Vanessa is the General Counsel and Company Secretary for Kiwi Wealth (a 100% NZ owned and operated investment management business), leading the Risk, Assurance, AML compliance and Legal teams, a role which saw her leading the business continuity response to the COVID crisis this year.

Vanessa has been widely recognised for her innovative, enterprise-wide contribution to her inhouse roles which include the technology and electricity sectors as well as public sector regulation.  She was included in the Legal 500 GC Powerlist as one of only 50 in-house lawyers across Australia and New Zealand recognised for helping shape innovation in the industry as well as NZ Lawyer’s In-house Leading Lawyers lists 2019 and 2020.  She also received the Financial Markets Authority Chairperson’s award in recognition of her work in financial services regulation.

Combing her enthusiasm for innovation, technology and financial services, Vanessa recently joined the Board of Catalist, a fintech startup set to disrupt NZ’s capital raising sector for small/medium enterprises.