About Us

Our people

Board of Directors

Annabel Cotton

Chair

Annabel Cotton

Chair

Annabel Cotton - BMS, ACA, CFInstD, FACA, FAIRA, INFINZ (Fellow)
Annabel is an experienced governor with knowledge of public sector boards. Her skills and experience include governance, investor relations, risk and assurance, finance and accounting. She is the owner and managing director of Merlin Consulting and a professional director with over three decades’ experience advising NZX- and ASX-listed companies. Annabel’s governance experience includes having been a director and audit committee chair of NZX Regulation, Waikato Regional Airport, Trust Investment Management and several NZX-listed companies. She has also been a director of the Securities Commission, the External Reporting Board and Genesis Energy Limited and a trustee of Global Women. Annabel has chaired Hamilton and Waikato Tourism and the investment committee of several charitable trusts. She has strong knowledge of the financial services industry and has good connections with angel investors, fund managers and funding entities. Annabel has a genuine interest in seeing small businesses succeed and a firm understanding of the stakeholder perspective and the challenges faced by start-up companies.

Steve O'Connor

Deputy Chair

Steve O'Connor

Deputy Chair

Steve is an independent director, advisor and investor with a strong background within the start-up and technology commercialisation community in Aotearoa and overseas. He enjoys working at the axis between R&D, technology, innovation, and the funding and capitalisation of new ventures and growth companies. He was the founder and CEO of Flick Electric which was acquired by Z Energy. Prior to this he was the CEO of Creative HQ, Wellingtons innovation hub, incubator and accelerator.

Steve is a Director of Rocketing Ventures, providing advisory services and an Advisory Board member at the School of Business and Government at Victoria University. He was a Director of Datamine Ltd, Marketview Ltd, Flick Energy Ltd, Mevo Ltd., and was the founder of the Lightening Lab accelerator. He holds a Bachelor of Science and a Bachelor of Commerce from Victoria University of Wellington and is a Member of the Institute of Directors.

Marcel van den Assum

Executive Director

Marcel van den Assum

Executive Director

Marcel is a professional director, independent advisor and angel investor.
His roles include Chairman of Flick Electric Ltd, Sprout Agritech Ltd and Wipster Ltd, and Director of CropX (NZ) Ltd and Education Payroll Ltd, along with Independent Advisory Board positions with New Zealand Inland Revenue and the Ministry of Health. He was Chairman of the Angel Association of NZ, a director of AngelHQ, a founding investor in LightningLab accelerator, and a member of the NZ Institute of Directors.
Prior to his governance career, Marcel was CIO of New Zealand’s largest company Fonterra, and previous to that Managing Principal of Unisys New Zealand holding leadership roles in various global functions. He has worked across many industry sectors, government entities, and in most geographies.
Marcel has a genuine desire to grow companies and New Zealand’s economy, and an interest in NZGCP’s leadership role in market. He has a strong level of understanding of the work of NZGCP, the environment it operates in, the relationship between its stakeholders, and the challenges surrounding its investment and stakeholder relations.
Alongside family and friends, art, music, mountain biking and snowboarding, food and travel are Marcel’s interests.

Nicole Buisson

Director

Nicole Buisson

Director

Nicole is a professional director and also works with technology companies on growth and scaling initiatives. She currently sits on the Board of Icehouse, Mosaic Business Solutions, and Callaghan Innovation. Nicole formerly sat on MBIE’s Small Business Council and the Boards of WEL Networks, Ultra Fast Fibre, and Rose & Thorne. Her corporate background combines a mix of high-growth technology leadership (Lightspeed Commerce, AWS, Xero, Open Insurance), venture capital and private equity (3i and Ernst & Young’s Venture Capital Advisory Group) and corporate innovation (Vodafone, HK CSL).
Nicole has international experience across the Asia-Pacific region, the USA and Europe, leading to an in-depth knowledge of international market entry and growth strategies. She has an appreciation of the value of diversity, a strong culture and global best practices. Nicole holds an MBA from Columbia University and London Business School and is a chartered member of the Institute of Directors. She spent additional periods at the University of California at Berkeley, China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) and the University of Otago.

Grant Straker

Director

Grant Straker

Director

Grant is the co-founder and CEO of Straker with his wife, Merryn, an AI based language company that they built from start-up to IPO on the ASX. He was New Zealand Entrepreneur of the Year winner with his wife in 2018. He is from the Ngati Raukawa Iwi and a mechanical engineer by trade with more than 25 years' experience in the technology industry, and a prominent advocate for Māori in technology.

