IWD Breakfast Speakers

Janine Kapa

Janine Kapa (Kāi Tahu, Kāti Māmoe, Waitaha) has been passionately involved in Māori education for over 30 years – in the compulsory and tertiary sectors, from the classroom to the board room; locally, regionally, and nationally. With a background in applied research, communications, project management, strategic development, and systems change, Janine co-founded Kia Māia Bicultural Communications in 1999, and has held Māori leadership roles with Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu (2003-2005), the University of Otago (2007-2017) and Otago Polytechnic (2017-2022). Most recently, she has held senior executive roles with Te Pūkenga, leading the integration and implementation of Te Pae Tawhiti, Te Tiriti o Waitangi Excellence Framework, contributing to the co-creation of Aotearoa NZ’s new national vocational education network. In May 2024, she returned to Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka (the University of Otago) as a Senior Strategic Advisor Māori for the Deputy Vice-Chancellor Māori and Director of Strategy, Analytics and Reporting.
Aoraki matatū!

Sarah Ramsay

Sarah Ramsay is the Chief Executive Officer and co-owner of the award-winning United Machinists. The Dunedin-based business precision engineers critical components for many of the world’s most prestigious high-tech manufacturers across industries such as aerospace, medical, cinematography and marine industries.

Sarah serves as the chair of Advanced Manufacturing Aotearoa, a cross-sector organisation representing manufacturing businesses across New Zealand. She was the driving force behind Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC), which aims to improve resilience and grow the manufacturing engineering sector in the region. Sarah knows it’s time to celebrate our successes more and recognises that New Zealand is globally competitive in high-value manufacturing in deep niches.