Speakers

Ardi Barnard was appointed as New Zealand’s Consul-General to Shanghai in February 2023 and has diligently supported the NZ-China relationship since.

A career diplomat, Ardi was previously posted in Cairo (including language training 2011-2013), Riyadh (2013-2014), and as Deputy Ambassador and Consul in Seoul (2017-2021) before serving as Lead Advisor at the MFAT Auckland Office.

In head office in Wellington, Ardi has served in the Economic and Middle East & Africa divisions, and in the Chief Executive’s Office. In 2014/2015, he was seconded for six months as Private Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and served as Consular Case Operations Manager for the Afghanistan Departures Taskforce in 2021/22.

Ardi has degrees in law and commerce from Victoria University in Wellington, New Zealand. Ardi’s whakapapa/heritage is Afrikaans (South Africa).

Nicholas Calder is the Executive Director of the New Zealand Business Roundtable in China. With over eight years of experience in China, he holds a Master of Public Administration from the China University of Mining and Technology (Xuzhou), as well as a Bachelor's degree and Postgraduate Diploma from the University of Auckland. Prior to his current role, Nicholas worked in Shanghai as a Project Manager for a multinational service provider and as the Government Relations Manager and Secretary to the Board at the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai. He is fluent in Mandarin.

Dan is the Chair of NZBRiC and the President of Tatua China, where he leads its Shanghai-based team in driving growth and innovation in the dairy industry.

Before joining Tatua, Dan spent 12 years at Fonterra, where he held various positions, starting in engineering, transitioning through human resources, and ultimately finding his passion in sales.

Dan holds a Master of Dairy Science and Technology from Massey University, along with Bachelor degrees in Engineering and Commerce from the University of Auckland.