He has extensive capital markets experience in New Zealand and Australia, has participated in trade missions to Asia and the USA with our previous Prime Ministers John Key and Jacinda Ardern, and was a member of the Startup Advisors Council in 2022-2023.

Independent Members

Dana Settle

Independent Investment Committee Member

Dana Settle

Independent Investment Committee Member

Dana Settle is a Founding Partner with Greycroft, and she heads the firm’s west coast office out of Los Angeles.
Prior to Greycroft, Dana spent several years as a venture capitalist and advisor to start-up companies in the Bay Area, including six years at Mayfield, where she focused on early-stage companies in the mobile communications and consumer Internet markets.
Dana currently manages Greycroft’s investments in Anine Bing, AppAnnie, Bird, Clique, Comparably, Goop, Happiest Baby, Seed, Thrive Market, Versed and WideOrbit. She also
managed the firm’s investments in Awesomeness TV (acquired by Dreamworks), Maker Studios (acquired by Disney), Pulse (acquired by LinkedIn), TheRealReal (IPO), Trunk Club (acquired by Nordstrom), Sometrics (acquired by American Express), Viddy (acquired by Fullscreen), and Voicea (acquired by Cisco).
Dana also serves as a Board of Director to IMAX Corporation. Her additional experience includes business development at Truveo (AOL), investment banking at Lehman Brothers and international business development at McCaw Cellular Communications (AT&T).
Dana holds a BA in Finance and International Studies from the University of Washington and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Danny Lee

Elevate Investment Committee Member

Danny Lee

Elevate Investment Committee Member

Danny is an experienced investor with over 24 years of global private equity experience spanning venture, growth and buyouts. He is currently managing VCA Capital Fund I, helping individuals and family offices manage their private equity portfolio globally through both fund and direct investments.
Danny is also a senior advisor to Blue Pool Capital where he was a partner running global private equity since 2015. Before that he was a managing director at Bain Capital and Vice President at Investor AB, the largest industrial holding company in the Nordic region. He started his career with Lehman Brothers in NY. Danny has a BA in Economics from Columbia and is a CFA Charter holder.
Danny is an Aspen Finance Fellow and Edmund Hillary Fellow. He sits on our investment committee for Elevate, on the board of the HK Venture Capital and Private Equity Association, and is the chairman of Seed Foundation, a youth education NGO sponsored by Alibaba Entrepreneur Fund. He is also the founding patron for the M+ Museum and the HK Palace Museum.

Matt Ocko

Elevate Investment Committee Member

Matt Ocko

Elevate Investment Committee Member

Matt is an experienced technology entrepreneur and venture capitalist in the US and globally, is co-Managing Partner and co-founder of DCVC (Data Collective).
Matt’s investments on behalf of DCVC span from computational drug discovery and synthetic biology to geospatial and space access platforms, robotics, applied AI, anti-terror systems, and large-scale enterprise platforms including quantum computers. In addition to large IPO outcomes, many of Matt’s prior investments were acquired to become core capabilities of companies like Illumina, Cisco, Google, IBM, Amazon/AWS and Salesforce. His venture investments prior to DCVC include Zoom (ZM), Fortinet (FTNT), D-Wave Systems, Uber (UBER), AngelList, Xensource (CTRX), and Facebook (FB).
Matt founded and was VP of R&D of Da Vinci Systems, actively helps development of China’s venture capital and technology regulatory framework, holds a degree in Physics from Yale University, and is an inventor on over 50 granted or in-process patents in areas as diverse as computer systems virtualisation, fraud detection, and AR.

Team

James Pinner

Chief Investment Officer

James Pinner

Chief Investment Officer

James joined NZGCP in 2019 to establish our Elevate venture capital fund-of-funds. As Chief Investment Officer, James now oversees all of NZGCP's investment activities and strategies. James has over 20 years of corporate finance experience covering venture capital, private equity, corporate M&A and equity capital markets. James’ experience includes 15 years in London, working across North America, Europe, Africa and South-East Asia and more recently working in corporate development in New Zealand for a large family-owned conglomerate. James is a Fellow of Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales, holds a BSc (Hons) from Leeds University and is a member of the NZ Institute of Directors.

