Speaker Bio Briefs – Pacific Wave Samoa 2017

Peter Kiely – Chair Pacific Cooperation Foundation

A barrister and solicitor by profession, Peter Kiely is the Chairman of the Pacific Cooperation Foundation and is an officer of The New Zealand Order of Merit. This follows more than 30 years of dedication to promoting sustainable economic development, improving standards of living in the Pacific region.

Mr Kiely has had an extensive involvement with the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the University of Auckland – of which his is an alumnus – and is a former Honorary Consul General of the Slovak Republic.

Hon. TuilaepaAionoSaileleMalielegaoi – Prime Minister of Samoa
Tuilaepa is an economist by profession. He obtained a master's from the University of Auckland, becoming the first Sāmoan to receive a master's degree in commerce, subsequently entering parliament in 1981. Tuilaepa chairs various regional and international governing boards including the Polynesian Leaders Group and Samoa Rugby Union. Tuilaepa is the 6th and longest serving Prime Minister of Samoa.

Jamie Beaton – Co-founder and CEO of Crimson Education

In 2016, Jamie Beaton graduated from Harvard University, Magna Cum Laude with a double-degree in Applied Mathematics-Economics and Applied Math, two years ahead of schedule. At 20 years of age, a preternatural Jamie became one of the youngest in the world to be accepted to Stanford’s Graduate School of Business.

Jamie was awarded 2016 Innovator of the Year by the NZ Innovation Awards. In 2017 he was featured in the 2017 Forbes 30 Under 30 List and is currently a finalist for EY Entrepreneur of the Year.

Mike Baukes– CEO of UpGuard

Mike is the Founder and Co-CEO of UpGuard, a Cyber Risk company based in Silicon Valley. To-date UpGuard has raised $33M in venture capital. UpGuard's proprietary technology continuously evaluates the operational integrity of an organization's IT infrastructure both internally and externally and calculates the potential risk for future intrusions and outages. Mike is a Samoan citizen having gone to school at Leififi college.

Craig Hudson – Country Manager Xero NZ
Craig has been with Xero for several years, and returns to New Zealand from the United Kingdom, where he led Xero's entrance into the European, Middle Eastern and South African markets.
A father of four, Craig is a successful former rugby player who spent more than eight years playing professionally in New Zealand, France, England, and Wales.

Colin Talamahina– CEO of Telecom Niue

Talamahina moved back to Niue to take up his current position, after 17 years abroad, consulting on network security.

His work as a contractor with Hewlett Packard, General Motors, Gen-I, Health Alliance, Health Link and Datacom has enabled him to identify opportunities to enhance internet connectivity in the Pacific region.

Hon. Afamasaga Rico Tupa’i – Minister of
Communication & Information Technology, Samoa
Afamasaga is the Minister for the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology.
The 47-year-old is one of the youngest M.P’s, and now the youngest Minister. As a government Minister, Afamasaga is committed to making the most of this opportunity to serve Samoa. He is excited about the ways that improvements in technology can create that ripple effect in a wide range of areas and improve the livelihood of the
Samoan people.

Pepe Fia’ailetoa Christian Fruean – Pacific Regional Chair of Digicel

Pepe brings over 20 years of experience in senior leadership positions in the telecommunications, financial services, energy and tourism sectors. Pepe is a former CEO of Digicel Samoa serving 9 years and currently sits on various governance boards in Samoa and across the Pacific including Tonga Power Limited.

Toleafoa Tia Douglas Creevey – Regional CEO of Bluesky
Toleafoahas worked over 25 years in Wireless Communications in various companies in the Pacific and Asia, most previously Country Manager of Bluesky NZ and Samoa, and Chief Operating Officer in Bluesky American Samoa. Toleafoa was born and raised in Samoa. He has an MBA from Massey University, and a Bachelor of Engineering Degree from the University of Auckland in New Zealand.

Emmanuel Delanoue– CEO of Samoa Submarine Cable Company (SSCC)

Delanoue has over 20 years of professional experience in the Submarine Networks industry, having held several roles within Alcatel Lucent, since 1994. An experienced innovator and strategist, Delanoue brings his vast commercial experience and enthusiasm to help drive Samoa Cable Company.

