T E S T I N G
VANESSA BAXTER
(THE FEARLESS KITCHEN)
Baxter – who came 4th on NZ MasterChef in 2013 – has spent her life
searching for an enterprise that builds on her passions for food and cooking,
and giving back to others. With a BA in music and psychology, the NZ Food
Writers’ board member has lived in many countries, appointed head of a
Vietnamese school, worked at the InterContinental Hotel in London and as
a private chef at Cape Cod. She has published her first book, The Fearless
Kitchen, named after her impact-driven enterprise that brings unique cooking
experiences to New Zealand kids so they can learn, be inspired and believe
in themselves. www.vanessabaxter.co.nz
Egger doesn’t like to talk
about himself – he prefers to
let his images do the talking.
And that seems fair enough,
considering he lives, breathes,
talks and sleeps photography.
The Rotorua-based photographer
works with national and
international clients, travelling
extensively in the pursuit of
the perfect image, with his
pictures used for books,
websites, magazines, corporate
reports, billboards and
advertising campaigns. Having
trained and worked as a chef
before a change in career from
hobby to fulltime professional
photographer, he particularly
loves to style and photograph
food. www.gerhardeggerphotographer.
com
VLATKO MATERIC
(HOT LIME LABS)
Hot Lime Labs is a spinout from Callaghan Innovation, where Materic
had been working on ways to extract CO2 from industrial combustion
gas using heated limestone. His research initially focused on reducing
pollution from power plants, until he realised the economics were
inverted – while power plants don’t necessarily want to pay money to
emit less CO2, greenhouse growers have a large unmet need for CO2.
Hot Lime Labs raised capital in late 2017 to bring this opportunity to
fruition, with a pilot (1/4 scale) plant to be installed at a commercial
capsicum grower at the end of 2018. Mareric’s system will help
growers enrich the greenhouse atmosphere, allowing them
to boost yields by up to 20% in a sustainable and costeffective
way. www.hotlimelabs.com
BOB MAJOR
(WESTLAND MILK BOARD)
Major – who holds a Master’s degree in science from Massey University - has spent the majority
of his career in various roles within the New Zealand dairy industry, working for the New
Zealand Dairy Research Institute, the New Zealand Dairy Board and Fonterra Co-operative
Group. He held global leadership roles for Fonterra in a number of areas including strategy,
mergers and acquisitions, ingredients sales and marketing and innovation. He also held regional
leadership roles in the Middle East, Hong Kong and China and was on the senior leadership
team of both the New Zealand Dairy Board and Fonterra. He chairs High Value Nutrition, one of
the National Science Challenges; the Avocado Primary Growth Partnership; and is a member
of the International Development Commercial Advisory Panel appointed by MFAT to provide
advice on the New Zealand Aid Programme’s direction and priorities. He is a past chair of
The Mud House Wine Group and has been a director of Sealord Group, Barker Fruit
Processors Ltd, a number of New Zealand dairy organisations, and various Fonterra
subsidiaries and joint ventures in Europe and Asia. Major chairs Westland’s
remuneration committee and is a director of Westland Milk Products (Shanghai)
Company Ltd. www.westland.co.nz
GERHARD
EGGER
(FOOD
PHOTOGRAPHER)
www.foodtechnology.co.nz 45
/www.vanessabaxter.co.nz
/www.hotlimelabs.com
/www.westland.co.nz
/www.foodtechnology.co.nz