Tana van Loggerenberg

Chief Financial Officer / Chief Operating Officer

Tana van Loggerenberg

Chief Financial Officer / Chief Operating Officer

Tana is our CFO / COO and responsible for all accounting, budgeting and forecasting. She has extensive experience in the financial services sector specifically cost management, financial planning and reporting, strategy implementation and leadership. Tana has a Masters in Positive Leadership and Strategy from IE Business School, BCom Hon from the University of North West in South Africa and is a CA with the Chartered Accounts Australia and New Zealand.

Danielle Tait

Head of People and Culture

Danielle Tait

Head of People and Culture

Danielle is responsible for developing and implementing HR strategies and initiatives aligned with the NZGCP business strategy and enhancing the employee experience. She is a qualified HR practitioner with over 15 years of HR experience in New Zealand. She’s worked with some of New Zealand’s largest organisations as an HR professional and has spent the last few years supporting CEOs and executive teams to drive strategic change to achieve business outcomes. Danielle holds a Bachelors degree in Human Resource Management and Economics from the University of Cape Town.

Jacques Richter

Investment Director

Jacques Richter

Investment Director

Jacques is an Investment Director responsible for managing our Aspire fund. Jacques obtained experience in consulting engineering in the UK and South Africa before joining a development finance institution. He spent five years in venture capital and industry development roles, pursuing the economic growth and industrial development objectives of the bank. Jacques holds a Bachelors degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Pretoria, an MBA from the Graduate School of Business at the University of Cape Town and is a CFA charterholder.

Jason Roche

Associate Investment Director

Jason Roche

Associate Investment Director

Jason is an Associate Investment Director responsible for managing our Elevate fund. Prior to joining NZGCP, Jason spent six years working in the M&A team at Todd Corporation where he was involved in transactions spanning Energy, Minerals, Property, Agriculture and Technology. Most recently Jason led the acquisition of a Fiji based solar generation company and completed a secondment to Todd Corporation’s Sydney office, where he advised on project finance. Prior to working at Todd, Jason worked as an Energy Market Analyst at NZX Limited and in Corporate Finance at Summerset Group. Jason holds a BCA (HONS) in Finance and Economics from Victoria University in Wellington and is a CFA Charterholder.

Kate Burgos

Investment Manager

Kate Burgos

Investment Manager

Kate is an Investment Manager supporting our Elevate fund. She is a finance professional with significant experience in investment management and corporate finance. Kate began her career in financial advisory where she specialised in business strategy and financial modelling. She then worked in one of the largest asset management companies in the Philippines where she spearheaded de novo investment funds. She is passionate about impact investing, having supported a boutique US-based debt fund that invests in social enterprises that alleviate poverty and protect the environment in emerging markets. She is a Philippine CPA and was an active member of CFA Philippines, where she was nominated as the Most Promising Charterholder in 2018.

Sam Butler

Investment Manager

Sam Butler

Investment Manager

Sam is an Investment Manager supporting investments made through our Aspire fund. Prior to joining NZGCP, Sam provided intellectual property and commercialisation advice to early-stage research teams across the horticultural, food and beverage, arable crop, and seafood industries at Plant & Food Research. She has a BSc in Genetics from the University of Otago and a Masters in Bioscience Enterprise from the University of Auckland.

Jordan Kimpton

Investment Manager

Jordan Kimpton

Investment Manager

Jordan is an Investment Manager, supporting investments made through our Aspire fund. Prior to joining NZGCP, Jordan worked as a Product Development Engineer, assisting in the development and release of a number of medical devices. He holds a Bachelor of Engineering (Mechanical) and Bachelor of Science (Physiology) both from the University of Auckland.

Emil Schroder

Investment Manager

Emil Schroder

Investment Manager

Emil is an Investment Manager supporting both our Aspire fund. Since studying Physics at the University of Canterbury Emil has gone into the education and government IT sectors, working in coordination and lead roles across a range of Agile software delivery teams.

Dr Lari Dkhar

Senior Investment Analyst

Dr Lari Dkhar

Senior Investment Analyst

Lari is a Senior Investment Analyst supporting our Aspire fund. She previously worked with AUT researchers and staff to identify, appraise, and develop new commercial ventures that create real-world impact from university research. Before joining AUT Ventures, she was finishing her PhD on an intranasal medical device and was enrolled into the KiwiNet Emerging Innovator programme. This programme ignited her curiosity to learn and understand from a researcher’s perspective as well as a commercialisation perspective, how to facilitate emerging bio-medical technologies from a lab space into reality. Lari holds a PhD degree (Biomedical Science) from AUT and a Master by Research degree (Medical Biochemistry and Molecular Biology) from the University of Glasgow.

