Business Leaders

Video series – 15 minute interview with Ben Firman – HB App

Our 2nd episode of our quick fire interviews with local business owners has just landed. We are going the interviews in association with Business Central. Ben Firman owns Engage Media and HB App with John Norris. The dynamic duo like us were forced home to work and their business has been impacted due to not being able to video events...

Video series – a catch up with Hamish White – NOW

Over the next couple of weeks we are going to interview local business people on how Covid 19 had an impact on their businesses and how they adopted their products and services for their customers. The interview series is supported by Business Central and is done in-conjunction with HB App. Our first interview is with Hamish White from NOW -...

Energy sector will experience mega trends

Ken Sutherland has been the Unison chief executive for over a decade. In 2011 Ken was the inaugural winner of the Profiteers for his strong leadership of our local lines company. Over the last decade there have been changes within the energy sector but Ken sees some megatrends starting to emerge. What’s likely to change in the energy sector? An...

Doug Ducker – an industry icon retires

Doug Ducker has seen more than two consecutive forestry plantations grow to full harvest, having worked for Pan Pac for nearly 46 years. Doug started as a process engineer and in 2004 became the businesses Managing Director. Pan Pac began as a Joint Venture involving Carter Holt (60%) and two Japanese companies, Oji Paper and Sanyo Kokusaku Pulp in 1973...

Fingermark & Luke Irving – Making a mark on the global fast food scene

Luke Irving has big aspirations to leave an indelible mark on the global technology scene from Havelock North, as well as creating a Silicon Valley styled technology scene nurturing Hawke’s Bay talent. Luke, the founder of a global tech company Fingermark which is leading the development of applied computer vision and deep learning computer machine technology, uplifted his team of...

Mark Matthews – Making his Mark on the animal health scene

Mark Matthews retired as a veterinarian earlier this year after 44 years of travelling on dirt roads to the back blocks of Hawke’s Bay and other parts of the Central North Island. Mark grew up on a farm in Poverty Bay but rather than becoming a farmer, he set his sights on being a vet – and a pretty good...

Colin Shanley packs away the tripod after 63 years

In 2020 Colin will pack away his theodolite for the last time, drawing an end to a career that has spanned 63 years as a land surveyor. Over this time, he’s seen the emergence of Flaxmere as Hastings’ new suburb, the huge population growth of Havelock North, and the subdivision of lifestyle blocks and rural properties into more smaller parcels...

Call for Young people to get involved and take lead in horticulture

Outgoing Hawke’s Bay 2018 Young Fruit Grower of the Year Lisa Arnold is calling on more young people to get involved and take the lead…

Leaving FAWCland for Auckland

Since it began in 2012, F.A.W .C! has become such a drawcard for locals and visitors alike that it’s hard to imagine Hawke’s Bay’s event calendar without it. But now the woman who established the Food and Wine Challenge – and has nurtured the growth of the twice-a-year celebration of great eating and drinking – has left town. After more...

Tribute – Ray Turner

He may be closing in on 90 years of age, yet Hawke’s Bay’s greatest living inventor continues to submit product patents. A.R. (Ray) Turner just can’t stop inventing. He’s so prolific that in the past three years, he’s listed 36 patents with the Australian Patent Office. During his lifetime he’s patented more than 100 inventions. His first invention was in...