Navigating the uncharted waters of education during a global pandemic, Penelope Barton boldly spearheaded the birth of Crimson Global Academy (CGA), Aotearoa New Zealand’s first registered online high school. With her steadfast commitment to equity, excellence, and innovation, Penelope transformed the education landscape, not just domestically, but on a global stage. With an audacious vision and strategic leadership, she has created an education model that is multi-mode, multi-curriculum, and multi-ability, meeting students where they are and redefining the concept of school.

Under Penelope’s leadership, CGA has grown exponentially, providing high-quality, borderless education to over 2,000 students across 70 countries, with a substantial faculty based in Aotearoa. Beyond technology, Penelope’s innovation lies in pedagogical transformation, integrating real-time learning analytics and AI-supported personalised pathways, whilst ensuring a rich pastoral care system. Her unwavering belief in access to quality education for all has driven CGA’s success and positioned it as a powerful exporter of Kiwi educational talent and innovation.

Luke Kemeys, a Chartered Accountant and founder of Next Advisory, is leading a nationwide movement to make financial literacy accessible and relatable through his groundbreaking initiative, Keep The Change. Since launching in 2020, the independent platform has become a trusted hub for practical financial education, offering tips, budget templates, “Money Mail” newsletters, and a popular podcast with more than one million downloads. Each week, Luke’s clear, conversational advice helps tens of thousands of Kiwis take control of their money.

Far beyond traditional finance education, Luke is shifting the national mindset around money. His transparent, jargon-free style has made personal finance approachable for rangatahi, small business owners, and families alike. Through Keep The Change, he is building financial confidence across Aotearoa New Zealand – empowering people to make smarter decisions, reduce stress, and achieve long-term financial freedom.

Peter-Lucas Jones, Chief Executive of Te Hiku Media, is transforming the future of te reo Māori through world-leading artificial-intelligence innovation. Under his leadership, Te Hiku has achieved a global first – developing natural-language-processing (NLP) tools that understand and generate te reo Māori with over 90% accuracy. These tools preserve the voices of kaumātua, support tamariki and whānau to learn, and embed the language into classrooms, broadcasting, and digital platforms nationwide.

Equally groundbreaking is his creation of the Kaitiakitanga Data License, an Indigenous-led framework that protects Māori data sovereignty while guiding ethical AI development. Through this model, Peter-Lucas has shown that technology can be built on tikanga and kaitiakitanga, inspiring Indigenous technologists worldwide – from Canada to Hawai‘i – to reclaim their languages and data. Recognised on TIME Magazine’s TIME100 AI list, he stands as the only Māori and only New Zealander among the world’s most influential AI leaders, proving that innovation and Indigenous wisdom can evolve together.

Craig Piggott is the founder and CEO of Halter, the New Zealand agritech company transforming farm management through solar-powered smart collars that allow farmers to guide, monitor, and care for their livestock remotely. This world-first technology is reducing emissions, improving animal welfare, and freeing farmers from physically intensive, time-critical daily tasks – reshaping what sustainable farming can look like in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Over the past year, Craig has led Halter through a defining period of scale and momentum. The company topped the 2024 Deloitte Fast 50 with 1,539% revenue growth and, in 2025, secured $165 million to accelerate global expansion. Raised on a Waikato dairy farm, Craig blends practical farming experience with engineering ingenuity. His leadership is helping farmers adopt low-emissions practices without compromising productivity– positioning Aotearoa New Zealand as a global leader in sustainable agricultural innovation.