Sustainable Business Awards

Barry Coates is founder and CEO of Mindful Money, a social enterprise shifting investment towards ethical investment and sustainability. Barry has been active in sustainability since the Earth Summit in 1992, working in NZ and internationally on fair trade, climate change and poverty. Barry has worked across business, government and charities. Since returning to NZ in 2003, he was head of Oxfam Aotearoa for a decade, initiated a sustainability programme at The University of Auckland and was briefly a Green Party list MP. Barry has a Master’s in Management from Yale University and was awarded Sustainability Champion in the 2016 NZI Sustainable Business Network Awards. Barry has many years of governance experience, including on boards of member organisations. He is an enthusiastic supporter of SBN’s work.

Ken is one of the world’s leading thinkers in the circular economy. For eight years, he led innovation at the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, the world’s leading circular economy network.

He is the author of The Circular Economy: A Wealth of Flows (2017) and co-author of The Wonderful Circles of Oz: A Circular Economy Story (2022), Sense and Sustainability (2008) and ABC&D Creating a Regenerative Circular Economy for All (2022). He also contributed to the Handbook of the Circular Economy (2023).

Ken was awarded a DSc from the University of Brighton in 2023.

Jacqueline is a founding Partner of The Purpose Business. She is a passionate advocate for values and purpose driven business, and bringing the customer’s voice into an organisation to drive better decisions, performance and results. She has over two decades of experience working with leading New Zealand businesses and brands to improve the quality of their stakeholder engagement and reputation capital. Jacqueline is recognised as a thought leader in sustainable business and brand strategy. In her previous role leading New Zealand’s most respected market insights agency, she created The Colmar Brunton Better Business Report, a seven year longitudinal study into the growth of conscious consumerism in New Zealand.

Dawn is a highly experienced sustainability business leader. She has a passion for embedding sustainability into core business strategy, building purpose led brands and strong customer and employee value propositions.

Dawn has worked for 25 years as a sustainability professional in New Zealand and Denmark. This includes 12 years as Group Sustainability Manager at NZ Post, 8 years as Head of Procurement at Westpac and 10 years in social housing in the UK.

She is the editor and initiator of 'Change the World for $15' book in New Zealand. Dawn holds a Masters of Science in Responsibility and Business Practice from Bath University, UK and is an alumni of the Cambridge Institute of Sustainable Leadership Executive programme.

Paul was part of the first plant-based food company to supply grocery and supermarkets in New Zealand, when he founded Bean Supreme with his brother in 1984. Since then, Bean Supreme has been creating plant-based food such as marinated tofu, vegetarian sausages, wholefood burgers and mince. The company joined Life Health Foods in 2006, together with Lisa’s Hummus & Dips, Naked Kitchen and Vegie Delights.

Paul was previously a mentor of SBN’s Good Food Boost programme for up-and-coming food businesses. He has also served on the FGC Supply Chain Working Group. Paul is passionate about sustainability, smart technology, healthy eating and clean-ocean water sports.

Marcus is accountable for all operational and commercial aspects of the Northern region of Southbase Construction. He is also a member of Southbase Group’s Executive Leadership Team. With over 18 years’ experience leading major projects across New Zealand, Europe, Asia and the Middle East, Marcus has significant experience in design and build projects.  He also has a strong track record in leading the financial management of large-scale projects, developing commercial strategies and developing high performing teams. 

He uri tēnei nō Te Waiohua, Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairoa, Waikato-Tainui me Ngāti Hāmoa hoki, kō Sophia Olo-Whaanga ahau.

Sophia is an environmental consultant and kaupapa Māori leader working at the intersection of taiao restoration, cultural revitalisation and social transformation. Her mahi spans strategy, governance and on-the-ground action, supporting clients to achieve their environmental and social outcome goals, and reconnect with place and purpose.

Currently, she serves as a Tiaki Taiao specialist and is self-employed with a range of clients in the spaces of construction, Iwi and Hapuu, social enterprises and local government. She also sits on governance boards and contributes in a voluntary capacity. Whether she's co-designing policy with mana whenua, leading planting days, advising on social procurement or building capacity through rangatahi employment pathways — her goal is always the same: to uplift Māori solutions for enduring change.