Keynote speakers

Dr Mai Chen (LLB (Hons) (Otago), (LLM (Harvard), HonLLD (Otago), CMInstD), is a top barrister in NZ and President of NZ Asian Lawyers. She was previously:

• Managing Partner, Chen Palmer Public and Employment law Specialists
• Independent non-executive Director, Bank of New Zealand Board and chair of the People and Remuneration Committee
• Member of the New Zealand Securities Commission
• Adjunct Professor at the University of Auckland Business School and Law School
• Inaugural Chair of NZ Global Women
• Top 10 finalist, 2014 and 2016 New Zealander of the Year
• Top 50 Diversity Figures in Public Life, Global Diversity List supported by The Economist
• She has advised on the regulation and legislation concerning waste minimisation and the RMA for many years.

Tumu Whakarae - CEO

Helmut is an experienced director, executive, and consultant with extensive experience across the private and public sector and with specialist skills in business and economic development, strategic planning, change management, and finance.  Helmut’s work over the last 20 years has focused on chief executive leadership of private sector company mergers, turnarounds, and business improvements.  Since 2020 Helmut has been CEO of Te Rūnanga o Toa Rangatira, with executive and governance responsibilities across a broad range of social and commercial enterprises.

Senior Lecturer in Applied Environmental Chemistry at Massey University’s School of Health Sciences 

Dr Nick Kim is a Senior Lecturer in Applied Environmental Chemistry at Massey University’s School of Health Sciences in Wellington, New Zealand, where he oversees environmental health programmes, teaches topics in toxicology, environmental monitoring and risk assessment, and supervises postgraduate research. Holding a first-class BSc(Hons) and PhD in Environmental Chemistry from the University of Canterbury, he has over three decades of experience bridging applied environmental chemistry, human health risk assessment and natural resource management. His career includes 11 years lecturing at the University of Waikato, a decade as Science Advisor at Waikato Regional Council (where he led contaminated site investigations, regional air/soil/water monitoring and made contributions to national standards such as the NES for Contaminants in Soil), and 13 years at Massey, together with a six-month secondment as Senior Policy Advisor at the Ministry for Primary Industries. Dr Kim has provided technical support for a wide range of government initiatives, acted as an independent hearings commissioner under the RMA, and contributed to reviews of methamphetamine testing practices, ecological soil guideline values, and chemical regulation in Aotearoa. In his keynote he will draw on this practical and policy experience to examine the transition in New Zealand’s environmental limits under the reformed resource management framework, highlighting the inevitable interplay of science, policy choices, community values and practical compromises.