on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Now based in Auckland as Chairman of Icehouse Ventures, Tim has widely invested in start-ups and established companies, particularly in construction and waste repurposing technology. Tim wants to see a future where entrepreneurship is an option for all and often lends his skills and experience to Takapuna Grammar School where both he and his children attended.

Sacha McMeeking
Associate Professor Sacha McMeeking

K膩i Tahu
BA, LLB 2003, LLM (Hons) 2007聽

Wanting to make a difference and work in human rights advocacy, Sacha聽McMeeking聽studied law at UC. Years later, Sacha now brings a 鈥榮erial entrepreneur鈥檚' approach to working with and for Iwi M膩ori.聽From co-founding聽罢奴听惭腻颈补, an entity specialising in M膩ori leadership and innovation to instigating United Nations human rights proceedings, Sacha is a champion for the next generation of M膩ori scholars and business owners.聽An activist and advocate, she is currently the Associate Professor M膩ori Wellbeing and Education with the Child Wellbeing Research Institute, having served as a Head of School and senior manager at UC. Sacha also won the inaugural Fulbright Harkness Fellowship in 2010.

Ronnie Peters
Ronnie Peters

BFA 1987聽

Less than 1,000 websites existed when Ronnie Peters started designing websites in 1993. He worked on the design of the first websites for blind people, then moved to New York to became Creative Director for Time Inc鈥檚 extensive digital network. Founder and CEO of 360 Design, Ronnie now leads the design of projects for startups and brands such as Disney,聽AppleTV, and Amazon. He created the world鈥檚 first virtual movie theatre, designs metaverse projects, the hyperloop, a聽mach聽5 aircraft brand and is developing platforms for genome sequencing projects among others. One of the Directors of the UC Foundation in America, Ronnie currently resides in New York.

Levi-Fawcett
Levi Fawcett

BE (Hons) 2017

A lifelong entrepreneur, former聽RocketLab聽engineer Levi Fawcett launched a total of four businesses during his time at university, each more successful than the last. On a mission to build the first global platform for replacement auto parts, he Co-founded his latest venture聽Partly,聽a software business that connects sellers in the automotive industry with a vehicle database. Currently New Zealand鈥檚 fastest-growing start-up,聽has expanded into Europe and Australasia and Levi hopes the company will be able utilise bleeding-edge technology to solve challenging but exciting problems that make a huge impact in a $1.9 trillion automotive industry.

Zak-Holdsworth
Zak Holdsworth

BE (Hons) 2004聽聽

Zak Holdsworth is a health tech entrepreneur who co-founded聽Hint Health, the leading tech company focused on the growth and success of the direct primary care movement, a provider-led movement that is helping transform the US healthcare system. Prior to this Zak was a Vice President at聽WellnessFX聽and worked briefly as a VC at Voyager Capital in Silicon Valley, and prior to that was a tech consultant in the UK and a software and automation engineer in Gisborne. Zak completed his MBA at Stanford University and lives with his wife, two girls, and three dogs in San Francisco and loves adventure sports, gardening, and being a handyman around the home.

Cameron-Priest
Cameron Priest

BCom 2009聽

Deciding at a young age that building companies was the best way to achieve freedom, Cameron Priest has well and truly achieved his goal. A serial entrepreneur and investor, Cameron set up many small-scale ventures before moving to Singapore where he and his brother Bradley founded聽TradeGecko. TradeGecko was聽an order and inventory management software platform which recently sold聽for over $150million (NZD). Cameron believes entrepreneurship to be a great agent for change, and his latest endeavour聽Neu Ventures聽is an investment fund and venture, focused on聽building category-leading, world-positive, enduring companies that make a positive impact on humanity.聽

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