Board of Directors
Dr Stephen Hampson – Managing Partner
Stephen’s career has been dedicated to transforming new knowledge into commercial success. Stephen’s commercialisation career in Europe included fast-growth execution and business improvement in several acquired companies he was appointed to lead, including trade sale of one of these companies and domination of a global niche in another. Returning to New Zealand, Stephen was inaugural CEO of the award winning Canterbury Innovation Incubator (Cii) before establishing powerHouse in 2006. In this role, he has overseen the incubation and growth of more than 50 new companies.
Colin Dawson - Chief Executive, Otago Innovation Ltd
Following ten years in veterinary clinical practice, Colin has held many senior executive positions in the public and private healthcare sectors. More recently, Colin has been a Partner in a health consulting, and also in an investment banking services firm. In addition to his role as Chief Executive Officer of Otago Innovation Limited, Colin is a director of listed Biotechnology companies BLIS Technologies and Pacific Edge Biotechnology, as well as being a board member for a number of other Otago University start-ups. Colin is a member of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, the NZ Institute of Directors, and an alumnus of the Stanford University Senior Executive Programme.
Steve Silvey - Chief Executive, Upstart Incubator
Steve is the chief executive of Dunedin's Upstart Business Incubator. Originally from the United Kingdom, where he was latterly working for a large government agency, Steve moved to New Zealand over a decade ago. He completed an MBA at the University of Otago before joining as the chief executive of Cottonsoft. That was followed by a stint working for printer Wickliffe and subsequently a short tenure in real estate before joining Upstart. Steve specialises in strategy, innovation, brand management, change management and business to business sales.
