High Commissioner of lndia to New Zealand Mr. Sanjiv Kohli joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1988 after a brief stint with the Indian Railways. He is a graduate in Electronics and Telecom Engineering from Punjab Engineering College Chandigarh. He has earlier served in Indian Missions in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Russia and Qatar. He also served in the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi in various positions.

National Party Leader Simon is a former Crown Prosecutor with a young family who is passionate about New Zealand. He’s got an energetic and united team around him who all back New Zealanders to succeed. As the new Leader of the National Party, Simon understands the importance of a strong economy for Kiwi households – helping lift wages and create jobs, while also looking after the environment.

Beachhead Advisor, NZTE, India With more than three decades of experience in the IT and Automotive sector, Som Mittal is well respected Indian business executive with strong command over the dynamics of the IT industry at an International level. The Financial Express of India called him an Industry “ Doyen”. Most recently Mittal served as president of the National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM), in 2008. During his tenure, the industry has grown vibrantly.

Chairman, Glidepath Ken's company Glidepath designs, manufactures and installs Baggage Handling & Security Systems for airports. Glidepath can count 800 projects in 68 countries in over 40 years of exporting and installing Glidepath's products. Glidepath has 7 offshore facilities: Australia, Canada, Chile, India, and Peru. Since 1996, Ken & Glidepath have won 14 business awards for exporting & technology achievement.

Chief Executive Officer of Mactan Cebu International Airport, GMR Group Andrew is serving as the Chief Executive Advisor of Mactan-Cebu International Airport and has been working in the Air Transportation (Airports) industry for the last 26 years. He has worked at 12 airports globally and has gained significant experience in Airport Operations, Airport Development and Airport Privatisation in a senior leadership level while living in 18 different countries.

General Manager -India, Sri Lanka & Bangladesh, Air Asia Suresh Nair has over 30 years of experience in airline management. Working as a General Manager with Air Aisa, he is involved in the International operations of the airline in this region. He started his journey with Air Asia in 2009 and started operating 12 stations in India. He was a former Vice-President commercial for the boutique airline Paramount Airways.

Deputy Leader, New Zealand First Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs; Disarmament and Arms Control and Regional Economic Development Mr. Tabuteau holds a range of spokesperson roles including, associate finance, commerce, revenue, trade, tourism, and energy. Fletcher is also the Deputy Chair of the Finance and Expenditure Select Committee.

Chief Executive, Tourism Export Council of New Zealand Judy Chen has over 15 years’ experience in the tourism industry and is currently the Chief Executive of the Tourism Export Council of New Zealand (TECNZ). Before joining the Tourism Export Council, she was the Director of Sales & Marketing at Hotel Grand Chancellor NZ. In 2017, she was awarded the New Zealand Hotel Industry's Senior Hotel Executive of the Year.

Director of Civil Aviation Graeme is currently the Chair of the Asia Pacific Air Navigation Planning and Implementation Regional Group and is an enthusiastic proponent of ICAO’s ‘no State left behind’ initiative. In this regard he has been a strong proponent of New Zealand’s civil aviation capacity building efforts in the Pacific and its proactive engagement on the international stage in support of the economic contribution of civil aviation.

Project Director & Team leader of Western Region Megapolis Planning Project (WRMPP), Sri Lanka Lakshman Jayasekara is a Project Director and Team Leader of WRMPP a key investment initiative of the government of Sri Lanka which was started in 2015. In 2015 at the invitation of Hon. Prime Minister he joined the govt. as the team leader and the Project Director of the most challenging project. Earlier he was the CEO of hybrid Airports (Pvt) Ltd, where he was also the Senior Partner between 2013 ti

Vice President & Director Business Development, WelTec & Whitirea Originally from Edinburgh in Scotland, Mark lived in London for 10 years before leaving the UK for New Zealand in 1997. He has extensive sales & marketing experience, having worked across several industry sectors in both the UK and NZ, including retail, oil & gas, government, gaming entertainment, financial services, customer loyalty, not-for-profit, trade and education.

General Manager Aeronautical Commercial, Auckland Airport Scott Tasker leads Auckland Airport’s aeronautical commercial team, focusing on sustainably growing our airline capacity, improving route connectivity and increasing passenger volumes. Scott has more than 20 years’ experience in the travel industry, both in New Zealand and the United Kingdom, and has held a number of roles in airline sales, marketing and management with Emirates and Lufthansa.

Managing Director & Owner Redesign Group Jo Pennycuick, the owner and founder of Redesign Group who has built the company over 20 years into a globally operated design practice. With offices located in Delhi, Ho Chi Minh City and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Jo can service her clients across the key areas of business trade. The core work for the company is in the hospitality, commercial and retail sectors designing spaces within airports and malls around the world.