Lucy Law

Senior Investment Analyst

Lucy Law

Senior Investment Analyst

Lucy is a Senior Investment Analyst supporting our Aspire fund. Prior to joining NZGCP, Lucy worked in research commercialisation at both Crown Research Institutes and Universities. She also has experience working at Gobi Partners which manages Alibaba Entrepreneur Fund in Hong Kong.
She holds a PGDip in Bioscience Enterprise from the University of Auckland, and previously obtained a BSc in Biomedical Science and worked in the diagnostic genetics lab at ADHB.

Bryce Lowen

Senior Investment Analyst

Bryce Lowen

Senior Investment Analyst

Bryce is a Senior Investment Analyst, supporting investments made through our Aspire fund. With a background in medical device sales and regulatory affairs, he has supported positive clinical change in New Zealand healthcare and driven market access for medical devices globally. Bryce holds a Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Science and Master of Bioscience Enterprise both from the University of Auckland.

Inuka Panditha

Investment Analyst

Inuka Panditha

Investment Analyst

Inuka is an Investment Analyst supporting our Aspire fund. He studied Mechatronics Engineering, focusing on electronics and mechanical systems. Prior to joining NZGCP, he worked as an Additive Manufacturing Engineer in titanium 3D printing, contributing to applications in the aerospace and medical sectors.

Andy Chu

Fund Controller and Reporting Officer

Andy Chu

Fund Controller and Reporting Officer

Andy is our Fund Controller and Reporting Officer responsible for data strategy, reporting and system improvement. He has over 10 years’ experience in industry and company research and 5 years’ experience in fund management with extensive exposure to U.S, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand equities. He has a Master’s degree in professional accountancy and finance from the Massey University and is a Chartered Certified Accountant with Association of Chartered Certified Accountants.

Michelle van Aurich

Senior Accountant

Michelle van Aurich

Senior Accountant

Michelle is our Senior Accountant, managing our accounting, budgeting, forecasting and audit requirements. She has over 10 years’ extensive accounting experience with companies both in New Zealand and overseas and is a Chartered Accountant Australia and New Zealand.

Anna Yue

Accountant

Anna Yue

Accountant

Anna is an Accountant responsible for day-to-day accounting, assisting with improving and streamlining internal business processes and providing support for investment reporting. She has extensive accounting experience with companies in various industries across New Zealand. Anna has a Master of Professional Accounting from AUT and is a Chartered Accountant with the Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand.

Andrew Scott

Data Analyst

Andrew Scott

Data Analyst

Andrew is our Data Analyst, responsible for data collection and reporting for internal and external reporting requirements. He has 16 years’ experience in data analysis and reporting roles, with responsibility for managing ETL processes to ensure data integrity and accuracy. He also has extensive experience in report development for Business Unit and Executive reporting, across a variety of reporting platforms.

Helen Tyson

Executive Assistant + People & Culture Coordinator

Helen Tyson

Executive Assistant + People & Culture Coordinator

Helen joined NZGCP in 2024 to provide assistance to our senior leadership team, co-ordination of our people and culture activities, and ensuring that the Auckland and Wellington offices run smoothly. After spending 10 years in the UK, she has gained experience working in both large multi-national organisations and smaller boutique businesses. In her spare time, Helen likes to spend time at the beach and play golf and tennis with her family.

Caitlin Ashworth

HEAD OF LEGAL

Caitlin Ashworth

HEAD OF LEGAL

Caitlin joined NZGCP in November 2024 as our Head of Legal. Caitlin has over 10 years of legal experience in the corporate and commercial field, with a focus on technology, venture capital, and start-ups. She’s worked in New Zealand and Singapore, with the latter including time at the top law firm for venture capital globally, and at the world’s largest payments company. Now back in NZ she has contributed to a number of incubator and accelerator programmes as a legal advisor, and most recently she was part of the team at a Wellington-based boutique law firm in the technology and innovation space. Caitlin holds an LLB (Hons) from the University of Waikato. In her spare time, she sings in a band, hoards books, and skis (usually not all at the same time).