ChristchurchNZ’s Chief Executive, Ali Adams, leads the city’s economic development agency, which aims to make Christchurch a better place to live, work, and play.

“Leading ChristchurchNZ is the best role in the world. It is a privilege to have that kaitiakitanga, that responsibility on behalf of all who call Ōtautahi Christchurch home now, and on behalf of my children and the children who will live here in the future. I love that I have responsibility to help grow this amazing place.”

Ali has a background in economic development, having led New Zealand Trade and Enterprise’s work in Europe and the South Island. She has also worked in marketing, tourism, and sports leadership, including four years as the domestic manager for New Zealand Cricket. A Cantabrian by choice since 2003, she started her career as a brand manager for Unilever after graduating from Cambridge University with a first-class honours degree in natural science.

Greetings. My family name is Allen, but please call me David. My mountain is Snafell, my sea is the Irish Sea and my river, the mighty Thames. I am an Englishman, originally from London, but moved to New Zealand and joined Wine-Searcher, where I am the Wine Director, 8 years ago. If you don’t know Wine-Searcher, we are an online search engine for wines and spirits, an app and now also a marketplace for wines.

My career began working, for over a decade, in retail wine stores, with the U.K.’s innovative Oddbins chain. As well as running shops for Oddbins, I wrote copy for their website and was involved in logistics. I then worked for an online auction site called Uvine. Subsequent roles involved selling fine wine for distributors Top Selection and Coe Vintners. I became a of Master of Wine in 2010 and moved to New Zealand in 2017.

Eric Asimov is the chief wine critic of The New York Times and the author of “How to Love Wine: A Memoir and Manifesto,’’ published by William Morrow, and “Wine With Food: Pairing Notes and Recipes From The New York Times,’’ written with recipes by Florence Fabricant and published by Rizzoli. His column appears in the Food section of The Times. He is on Twitter and Instagram, @EricAsimov. A collection of his columns is included in “The New York Times Book of Wine,’’ published by Sterling Epicure.

Alan Brady came to New Zealand as a young journalist in 1959 and worked on daily newspapers and later television national current affairs programs in Wellington before becomng the first regional editor of TV One News in Dunedin in 1985. While covering stories and holidaying in Central Otago he developed a fascination for that dry, inland region, its high mountains and lakes and deep river gorges. He and his wife bought 6.5 hectares of land at Gibbston near Queenstown in 1976 and four years later, ignoring conventional wisdom, planted grapes and founded Gibbston Valley Wines. He opened the region’s first purpose-built winery in 1990 and went on to build a second winery Mount Edward, in 1998. His “retirement project”, Wild Irishman Wines, is now in its 18th vintage. Brady was a founding member of Central Otago Winegrowers, served on the board of New Zealand Winegrowers and is a Fellow of NZ Wine.