Zoe Murphy

 

Vignesh Kumar

 KiwiNet has appointed  Vignesh Kumar to its board of directors as an additional independent board member.

KiwiNet has also appointed Zoe Murphy as a board observer, a newly implemented role designed to foster capability and diversity within New Zealand’s research commercialisation governance and leadership.

The Kiwi Innovation Network (KiwiNet) is a group of 18 universities, Crown Research Institutes, an Independent Research Organisation and a Crown Entity working together to transform scientific discoveries into new products and services.

Together, KiwiNet members represent a total combined research expenditure of over $800 million and 80% of the publicly funded researchers in New Zealand.

Engineering and technology professional Vignesh Kumar has over 12 years of experience in global technology design, manufacturing, and operations strategy across North America, East Asia, and the Asia Pacific.

Before returning to New Zealand in mid-2018, he worked for Apple Inc. at its US headquarters as one of its Lead Enclosure Hardware Managers, actively sourcing and scaling science and engineering anchored innovations centred on improving the engineering and manufacturability of Apple’s consumer products.

Prior experiences included business development at BHL Group in Papua New Guinea and product design in neonatal respiratory support at Fisher & Paykel Healthcare.

Vignesh earned an MBA from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, as a Wharton and Kaiser Fellow and a Fulbright Science and Innovation Scholar, and a Bachelor of Engineering (Hons) degree in Biomedical Engineering and a Master of Engineering Studies (Hons) in Medical Device Design and Technologies from the University of Auckland.

Vignesh is deeply involved in the local early-stage ecosystem. He also sits on the Return on Science investment committees and is an active venture investor in hardware-enabled software, deep tech, and health technology companies, via his role as a Partner at venture capital firm Global from Day 1 (GD1).

KiwiNet has also appointed its inaugural Board Observer, Zoe Murphy, Strategic Relationships Manager at the Health Research Council of New Zealand.

Zoe earned a Bachelor of Technology in Biomedical Sciences (Hons) from the University of Auckland and has 20 years of experience in research and innovation across public and commercial environments, including biomedical research laboratories, research management organisations, and research and innovation strategy and policy.