Brooke Roberts

Master of Finance (with Distinction), 2013

2020 Distinguished Young Alumni Award

Co-founder and director of Sharesies

Ms Roberts says the philosophy behind Sharesies, a sharemarket investment company, is to create a level playing field for investors regardless of how much money they have and remove some of the jargon that causes nervousness.

“We wanted to give someone with five dollars the same investment opportunities as someone with $500,000. With the technology available today, there’s no reason why access to wealth development should be so unequal.”

Two years on, Ms Roberts says Sharesies is going from strength to strength. “We started with seven founders, six of us full-time. We now have 24 staff and we’re still growing. We have over 36,000 Kiwi investors who have invested over $38 million. What’s great is a lot of that is money that probably wouldn’t have been invested otherwise.”  

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Dr Mahsa McCaule

PhD in Computer Science in 2013

2020 Distinguished Service Award

Dr Mahsa McCauley is recognised for her vision to address the gender imbalance in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields.

In 2014 she founded She Sharp, which runs networking and development events each year for secondary school girls and women who are tertiary students and industry professionals.

In her role as a senior lecturer at Auckland University of Technology’s School of Computer, Engineering, and Mathematical Sciences, she is a recognised leader in artificial intelligence and machine learning, including researching how these fields will revolutionise our future.

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Kate Hawley

Diploma in Visual Arts and Design, 1992

2020 Distinguished Achievement Award

Costume designer Kate Hawley worked in local productions and in 1996, received a Television New Zealand Scholarship and assistance from Wellington City Opera to study at London’s Motley School of Theatre Design.

Less than a decade later her career took off with film credits including On A Clear Day, The Ride, Pacific Rim, Crimson Ring and The Hobbit, along with numerous other costume and set design credits ranging across film, television, theatre and opera in Europe, the United States, Australia and New Zealand.

She worked again with Peter Jackson’s untitled DreamWorks project and his 2009 film The Lovely Bones as well as episodes of The Lord of the Rings television series.

Ms Hawley’s awards include the Gold Key Award from the Bretislav Film Festival for her designs for the Channel 4/BBC production of T DANCE, and in 2013 she was inducted into Massey University’s College of Creative Arts’ Hall of Fame.  

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