David Irving
After a successful business career, David retired as chief executive officer and area director Australasia, Heinz‐Wattie in 1997. David was co‐founder of The ICEHOUSE and among several governance roles for small and medium New Zealand businesses, is chairman and major shareholder in Cable Bay Vineyards. David also holds an appointment as honorary professor of enterprise and management at the University of Auckland Business School. Of specific note, David led the establishment of The ICEHOUSE and the ICE Bridge Business Growth Programmes for the University of Auckland Business School.
He was the inaugural Sir John Logan Campbell executive in residence at the University of Auckland from 1997 to 1998. In his role as honorary professor, David is uniquely placed to contribute to the Business School’s development as New Zealand’s leading business learning and research centre. David has been a critical influence in enhancing the focus around the integration between the teaching, learning and research activities of the Business School and the business community.
Jo Clayton
Jo is an experienced general manager and consultant who works with The ICEHOUSE on its Owner Manager and Leading and Managing for Growth programmes. She is involved as a facilitator and coach on a number of Senior Leadership programmes in the corporate sector with companies such as The Warehouse, IAG, Fonterra and TVNZ. She is also an executive coach working with senior managers, first time general managers, leaders of SME’s and leadership teams.
She provides consulting and advisory services to many businesses in a range of industries, working with their management teams to improve their performance and establish the foundations for growth. She assists with assessing and developing capability, and ensuring capacity, structural and governance issues are addressed.
Prior to establishing Acumen Ltd in 2001, Jo gained a broad commercial experience across a range of industries including retail, manufacturing, building and professional services. She has held a range of senior executive and general management roles (including international assignments) with Mobil Oil, Fletcher Building and The Warehouse. She has a BEd and an MBA from Otago University.
Darl Kolb
Darl’s main research interest is in the area of managing organisational connectivity, distance and isolation, including virtual teams and other distributed work environments. He is currently conducting a study of globally distributed project teams through his own virtual collaborative research teams located in New Zealand, the US, Australia, and India.
He teaches organisational change and innovation and offers an intensive experiential course where students run their own on-line companies.
He has consulted with a variety of New Zealand and international organisations, including: Air New Zealand, Apple Computer, Electrix NZ, Fletcher Challenge, Middlemore Hospital, Programmed Maintenance Services, and SoftTech NZ.
Prior to becoming an academic, Darl worked as an Outward Bound instructor throughout Colorado, New Mexico, Texas and Alaska.
Leith Oliver
Dr Leith Oliver lectures on Business Growth, Strategic Operations Management, Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management, and runs University short courses on Business Planning.
He has a broad experience as an owner-manager of many businesses including companies engaged in housing construction, furniture manufacturing and exporting, and retailing. He has co-authored the book "Production Planning Systems Design" with Associate Professor Victor Portougal (Auckland) and is also co-author of the 5th Ed of the "Small Business Book" with Associate Professor John English (Canberra). In the course of his research and consultancy Leith currently works with many businesses in the areas of strategic planning and the development of management competencies in the fields of finance and accounting, sales and marketing, and operations management.
He custom designs and delivers innovative strategic planning workshops for companies wanting to develop a shared strategic vision for the company based on the drivers of performance within the business.
Deb Shepherd
Deb currently teaches change management, innovation, and professional development at The University of Auckland Business School. Deb's research interests include understanding entrepreneurial SME growth and family business. Deb has worked as a researcher, consultant, facilitator and experiential trainer with a variety of companies, SMEs and large, as well as not-for-profit organisations.
Deb has participated in The ICEHOUSE activities since its inception in 2001 and has been involved in the design, development and delivery of the ICE Bridge programmes since 2001. Her consultancy work with SMEs specialises in strategy, leadership, senior team management development, change management, and business growth. is a director of a number of owner-managed businesses. She is a member of the Family Firm Institute.
Chris Woods
Kiwi born and bred, Chris's interest in entrepreneurship and the small to medium business sector was sparked after working in Malawi as a small business advisor. Instead of catching malaria she caught the entrepreneur bug, becoming "hooked" on the passion and energy that entrepreneurs bring to what they do. She is currently teaches Entrepreneurship and Innovation in the Faculty of Business & Economics at the Univerisy of Auckland. In 2003, she was instrumental, with the Post Graduate Students' Association, in establishing the Spark entrepreneurship challenge. She has been involved with The ICEHOUSE Business Growth Programmes since their inception in 2001. Her consultancy work is with SMEs and Family Businesses in strategy development, learning and business growth. She is a Member of the Family Firm Institute.