WNT Ventures are very pleased to announce the addition of two new Independent Directors, and Investment Committee members to our WNT Ventures governance team.
Kerry McIntosh and Teresa Pollard will be joining the WNT Ventures from 1 October bringing significant skills in investing, strategy, sales and partnerships which will be great assets for WNT and our portfolio companies.
WNT initiated a search for new Independent Directors to accommodate our growing portfolio of companies in anticipation of the launch of our third fund. WNT Ventures Fund 3 is targeting a raise of up to NZ$15 million and we will soon be announcing the first close having received a strong level of investor support since launching the capital raise in June 2020.
We warmly welcome Kerry and Teresa and look forward to continuing WNT’s growth journey with you both involved.
About Teresa Pollard
Teresa is a passionate leader with an entrepreneurial focus and over 18 years in Sales, Marketing and Technology experience leading executive engagements and diverse teams in NZ, Singapore and New York. As a strategic thinker Teresa is passionate about the New Zealand investment ecosystem and how this ecosystem can scale and grow New Zealand companies to reach new heights.
Teresa's strength lies in developing innovative strategies and strategic partnerships that deliver dual value and growth for both parties. Teresa enjoys coaching others and helping them to value the skills and capabilities they have in reaching future goals.
Teresa whakapapa's to Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Kahu ki whaingaroa me Ngāti kauwhata.
About Kerry McIntosh
Kerry is an experienced director with exposure to a wide range of industries including tech, healthcare and waste management. His employment background is in financial markets where he had a long career in investment banking and funds management. Kerry worked for Credit Suisse First Boston in NZ and Australia and subsequently Ironbridge Capital, an expansion capital private equity fund focusing on mid –market firms.
Since 2013, he has been an active angel investor and a director and advisor to high growth tech companies. Kerry has a portfolio in excess of 50 early stage investments including some of NZ’s most dynamic high growth tech companies, split between direct investments and various early stage funds. He consults to Zino Ventures which is the manager of Zino Growth Fund, a small venture fund whose thesis is taking great NZ software companies to the Asian markets.
His current governance roles include director of Green Gorilla, NZ’s leading waste recycling business, Kernel Wealth, a fintech start-up, Fuel50, a US domiciled HR tech provider and Merlot.Aero a supplier of cloud-based airlines operations software. His recent governance roles include Chair of the ICE Angels, NZ’s most active angel group and a director of Engender Technologies, an agtech start-up focused on sexing dairy semen using photonic technology.
Kerry is also a Chartered Member of the NZ Institute of Directors and a former Chair of the NZ Venture Capital Association.