Meet the team
Catalyst Leadership Development was built on a passion for making a difference.
Our mission is to help make your leadership matter. We aim to create more sustainable wealth and wellbeing – to transform your leadership, your life and the world.
Dr. Rodger Spiller
CO-FOUNDER
Rodger’s long-standing passion for leadership development had early roots. From a very young age he was reading books on leadership and attended his first personal development workshops in his early teens. He was also passionate about business, taking courses on accounting and economics at age 13. By age 20 he was one of New Zealand’s youngest full-time lecturers in business. He had also begun running leadership courses for businesses.
Rodger is passionate about continuous improvement and has continued to research and develop his leadership skills. He brings a vast wealth of insights to his leadership development work.
Uniquely Rodger also brings his perspective as an experienced business leader and leading investment adviser. He has led his own investment advisory business, Money Matters (NZ) Ltd since 1993, specialising in responsible investment and in helping investors seeking to make money and make a difference.
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Bachelor of Commerce (1983) - Senior Prize - Accounting for Corporate Social Responsibility
Master of Commerce (1990) - First Class Honours
Doctorate (1999) - Focused on business ethics, ethical investment and responsible business leadership
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NZ Executive Director for leading Australasian investment firm IPAC Securities
Board member of one of NZ's largest personal investment and financial planning firms
Director and Chairman of the Association of Investment Advisers and Financial Planners (IAFP)
Member of the International Certified Financial Planner (CFP) Council
Member of the Securities Commission (now the Financial Markets Authority)
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New Zealand’s first financial advisor to receive the Ethical Investment Certification symbol
New Zealand’s first member and Director of the Responsible Investment Association Australasia (RIAA)
Founding Member and Executive Director of the NZ Businesses for Socially Responsibility (NZBSR) that became part of the Sustainable Business Network (SBN)
Executive Director of the NZ Business Council for Sustainable Development
Created NZ’s first awards for ethical and sustainable business
Founding Director of Transparency International (NZ)
Professor Chellie Spiller
CO-FOUNDER
Chellie Spiller is a professor at the University of Waikato Management School. She has extensive corporate experience, holding senior executive positions in New Zealand and abroad, and brings this experience to her academic work and leadership development programmes.
Chellie is a prolific and widely cited author. She is a co-author of the highly popular ‘Wayfinding Leadership’, and her Ted Talk on the subject has been viewed over 20,000 times. Her most recent book ‘The Catalyst’s Way’ has received wide acclaim. This is the product of her work as a Leader-in-Residence at the Atlantic Institute, based at Oxford University.
She was a Fulbright Senior Scholar at the Harvard Kennedy School and the University of Arizona. Her awards include the Dame Mira Szászy Māori Alumni Award and a National Māori Academic Excellence Award.
James Smith
COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER
James combines impactful creativity with sound technical nous, creating communications that are highly engaging as well as effective. James has worked alongside Rodger since 2019. As Catalyst Leadership’s Communications Manager, James is passionate about understanding our clients’ needs. He helps us meet our goal of providing optimal solutions that exceed expectations, and go beyond satisfaction to delight.
Ready to make your leadership matter more?
Schedule an "Ask Anything" session with us – a no obligation conversation that will help you determine if Catalyst Leadership is the right match for you.