In Leaders Getting Coffee episode 32, our guest is Kiwibank CEO, Steve Jurkovich. Banks play an important role in the economy and our everyday lives. And yet, it’s the first time we’ve had a bank CEO as our guest on the podcast. And he doesn’t disappoint. From growing up in Paeroa and Auckland’s North Shore, and a boyhood dominated by sports at Glenfield College, we hear of a fast moving career supported by the mentorship of some of New Zealand’s most well-known business leaders. After...

In Leaders Getting Coffee episode 31, our guest is The Right Honourable Winston Peters.  Deputy Prime Minister, the Right Honourable Winston Peters has confirmed that he is keen to run again in the 2026 election, citing the need to finish the job they’ve started. The New Zealand First leader will be 81 when the next election comes around, but he spoke about legendary American investor Warren Buffet, among others, as testament to his belief that age and experience should be viewed as a...

In Leaders Getting Coffee episode 30, our guest is New Zealand Country Manager for Xero, Bridget Snelling. Bridget completed her law degree at Auckland University before settling into the traditional first job of graduate lawyer at one of the city’s prestige law firms. Then everything changed. To everyone’s surprise she left the law after only a couple of years and hasn’t looked back.  A career that has included a stint at one of the country’s premier Public Relations firms led to seven...

In Leaders Getting Coffee episode 29, our guest is business leader Sir Robert McLeod. Rob grew up near Gisborne on the East Coast of New Zealand and over the last forty years has become one of New Zealand’s most influential business leaders of our time. His career started as a tax specialist at KPMG and subsequently Arthur Andersen before he settled into the firm then known as Ernst & Young. There he became the Chair of the New Zealand Partnership, and subsequently CEO before later...

In Leaders Getting Coffee episode 28, our guest is the former ACT Party Member of Parliament and NZCPR Founder, Dr. Muriel Newman. Dr. Newman moved to New Zealand with her family as a young girl, and brought with her an approach to her education typified by her desire not to let her parents down. That education led to a career teaching in New Zealand and subsequently the USA, before returning to New Zealand to bring up her young children. Her work as a part of Sir Michael Hill’s Whangarei...

In Leaders Getting Coffee episode 27 we take a close up look at how governments and local authorities spend our tax and rates money.   Our guest for this quest is Jordan Williams, co-founder of The Taxpayers Union, a purpose driven organisation established over ten years ago with a view to campaigning for better value for money from government spending.   Jordan graduated from law school at Victoria University and spent his first five years working in the law firm founded by former Act...

In Leaders Getting Coffee episode 26, we are back into the topic of education, this time with an entrepreneurial CEO with a vision for a better world through education.   Dr. Jamie Beaton is the 29 year old co-founder of Crimson Education Group. He has carried a passion for education, borne of an entrepreneurial mother who hung her own university degrees, three of them, in his bedroom when he was a small boy.   He went on to excel at Kings College in Auckland, before leaving our shores to...

Hard on the heels of the Paris Olympics, our guest for Leaders Getting Coffee episode 25, is Nigel Avery, Chef de Mission of our Olympic team. Inspired as a seven year old watching John Walker’s Olympic Gold medal race in 1976,  Avery set his sights on going to the Olympic games. He became one of those most unique New Zealanders who went on to represent the country in three very different sports, namely Track & Field athletics, where he was a national champion, bobsled racing, and...

In Leaders Getting Coffee episode 24, we’re talking technology with the founder of one of New Zealand’s most innovative software engineering companies.   Like all good tech stories, this one started in a garage 14 years ago. That was when Danu Abeysuriya founded Rush Digital, a software development and engineering business that can be found working with numerous organisations in New Zealand and around the world.   Born in Sri Lanka to teaching parents, he spent his primary school years...

Forty years ago one of the most transformational governments in New Zealand history was sworn in. That government, led by the larger than life David Lange, who was accompanied by financial architect Roger Douglas, had the task of overhauling the country’s fragile economy. Sitting in the inner sanctum of that government was Dr Michael Bassett, who became the Minister in charge of a run-down health service during an economic downturn. Sound familiar? Dr Bassett has a unique perspective on the...

In Leaders Getting Coffee episode 22, we speak to the newly appointed Chairman of the Financial Markets Authority, Craig Stobo.  Craig is perhaps best known in investment and financial circles, and as a Chair of various and corporate organisations. But his leadership story runs deep – from mountaineering to the boardroom. His experiences across the financial and investment sector make for compelling listening.   Craig talks to Bruce about dealing with death in the Himalayas and a failed...

In this episode, we put a broadcaster on the other side of the microphone and meet recently awarded journalist Rachel Smalley. Some people become leaders because of the teams they lead. Others are leaders because of the causes they champion. Rachel falls into the latter category. She wanted to be a journalist straight out of high school, but her belated acceptance into journalism training meant her journey was delayed by a few years. She started on the sports desk, but quickly migrated to...

