The Icehouse Alumni Conference 2024

When & Where Is The Conference?

What You'll Get From The Conference

• World Class Speakers and Motivators 
• Inspiration on tap, with takeaways that can be applied to your business
• Reflection sessions allowing time to digest what you have heard
• Connection with Kiwi Business Owners & Leaders that have journeyed with The Icehouse
• A chance to reunite with your personal Icehouse programme cohort
• Complimentary morning tea, lunch, and social drinks

Sam Stubbs

Sam Stubbs is Founder and Managing Director of Simplicity, a non-profit, low-fee KiwiSaver and Fund Manager with a mission to make Kiwis richer and smarter with money. 

Sam Stubbs was most recently the CEO Of Tower Investments, a KiwiSaver default provider. Before that he was Managing Director of Hanover Group, and spent 10 years working for Goldman Sachs in London and Hong Kong. He previously worked for Natwest Markets, Fay, Richwhite and IBM New Zealand.

He has been a Board Member of the Financial Services Council, and a member of the Government Taskforce on Financial Services.

Sam has an MA (Hons) from the University of Auckland.

Sam is the father of two children. He dreams of Simplicity and sailing around the world. 

Nicola Taylor

Nicola is the co-founder of successful fintech company and accredited B Corp, Tax Traders and new start-up, Taxi. Nicola is driven by the pursuit of equity in the tax system and a deep desire to see business as a force for good in the world. She believes that the workplace should be a place of joy and satisfaction and has built this into the companies she co-founded from their earliest days. As a result, Tax Traders has recently made it into the global listing of the top ten Inspiring Places to Work for all of Australasia!

Nicola has a great start-up story and is a champion for SMEs in this country. Taxi is her new venture and provides a new source of affordable working capital to all Kiwi businesses, powered by their provisional tax payments. Taxi arose out of Nicola’s dissatisfaction with the lack of access for SMEs to this kind of working capital when working with large corporates in the 2021 Auckland lockdown.

Nicola’s background is in law and policy. She was a multi-award-winning solicitor at Russell McVeagh and has also won international awards for her work in public policy. She received an LLM from the University of Auckland with first-class honours and has also served as the Chair of the Parenting Place Board.  Nicola has three “incredible” children, currently aged 17, 15 and 12, and is married to Josh, her partner in all things.  

Steven Joyce

Steven Joyce has a unique combination of commercial and political experience. 

He served as a senior economic Minister in John Key-led National government of New Zealand between 2008 and 2017.  Over nine years in cabinet he held the portfolios of Finance, Economic Development, Science and Innovation, Transport, and ICT, and spent seven years as Minister of Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment.   

He led the Key government’s economic growth programme, the Ultrafast Broadband rollout, and the country’s largest highway building programme in decades. Steven was also the Campaign chief for the National Party for five national elections.   

Prior to entering politics he was a successful radio entrepreneur, starting his first station Energy FM in New Plymouth, and building it up to become the listed company RadioWorks NZ Ltd, New Zealand’s second-largest radio company. 

Steven authored a best-selling book last year on his time in both politics and radio, called “On the Record”.   He currently provides strategic commercial, marketing and public policy advice to a range of clients in the finance, technology, education, and construction sectors across Australia and New Zealand.   

Steven is a board member of The Icehouse.

Zarina Bazoeva

Zarina is the co-founder and CEO of Neocrete. She co-founded Neocrete to make our buildings more durable and sustainable, with a long-term goal of delivering carbon-free concrete. Neocrete has developed an additive that activates low-carbon materials, such as volcanic ash, to perform like cement, but without the costly and carbon-intensive production process. Their low-carbon activated materials can currently replace up to 50% of cement in concrete without the loss in performance, including early strength.

Previously Zarina was a Business Advisor at KPMG, Davanti Consulting, and Discovery Inc. She has an Economics degree from University College London, focused on Environmental Economics, Game Theory, and Data Analytics. Her passion and deep knowledge of concrete originate with my genius dad, who has a PhD in Civil Engineering and has dedicated his life to reformulating concrete. Zarina is hoping to take his invention further and develop concrete solutions for our environmental challenge.

Plus Additional Guests

We'll be running a panel discussion with a few key industry players who will provide unique insights around navigating challenging economic times, plus a few familiar faces will lead a reflection session near the end of the conference to ensure you consider how to apply the learnings to your role and business in true Icehouse style.

2023 Highlight Video - See what all the fuss is about! 

The buzz at The Icehouse Alumni Conference is a highlight of the year. Alumni coming together in-person to bounce ideas around and gain inspiration.

Watch the highlight video, showcasing 2023's conference and what attendees got out of the day.