Mike Walsh– NZ deputy High Commissioner
Michael "Mike" Walsh – born in Tonga – is a New Zealand diplomat.
Walsh was appointed the High Commissioner of New Zealand to
Kiribati in August 2011. Walsh also serves concurrently as the Ambassador of New Zealand to the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, and Palau.
A career diplomat, Walsh previously served as the Deputy High
Commissioner in Pretoria, South Africa; as the Deputy Head of
Mission in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and as the Second Secretary at the
Embassy of New Zealand in Apia, Samoa.

Dion Tuuta– CEO of Maori Fisheries

Tuuta has extensive senior management experience in the public and private sectors and has been heavily involved in Māori economic and social development. Dion is well known amongst the Iwi leadership, through his Treaty Settlement work. He began his career as a historian for the Waitangi Tribunal and has been the CEO of Taranaki's largest producer of milk for Fonterra, ParininihikiWaitotara, since 2008.

Rangimarie Hunia – CEO of NgatiWhatua
Rangimarie has broad experience in the commercial, environmental, education and social enterprise sectors and holds a master’s degree in commerce, her thesis titled: ‘Economic Renaissance of a Maori Community: NgatiWhatua o Oakei as a Case Study’.
Rangimarie was an influential member of the Iwi Working Group, established to facilitate iwi decision making in response to the 11-year review of Maori Fisheries Settlement entities.

WiwiniHakaraia– Director of Three Little Birds

Hakaraia is the Director of Three Little Birds Childcare and Education Centre, which provides a full day learning and care programme for children from the local community of Tikipunga in Whangarei.Hakaraia is a chartered accountant with a passion for working with Maori organisations. He has an entrepreneurial spirit, evident from the various business ventures he has undertaken over the years. Hakaraia has held senior associate positions at major financial organisations such as BDO and Ernst & Young.

Jacques-Samuel Prolon – CCO of KACIFIC
Mr. Jacques-Samuel Prolon has held many senior operational positions and is a highly experienced consultant and practitioner.
Prolon previously worked as Senior Vice President Operations at Appen Butler Hill Inc. and in Belgium for BASE (a mobile GSM operator) as a project leader and for Altran Europe where he worked in telecommunications, multimedia and software engineering projects for European clients. Mr. Prolon has a Masters equivalent in telecommunications engineering, from the Institute National des Telecommunications in Evry (France), a postgraduate degree in medical imaging from the University Paris XII and an Executive MBA with the Australian Graduate School of Management.

Jeff Gilpin – CEO, RED-X Mobile

Jeff Gilpin was born and raised in Papua New Guinea. After over 11 years of experience in the mobile phone industry, Jeff focused on building a mobile phone brand (RED-X MOBILE) for the Pacific that focused on bringing to market quality devices at an affordable level. RED-X MOBILE has been able to ship over 750,000 phones in the Pacific market over the last 2 ½ years. In late 2012, Jeff set up an online Job Site in PNG called PNGworkforce.com. This jobsite has become one of PNG’s key employment hubs for people looking for job opportunities and for companies looking to secure talent.

Fa’aso’otauloa Sam Saili – CEO of Skyeye
After graduating from Deakin University in Australia, Fa’aso’otauloa worked for Samoa’s Ministry of Finance as a systems and design analyst. Following that, Fa’aso’otauloa commenced employment with SamoaTel, as the IT manager and later in senior management with Bluesky Samoa.
Fa’aso’otauloa is now the CEO of SkyEye, a Samoa local company and a family business which provides IT solutions to government ministries and businesses.

Prof. Rajesh Chandra – Vice Chancellor of USP

Pro. Rajesh Chandra is a Fijian academic of Indian descent. He is at present the Vice-Chancellor and President of The University of the South Pacific (USP). He is the author of more than 45 articles in academic journals and books. Prof. Chandra is the Chair of the Council of Regional Organizations in the Pacific ICT Working Group who are focused on regional internet connectivity projects and initiatives.

HE David Nicholson - NZ high Commissioner
Nicholson holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Canterbury and two Masters degrees, in Public Administration (Victoria University, 2006) and in Arts (Hons), from the University of Canterbury.
In 2012-2016, Nicholson was appointed as the Director of the Pacific Development Division, then taking over the post of Divisional Manager for Melanesia and Northern Pacific, before being appointed High Commissioner to Samoa.