RYLA - Key Persons
Allison Mooney (CSP), "inspirational,' "entertaining," "versatile," "value for money'," "amazing speaker," just a few very common quotes from customers who, on many occasions, have booked her again and again. Trusted by many business leaders as a ‘fixer,' Allie can transform and unify your workforce like no other. Often referred to as the busiest speaker in the business, Allie has a significant fan base, many of which are large and well known corporate companies.
Allison also is one of the most generous contributors to worthy causes and always finds time in her busy schedule to give time to many charities including the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards on a number of occasions.
Job Titles:
- Founder and Director of the Social Enterprise Nanogirl Labs Ltd
Dr Michelle Dickinson (MNZM) is a passionate researcher and teacher with a love of science and engineering.
As the author of No 8 Recharged and The Kitchen Science Cookbook, Michelle has made it her life mission to make science and engineering accessible for all.
Her background in Biomedical and Materials Engineering have combined her interests to give her a unique insight into how nature and technology can learn from each other for scientific developments.
Michelle is the founder and Director of the social enterprise Nanogirl Labs Ltd and she is also an honorary academic in Engineering at the University of Auckland.
Michelle has always followed her dreams and never let traditional stereotypes scare her, she strongly believes that everyone should have access to learning about science and how things work, no-matter what your age or education level. Michelle strongly believes that science should be open, transparent and a topic of conversation over the dinner table, not just the lab bench, and her vision is to create positive role models in the world that our children can aspire to be like.
With this belief she is passionate about creating new ways for the public to interact with science including her television appearances, live Theatre Science Shows, science comedy podcast "Stupid Questions For Scientists" and science communication videos.
Michelle presented her experiences and outlook on life to RYLA in 2018 and had a huge impact on the audience of 20 to 28 year olds, when she demonstrated and explained some of her science techniques as well as talking about her remarkable experiences across academia, science, engineering, business and now social enterprise.
Murray left school at 15 with no qualifications and by the age of 23 he became the youngest Managing Director in the world for CBS Records NZ. He founded and owned Personalised Plates in 1987 as a result of winning a government tender to act as the Ministry of Transport's exclusive marketing agent to introduce personalised number plates into New Zealand. In 1997 he sold that company to pursue his real passion, and returned to the music business.
He now manages "Thom Music" his own boutique record company, producing many best selling albums. His most recent creation, The Great New Zealand Songbook includes two CD's featuring selections of the best New Zealand music of the Last Century and This Century.
Murray's other passion is sailing. His father taught him to sail when he was 7 and at 12 he was the youngest winner of the Tanner Cup for P class boats. Murray has also represented New Zealand in Lasers, Finns and Solings. In 2005 he won the World Laser Masters championship in Brazil.
Murray has been a key speaker at RYLA for many years and his participation has become an invaluable part of the RYLA program
Job Titles:
- Director of Personality Dynamics Ltd
Sue Blair is the director of Personality Dynamics Ltd in Auckland. She specialises in Myers-Briggs coaching and training in businesses and schools. She believes that understanding personality is essential for a healthy, productive workplace. She is an experienced workshop facilitator, speaker and management coach who has spoken at RYLA 9920 on a number of occasions.
Her strength as a presenter is in taking complex psychology and make it understandable, accessible, practical, valuable and enjoyable for all.
She delivers a very thought provoking programme for our RYLA leadership teams exploring personality differences to aid communication, teamwork and learning differentiation. This professional development component of RYLA is always highly regarded by participants.
Job Titles:
- Operations Director
- Operations Manager