General Manager, Jet Airways Paul Wu is a general manager of Jet airways (India) Ltd based in Singapore also overseas Oceania region includes New Zealand, Australia & Indonesia, Malaysia & Fiji. He is with Jet Airways for the last 24 years and in Singapore for over two years now.

Director Commercial René de Monchy joined Tourism New Zealand in August 2015 as Director of Trade, PR and Major Events. René brings 15 years' global experience in consumer-led businesses including local and international marketing roles for Fonterra and Heineken and most recently as Marketing Director at Asia Pacific Breweries in Singapore.

Director, CAPA South Asia Binit is a Director of CAPA’s South Asia practice, which provides specialist consulting and research services across the aviation value chain. In addition to projects in South Asia, he has been a key member of teams working for airline and airport clients in Asia, Africa and North America.

Tourism Industry Aotearoa Chris joined TIA as Chief Executive in July 2014. As the only membership association representing all sectors of New Zealand tourism industry. Previously he was a General Manager at Tourism New Zealand. He began his career as a radio journalist. From senior editor roles at Radio New Zealand, he moved to Parliament. His time in Beehive was followed by a decade of senior corporate positions in the energy sector before returning to tourism.

Managing Director KGD-Architecture Nejeeb Khan is a master’s degree holder from the University of Colorado and is a member of Council of Architecture - India (CoA), Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) & American Institute of Architects (AIA). In 2003, he founded KGD-Architecture along with Ned Kirschbaum and Jim Bradburn of Fentress Architects. His prior exposure to large scale projects globally brings an ambitious vision for KGD as a player in the AEC Industry.

Chief Executive, Aviation New Zealand John Nicholson joined industry association Aviation New Zealand in 2008 and was appointed Chief Executive in June 2016. Before joining Aviation NZ, John gained considerable international experience with NZ Trade & Enterprise and predecessor organisation Trade New Zealand. He will be the panel moderator for the aviation session, at the Summit.

Senior Economist, Westpac NZ Satish joined Westpac’s Economics team as a Senior Economist in October 2014. His work focuses on inflation and developments in New Zealand’s labour market. Prior to joining Westpac, he was an adviser at the Reserve Bank of New Zealand. Much of his career has focused analysing and forecasting the New Zealand economy, with a particular focus on inflation.

Executive Director & CEO, Mahindra Aerospace Arvind Mehra is an Executive Director & CEO of Mahindra Aerospace with over 33+ years of experience in senior leadership positions across large reputed organisations around the world. He is also a current director on the Board of General Aircraft Manufacturing Association, USA. He is also a member of FICCI, India and Confederation of Indian Industry.

General Manager, Qualmark New Zealand Gregg joined Tourism New Zealand in 1993 and went on to hold Executive and General Manager positions offshore for 21 years in Europe, the Americas, and Australia. Returning to New Zealand in 2016 Gregg worked on the multi-agency Project Palace program addressing shortfalls in hotel accommodation and an Indian Market strategic review. He will talk about experiences with Quality Assurance and Sustainability Programs.

Deputy Chief Pilot, Jet Airways He is flying with Jet Airways from last ten years and been a part of multi functional teams, and his role as Deputy Chief Pilot – B737 and B777. He was the youngest pilot to receive this position, supervising and administering approximately 1500 pilots across Jet Airways Network. He won Best Student Pilot of The Year at Basair Aviation College, Sydney in 2007 and was selected as one of the youngest Pilot to receive training approval from DGCA in 2012.

Business Development & Convention Bureau Director, Destination Queenstown Kiran Nambiar joined Destination Queenstown (DQ) as Business Development Director in January 2018. He is responsible for the development and implementation of DQ’s b2b strategy for Trade, Bureau and Study. Previously, he worked with Tourism New Zealand as Country Manager India and Regional Manager India & South East Asia for nine years. Post that was with Cox & Kings Travel group as Vice President Business, bin Mumbai.

Tourism Lecturer & Researcher, Weltec Jamie is a lecturer and researcher with interests in entrepreneurship and innovation within the tourism sector. The Indian inbound visitor market is becoming increasingly important to New Zealand. Year ending June statistics have seen arrivals rise by over 20% and Indian visitors are helping to strengthen shoulder and off-peak season for many operators. His recent research for Tourism Industry Aoteaora highlighted the growth potential of the Indian market.

Member of Parliament, Labour Party of New Zealand Priyanca has lived and worked overseas, and around Aotearoa NZ. She has spent her work life advocating on behalf of groups of people whose voices are often unheard - women survivors of domestic violence, and migrant workers who have been exploited - and lobbying government for legislative and policy change.

Co-founder and Mission Director, Mission Ready HQ Diana is the Mission Director and co-founder of Mission Ready HQ, a tech career accelerator with heart! She is a passionate advocate of making technology and education accessible and affordable and sits on the board of the Ako Hiko Education Trust.