Alex Hannant
Finding ways to do things better.
Alex has extensive and varied experience in the fields of sustainability, enterprise, and innovation. He is now focused on bringing a systems lens to the design of governance arrangements, financing approaches, and change processes.
Alex is a specialised generalist who revels in research and discovery, problem-solving, communicating ideas, building initiatives, and strengthening the capacities of groups and individuals. He's an Adjunct at The Centre for Systems Innovation (formerly The Yunus Centre), Griffith University, and serves on the Boards of B Lab Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand and Social Enterprise Australia.
Previous roles include: Co-Director and Professor of Practice at The Centre for Systems Innovation (formerly The Yunus Centre), Griffith University (AUS), CEO of the Ākina Foundation (NZ), Director of Programmes at LEAD International (UK), and Head of Partnerships at the Climate and Development Knowledge Network (UK).
Jody Connor
A magician behind the scenes of social impact.
Jody works with clients to ensure their enterprises are thriving on a solid basis of sensible and responsible administration. She ‘builds’ offices, sorts payroll, policies and insurance - all those things that can be hard to get your head round.
Deeply dextrous with an array of online tools, she has worked with social enterprises and government departments alike in a wide range of operational and systems architecture roles. Jody is also a ruthlessly accurate proofreader and wordsmith - she can spot an extra space or a misused apostrophe at 20 paces.
Hélène Malandain
A strategist, a coach, and a weaver.
Hélène is committed to supporting communities, places and organisations to thrive - prosperity and wellbeing intertwined and nourishing each other. Hélène works with entrepreneurs, community groups and local anchors, as well as corporates and government bodies. Her facilitation process and methodology incorporate strategic thinking, coaching, co-design and action planning.
Shortly after moving to New Zealand, Hélène left her corporate job to join the Ākina Foundation and begin a journey growing social enterprise. She led the team that hosted the Social Enterprise World Forum in Christchurch in 2017 - a 1600-person event that catalysed the social enterprise movement at a very auspicious time. Hélène currently serves as the Chair of the Board for the Social Enterprise World Forum.
Most recently, Hélène’s focus has been on supporting a place-based approach to a thriving Aotearoa NZ. In the context of the Covid-19 crisis, Hélène is offering a tailored process to support places and communities transition from crisis into recovery and beyond.
Hannah Smith
Developing people, relationships, and systems for social change.
An Edmund Hillary Fellow and Associate with the Social Enterprise Academy, Innovation Unit and Toi Āria - she is a coach, learning designer, facilitator and systems thinker with a particular passion for working with people outdoors.
She has extensive experience working with enterprising charities, progressive foundations and leading social entrepreneurs - and a keen understanding of the whole spectrum of purpose-led work.
Undertaking Masters research into the practice of social entrepreneurship in Aotearoa New Zealand in 2011, she encountered the rest of the Pocketknife whānau when she was hosted by the Hikurangi Foundation for a Winston Churchill Fellowship in 2013. More of an ecologist than an entrepreneur - she focuses on fostering whole systems of change, within and around individual organisations. She is on the leadership rōpū for Adventure Therapy Aotearoa and recently launched The Connectorship Project.