In this episode, our guest is the former Managing Director of advertising powerhouse Saatchi & Saatchi, Mike Hutcheson.  Mike’s advertising career started in the “Mad Men” era and continues to this day. He was one of the founders of Colenso BBDO and subsequently led his own firm Hutcheson Knowles Marinkovich.  He’s also a perpetual entrepreneur having founded businesses in home building, real estate, organic fair trade tea and coffee and a Waiheke Island vineyard.  But it is...

This week our guest is the former Member of Parliament and Minister of Health, Dr. Jonathan Coleman. Dr. Coleman spent almost 13 years as the MP for Northcote, and during that time was a key member of the inner circle in John Key’s National Party led government. During his parliamentary career he held Ministerial responsibility for health, broadcasting, sport & recreation, immigration and state services. His early career saw him practising medicine in New Zealand and overseas and he...

In Leaders Getting Coffee episode 18, our guest is the CEO of the NZ Olympic Committee, Nicki Nicol  Nicki spent almost 20 years with global giant BP where she worked around the world in a wide range of executive roles.  She returned to New Zealand and took up the role of Chief Financial Officer at NZ Rugby, where among other achievements, she led the Respect & Responsibility Review.  She subsequently became the Deputy CEO of NZ Rugby, until a new challenge arrived and she was...

Bruce Cotterill: Leaders Getting Coffee – Episode 17 – With Mike Bush In Leaders Getting Coffee episode 17, our guest is former Police Commissioner, Mike Bush. Mike Bush joined the Police at the age of 18 and stayed for 42 years. He spent six years in the top job before retiring in 2020. Over recent years we’ve seen crime on the increase, particularly that perpetuated by younger people. Mike talks with Bruce about the growing crime problems in New Zealand, the challenges of dealing with...

In Leaders Getting Coffee episode 16, our guest is Webster, the CEO of Tourism Holdings Limited. Grant was named CEO of the Year at the 2023 Deloitte Top 200 business awards last year and his leadership story is both impressive and inspiring. Of course the tourism industry has taken a hammering in the wake of the COVID 19 enforced lockdowns and Grant gives us a unique perspective on the status of our recovery and the future outlook for the sector. The discussion covers the role of the...

In Leaders Getting Coffee episode 15, our guest is Tim O’Connor, the 11th Headmaster of Auckland Grammar School. Tim’s career in education has taken him through some of New Zealand’s best known schools for boys including Nelson College and Palmerston North Boys High, before joining Grammar in 2012. It’s a rare opportunity to speak to a leader in a sector that is so important for the future of the country, while at the same time having grave concerns for the current state of that sector....

In Leaders Getting Coffee episode 14, our guest is Tenby Powell, who founded Kiwi K.A.R.E. (Kiwi Aid & Refugee Evacuation) which was established in response to the humanitarian and medical crisis unfolding in war-torn Ukraine. A Retired Colonel in the NZ Army, he’s also a former CEO and investor who, dissatisfied with the lack of progress in his hometown of Tauranga, successfully ran for the Mayoralty in 2019. Tenby talks with passion about the role of the military in our lives, how the...

This week on Leaders Getting Coffee, our guest is Theresa Gattung. Former CEO of Telecom NZ, co-founder of My Food Bag, and Chair of Global Women. Theresa’s story is unique. A chance meeting led to her joining Telecom, where at the age of just 37, she became that company’s youngest ever CEO and the first woman to lead a NZX listed company. She talks about the importance of a strong leadership team, what she looks for in building a team, and the decision to sell one of Telecom’s biggest...

This week, Bruce's guest is, Jason Paris, the CEO of One NZ, formerly Vodafone. Jason has worked across New Zealand’s corporate tech sector, with leadership roles at Nokia, TVNZ, and Spark, before joining Vodafone as their CEO five years ago. He speaks in detail about the rebranding of Vodafone to One NZ. The reasons for the name change, how they came up with the new name, and of course, the reaction from key stakeholders. And he gets into his great passion – the customer experience –...

This week, Bruce's guest is, Mike Bennetts, the former CEO of Z Energy and a previous winner of the Deloitte Top 200 CEO of the year.  Bruce talks to him about his corporate career, one that started off in sales and continued working around the world to the corner office, and discuss the importance of culture and good conversations, fuel prices, and Mike's new book.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Bruce's guest is Dion Nash, former New Zealand cricket captain and the founder of grooming business Triumph & Disaster. They talk cricket, cover the transition from being a professional athlete to owner/operator of a business, and explore the influence of Rudyard Kipling's poem If. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Bruce's guest is award-winning entrepreneur Carmen Vicelich. She's behind multiple data-driven, industry-leading businesses including Valocity and Data Insight.  Vicelich is a regular global speaker, sharing her story of innovation, and serves on boards including the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.