AUOA is committed to supporting and promoting both students and graduates of the University of Otago.
Thanks to generous donations from Otago alumni and friends living in the United States, AUOA is able to help fund a number of scholarships and awards for students attending Otago, as well as grants for educational programs run by the University. We also host networking events in the U.S. where alumni can connect and hear about the latest developments at the University.
Founded in 2008
17+ years of alumni impact
7 active student support funds
covering tuition, housing, student exchanges, and more
Remitted >$5M
in scholarships, research grants, and awards
Current AUOA Board of Directors
Jono is a Managing Director at Google in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he oversees global strategy and operations for Partnerships within the Platforms & Devices division. He began his career at Deloitte Consulting in Wellington before transferring to the firm’s US practice to advise on corporate strategy and M&A. In 2011, Jono was appointed as a research fellow to Deloitte’s global technology think tank, the Center for the Edge. He later co-founded a startup in San Francisco before joining Google in 2013. In addition to his Otago degree, Jono holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management.
John is a Managing Director at Morgan Stanley responsible for Americas legal entity financial reporting. A qualified Chartered Accountant, his career began at The Treasury in New Zealand. He subsequently moved to London and embarked on several different roles in the financial services industry, which eventually led to a transfer to New York with JPMorgan before he joined Morgan Stanley.
With a career in business and corporate HR, Jacinta has held numerous significant governance roles, including trustee of the Fletcher Challenge Trust, chair of the NZ Employment Equity Trust, and director of Enterprise New Zealand and Netball New Zealand. After moving to the US in 2000, she served as the International Netball Federation’s mediator for the US national representation issue from 2008 to 2010.
Based in New York City, Andrew is the Chief Medical Officer and Head of R&D at Cardiol Therapeutics, a biotech focused on treatments for heart disease. Prior to joining the biopharmaceutical industry in 2013, Andrew had a distinguished 20-year career as a cardiologist and clinical researcher. He is a past chair of the Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand, the National Cardiac Surgery Network, and the New Zealand Cardiac Network.
Dr. Graham has over 30 years of biopharmaceutical industry experience, having led development-stage programs across a range of therapeutic areas. He is currently SVP and Chief Development Officer at Avilar Therapeutics, working to develop a new class of extracellular protein degraders. Prior to Avilar, Dr. Graham held leadership positions at Sojournix, Concert Pharmaceuticals, and EPIX Pharmaceuticals. He holds a Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and has authored more than 20 peer-reviewed publications.
After graduating from Otago, Cathy held a number of management positions at AC Nielsen, including a two-year international assignment in Toronto, Canada. She returned to New Zealand in 1990 to take on the role of Managing Director of AC Nielsen New Zealand. She relocated to the US in 1993 and is now a commissioner on the Salisbury, Connecticut Planning and Zoning Commission.
Based in San Diego, Juliet has spent over a decade helping to communicate the value of scientific advances, from foundational research to drug development. She is currently Group Director of Scientific Communications at CG Life, a life science and healthcare communications firm. Prior to this, Juliet served as the national biotech and pharmaceutical reporter for MedCity News, an industry trade publication.
Craig Marris is a co-founder of Coretex, a telematics company acquired by EROAD in 2021 where he now serves as Chief Sustainability Officer. He has been based in the United States since 2006, when he launched the company’s North American operations. As Chief Sustainability Officer, Craig leads EROAD’s internal and external sustainability initiatives. He is also a graduate of the Harvard Business School of Analytics, graduating with distinction.
Jade is the Deputy Director of Americas at the Institute for Economics and Peace, a global think tank. She started her career as a public litigation lawyer in Auckland and London before moving to New York in 2018. There, she has worked for the NZ Permanent Mission to the United Nations and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), focusing on Small Island Developing States. She completed a Masters of Public Administration (MPA) from Columbia University in 2024.
Jacob is a postdoctoral research scientist at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. Driven to understand the stability of ice sheets and their contribution to sea-level change, his research focuses on ice sheet and glacier responses to changing climate, permafrost processes and landscape evolution. He has participated in eight scientific research expeditions to Antarctica and Greenland. Prior to working at Columbia University, he was Head of Programmes for the environmental education organisation BLAKE (Sir Peter Blake Trust). During his PhD at the University of Otago he was a Sir Robin Irvine Scholar.
Jason is a Brooklyn-based digital strategist and software engineer with over 25 years of experience in web development and user experience. He previously held leadership roles at Inc. and Fast Company, where he led the digital transformation of Inc. magazine. Now a freelance Solutions Architect, he collaborates with agencies like Transfuture and Eminjay Design to develop digital infrastructure for mission-driven organizations. Jason is also the founder of New York’s long-running Ukulele Cabaret.
Prior Board Members
During a distinguished career in medicine Sir Murray has held prestigious positions worldwide, including Chairman of Surgery at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. He was AUOA president from 2008 until 2013.
Jenny has lived in the United States for more than 50 years and has been the principal in her interior design firm since 1978. Jenny was involved in establishing the AUOA and was its secretary 2008-2012.
45-year mining career involved exploration for gold and base metals for companies in “about 49 countries”. He was a founding member of the board that established the AUOA as a legal charitable entity in 2008 and served as vice-president until 2012.
Andrew is on the faculty of the Louisiana State University Medical Centre and heads the spine unit at New Orleans Children’s Hospital. He was a founding 2008 AUOA member and served on its board until November 2016.
Geoff Nichol graduated BMedSc MB ChB from the University of Otago Medical School, and is a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians. He holds an MBA from Warwick University in the UK. Currently Geoff serves as Group VP, Global Clinical Development, BioMarin.
Dr. Oien is a recognized expert and strategist in the area of Lean Six Sigma, particularly in Root Cause Analysis. She spent two decades as a project engineering leader at Lockheed Martin, and is currently a Senior Systems Engineer at Harris Corp. Dr. Oien served on the Board of AUOA until 2018 and helped establish the Oien Prize to the Department of Physics at the University of Otago.
With a background in the pharmaceutical industry, Neil relocated to the US in 1989. He founded AXIS Healthcare Communications in 1999 – which he sold in 2007 – and was global CEO of Huntsworth Health until July 2017. He has worked with NZ Trade and Industry assisting New Zealand health-care technology companies in the US market. Neil was a founding member of the Board that established AUOA in 2008.
Andrew Howells is an Asia Equities Specialist at Macquarie Group in New York.
During a distinguished career with The Bank of Nova Scotia in Canada, Allan has been a prominent figure in the University of Otago’s alumni groups and a key supporter of student travel awards.
After beginning her career with KPMG in Auckland, Lisa transferred to the firm’s San Francisco office where she went on to become a partner, specializing in banking and finance.
A distinguished New Zealand-trained lawyer, Adrian is a partner at the global law firm Kirkland & Ellis LLP with over 30 years of experience in business and securities law. He earned his LLM from the University of Chicago and is a member of the New York State Bar.
Born and raised in Dunedin, Chris graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Otago in 1996. He then moved to the United States, residing in Dallas, Texas, where he founded Greenstone Capital Management Partners in 2008.
Dr. Bollard is a distinguished physician and researcher based in the United States, and now serves as Senior Vice President and Chief Research Officer at Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C.
An influential researcher on infant learning and memory, Dr. Barr is now based at Georgetown University where her work continues to focus on how young children learn from various media.
With a long and successful career in the international mining industry, Nigel has worked across the globe for companies involved in industrial minerals and precious metal extraction.
A renowned professor at Baylor College of Medicine, Dr. Heslop is an international expert in the field of cell and gene therapy, with a career dedicated to developing new treatments for cancer.