The team

Lillian brings a new perspective on data, one where data is a language in which everyone can be fluent. She believes societies and individuals will benefit when anyone can use data to inform their thinking and insights without requiring intermediaries. In establishing Figure.NZ in 2012, Lillian took the unique position of designating everyone to be a user of data. She leads the team to build systems and software, and to widely and deeply collaborate throughout New Zealand to deliver to this standard.

Lillian is also on the Data Futures Partnership Working Group, as well as on the board of the NZ Innovation Partnership and of NZ Centre of Research Excellence Te Pūnaha Matatini. Previously Lillian was at Academy Award-Winning Massive Software, at think tank The New Zealand Institute.

Amy is passionate about open data and creating a democratic space for everyone to learn and understand the country they live in. With previous experience in digital marketing, user engagement and online software, she was drawn to the collaborative and community style of Figure.NZ, becoming the first employee of the organisation.

Andrea moved to Auckland from his native Italy almost 10 years ago, attracted by New Zealand's fresh way of thinking and transparency. His professional expertise with data spans from economic research for government to marketing insights. He's now on a mission to foster Figure.NZ's data coverage to be the most comprehensive and accurate it can be.

Annemieke comes to Figure.NZ from the public sector where she championed the use of data visualisations and worked towards improving the quality of data collections. She was attracted to Figure.NZ by the forward thinking, can-do culture. Mostly, Annemieke is super enthusiastic about providing New Zealand with easy to understand information to help with everyday decision making.

Chris is a geographer and data enthusiast. He has worked variously as cartographer, scientist and product manager across the science and cultural heritage sectors. Chris cares about data literacy, information design and ensuring that useful things can be easily discovered and reused.

Hayden reckons your data can probably be useful to someone else and that they will use it in a way that you have never thought of. More generally he is interested in the impacts of the Internet on society, the economy and the world. He works as a consulting economist and he convenes The Moxie Sessions, a monthly collaborative think tank, to look at these issues. Hayden is also fortunate enough to be a Councillor for Internet NZ, the charity that helps New Zealand make the most of the Internet.

Nat thinks open data helps us to understand and care more about New Zealand's future, which is pretty awesome.

From a background in the finance and SaaS sectors, Nat brings software interaction expertise to Figure.NZ. With a particular focus on usability and accessibility, Nat believes careful interface and experience design will make you love data as much as she does.

With over 20 years experience in the delivery of software and information systems, Rob joined the team because he has a strong belief that Figure.NZ is something that needs to exist. In his increasingly non-existent spare time, Rob likes tea, dumplings, and whisky.

Aaron uses data analysis, modelling, and visualisation to help people understand complex issues and make better decisions. He knows that data is only valuable when it gets used, and strongly believes in Figure.NZ's mission to make data usable by everyone.

Ludwig is a designer and front-end developer who has worked in digital design agencies, Apple's marketing department and now heads up the design team at Vend. He didn't realise how important easy access to data was until he started working on Figure.NZ and now his view of the world has changed, post-Google style.

Martyn has a wealth of experience in building complex, scalable web applications for some of the largest companies in New Zealand. With a strong focus on realtime systems and data processing, Martyn has delivered dozens of production Internet systems to customers worldwide.

Figure.NZ combines two of Nigel's favourite things: building top quality web applications with awesome people, and informing everyone about the facts of our world. For some strange reason, Nigel enjoys the process of turning opaque data into pretty pictures so much that he has been caught doing it in his spare time.

Richard enjoys empowering people through the creation of vibrant, engaging applications. As part of the Figure.NZ technical team, he applies the skills and experience acquired in 19 years of data-driven web application development to the task of turning enormous collections of numbers into nutritious bite-sized visual candy to support a stronger, more informed society.

Starting her career in research, Vic has always loved insights and data. Her previous role as MD of Xero New Zealand saw her getting her head around the Big Data in the Xero platform and how this can be most useful to customers, partners and government. Vic is a huge fan of NZ Inc and loves the vision of Figure.NZ. She brings a lot of valuable experience to the Figure.NZ Board from her 20 years of experience in the Information and Communications Technology sector.

Stephen England‐Hall is CEO of Loyalty NZ, the company behind the extremely successful FlyBuys programme and new data analytics business LAB 360. Stephen has extensive international experience – particularly in the UK and North America ‐ working as a senior executive of world leading digital marketing, data and technology companies. He is a member of the New Zealand Data Futures Forum, working with government and private sector leaders on ways New Zealand can harness the power big data and changing technology for economic and social benefit. Stephen is a member of the Cambridge University Vice-Chancellors Advisory Board on Communication.