Wellington UniVentures announces board member changes

Dugald Scott has retired from the Wellington UniVentures’ Board. Dugald—a Professor Emeritus at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington—has served on the Wellington UniVentures Board since 2011.

With a longstanding career in the education sector, Dugald has supported the growth of Wellington UniVentures including the strategy behind our former Knowledge Services division, the activities of Accent Learning and supporting the first spin out in the education sector (EdPotential Ltd).

Anne Barnett, Wellington UniVentures’ CEO says: “Professor Scott is our longest standing board member and I’d like to thank him for his dedication over the last 10 years. Wellington UniVentures has gone through a lot of change and growth over this time and Dugald has guided us on this journey. We want to thank Dugald for his time and contribution as well as his experience, which has helped Wellington UniVentures get to where it is today.”

Wellington UniVentures is pleased to share that Ngaio Merrick has now been appointed as the newest member of the board.

With six years as Chair of KiwiNet and a decade of early stage investments into deep tech, Ngaio is incredibly familiar with connecting researchers and entrepreneurs with the resources they need to get their idea or invention off the ground. Ngaio also serves on several early stage boards and trusts and runs New Zealand’s first female co-founded deep tech venture capital fund, Nuance Connected Capital.

Anne says: “Ngaio brings extensive commercialisation knowledge to the role as well as an understanding of the ecosystem and our work at Wellington UniVentures. We’re delighted to bring Ngaio’s insights to the Board and have her support us as and our projects as we strive to help make a difference in the world.”

Ngaio took her position on the Board on 4 November 2021.

Ngaio shared: “Having been on the Board for KiwiNet, I’ve been looking from the outside in and I’m incredibly excited to be working inside Wellington UniVentures. I have a passion for the commercialisation of science, and it’s something that Wellington UniVentures do well. I’m also keen to work with Anne Barnett as a young, capable, driven female CEO and to support her as the organisation continues to grow. I firmly believe that science commercialisation is New Zealand’s economic recovery to COVID-19 and I’m thrilled to be an active part of that.”