Graham Scown has led the University of Auckland’s venture-building efforts through UniServices
Graham Scown.
The board of trustees at Ministry of Awesome has appointed Graham Scown as its new chief executive, effective immediately. Over the past three years, Christchurch-based Ministry of Awesome has transformed from a regional startup hub into a key national player supporting founders across the country.
Scown’s appointment will be focused on implementing Ministry of Awesome’s strategic plan to build New Zealand's most impactful founder-focused programmes for globally ambitious startups, supporting a rise in women entrepreneurs through Electrify Aotearoa, and supporting a more aligned and collaborative startup community.
“Graham’s experience in bridging the worlds of government, universities, startups, and industry will be instrumental as we build founder-focused startup programmes to increase economic productivity in New Zealand through startup innovation,” Ministry of Awesome chair Dale Stephens said. For the past 13 years, Scown has led the University of Auckland’s venture-building efforts through UniServices, spearheading national programmes such as Momentum, to foster student entrepreneurship, and Return on Science, to drive research commercialisation.
His leadership in building successful programmes to enable first-time founders to build new ventures will strengthen Ministry of Awesome’s model of leveraging entrepreneurs-in-residence to deliver founder-to-founder mentorship.
Scown takes over from interim CEO James Burnes, who will remain a member of the board of trustees, a position he has held since 2019.
“Ministry of Awesome is playing a pivotal role in connecting and supporting a national framework for founder success,” said Scown.
“There’s incredible momentum building in our startup ecosystem, and Ministry of Awesome is uniquely placed to fuel that, from the grassroots to the global stage. I look forward to working with our partners and founders to extend our role helping to create companies reaching global markets.”
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