ABOUT US
Board of Governance
Gregor Schmalz
Board of Governance
Gregor has served as Managing Director for Igus GmbH and Plansee SE in Europe overseeing strategic changes leading to growth and profitability. He holds an MBA from Thunderbird and an Executive MBA from Sasin/Kellogg School of Management (Northwestern University). Gregor runs a boutique consulting company focused on team building and leadership with senior executives from Fortune 500 companies around the world, and is a visting lecturer for Otago University MBA program.
Laurie Kubiak
Board of Governance
Laurence was CEO of the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research from 2014 to 2021, and is currently Chair of Trustees Executors Ltd, a Director of Northpower, and Trustee of several philanthropic organisations. He is also owner and Chief Executive of Nautech Electronics Ltd. Earlier in his career, Laurence lived in Europe for 25 years, and held a series of commercial and strategic roles for FTSE-100 companies, before returning to New Zealand.
Colin Keel
Board of Governance
Colin’s career spans 30 years as an executive, corporate lawyer, business advisor and company
director across New Zealand, Australia, the US and UK.
Most recently Colin was Chief Executive of Queenstown Airport Corporation. He has held senior executive roles at Aurizon, Qantas Airways and American Airlines. He also has been an advisor to international pension and superannuation funds on major energy and transport investments.
Jodi Thomas
Board of Governance
Jodi is currently the General Manager Strategy for Allianz Worlwide Partners. Having done her MBA and Masters in Project Management from Queensland, Jodi entered her corporate career in the sports and recreation services industry. From there she progressed her way into the insurance industry. As Head of Project Management for Auto & General she held the responsibility of overseeing new product development.
Senior Management
Shah Aslam
CEO
Shah is a corporate finance specialist in the fields of consultancy and start-ups, gaining his Bachelors of Commerce double major in Accounting and Finance, and Post Graduate Diploma in Finance at University of Otago, before completing his MBA at the National University of Singapore. Following this, Shah returned home to Aotearoa where he took up a position with the Bank of New Zealand (BNZ). There he honed his skills in leveraged buyouts and mergers & acquisitions.
He made the decision to leave BNZ to start up his own venture capital firm SO Capital. Its success led to him purchasing Air Napier in 2018 where he is currently disrupting and growing the aviation industry.
He has also been called on to provide recommendations to the company boards and CEOs and analyse merger and leveraged buyout opportunities through the application of advanced technical acumen coupled with highly developed interpersonal skills.
John Hamilton
Operations Director
John has a long and distinguished career in aviation with 35-years in the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF). Enlisting in 1971, John initially qualified as a helicopter pilot before later becoming a flying instructor. He held command and leadership appointments at all levels of the RNZAF culminating with a four-year period from 2002-2006 as the Chief of Air Force.
For his service to the Queen as equerry John has received the Royal Victorian Order (RVO); was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2001 for his leadership in East Timor, and in 2006 he was promoted to Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (CNZM) in recognition of his leadership as Chief of Air Force.
He followed this with eight years as the Director of the Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management. During this time he was appointed as the National Controller in Christchurch by the government and was responsible for the control and co-ordination of the response to the earthquake crisis that struck the city in 2010 and 2011.