50 Key Thinkers - Speakers

Carl Davidson

Chief Commissioner, Families Commission

Carl Davidson is one of New Zealand’s most experienced market and social researchers. He brings a range of skills acquired from working as a Social Scientist with the DSIR, an academic with Massey University and a market researcher with a range of companies.
 

Rt Hon Bill English

Deputy Prime Minister

Bill English is the Deputy Prime Minister, Deputy Leader of the National Party, Minister of Finance, Minister for Infrastructure and MP for Clutha/Southland. He was first elected to Parliament in 1990 as MP for Wallace, a large rural electorate covering the deep south-west of New Zealand. Mr English was born in Dipton. Southland, and farmed in the area.
 

Hon Paula Bennett

Minister of Social Development and Employment

Ms Bennett grew up in Taupo and now lives in Waitakere, West Auckland, and has lived in the City of Sails since 1992.

As a solo parent Ms Bennett raised her daughter single-handedly. She worked in hospitality, secretarial and retail roles. Realising her opportunities were limited without an education she enrolled at Massey University as an adult student. Although she originally studied social work, she completed her degree in social policy.

Ms Bennett became a National Member of Parliament in September 2005. After three years in opposition as a list MP, the public of Waitakere – her ‘Westies’ – chose her as their electorate MP and representative in Wellington.
 

Pastor Chris Sola

The Dream Team

Chris Sola is the Chairperson of The Dream Centre Trust and the Senior Pastor of The Dream Centre Church in Manukau. He founded both of these organisations in 2000 with the primary purpose of empowering people with a desire to dream.

Chris Sola is of Maori and Samoan descent. He has been married to Seira Juliet Sola since 1988 and they have three teenage children – Blessed, Faith and Serenity. They currently live in Auckland.

Dame Iritana Tawhiwhirangi

Ngati Porou, Ngati Kahungunu, Ngapuhi, Canadian, and English

Dame Iritana Tawhiwhirangi was one of the cornerstones of the Kōhanga Reo movement as a means to revitalise the Māori language. Picking up on the playcentre philosophy of community ownership and management, she helped create a whānau development model that is not only underpinned by cultural and administrative sovereignty, but has also created new opportunities in education and employment for Māori women, and whānau involvement. Internationally, the Kōhanga Reo model is now the established benchmark for the regeneration of indigenous languages.