Vanessa Ronan-Pearce
TRUSTEE

Vanessa is a seasoned commercial strategist with 20+ years experience in business and commercial strategy, sponsorship & fundraising, marketing, communications and innovation. She is currently on the Advisory Board for NZ FinTech Wych Money, is an advisor and investor to Antler Australia (a global early stage venture capital firm) and is a Strategic Advisor for Creative Caring Australia (a social enterprise providing dance programmes to benefit the community, designed for seniors with mobility issues, to promote balance, mobility and stability in the aging body).

In January 2020, Vanessa relocated from Sydney to Auckland with her Kiwi husband and 9 year old son. During her first 3 years in NZ she has supported the growth of corporate partnerships for The Salvation Army, and expanded partner engagement at The Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, at The University of Auckland.

Vanessa has a deep love and passion for dance having started dancing at the age of 3 when her Mum, ex-principal dancer Borovansky Ballet (now Australian Ballet), started The Glebe School of Performing Arts in Sydney.

She trained in ballet, tap and jazz completing her HSC at The McDonald College, school of performing arts. Vanessa went on to run The Glebe School of Performing arts for over 15 years and also taught at other leading Australian studios including Brent St, Dynamite, Urban Dance Centre and Sydney Dance Company.

She completed a Bachelor of Arts (Dance) followed by study in Sports Therapy, Music, Communications and Business.

Vanessa also spent many years working as a professional singer/songwriter, pianist and producer before making a move into the corporate world in the early 2000’s. Over the last 20 years Vanessa has grown into a commercially minded brand evangelist with a passion for the human connections behind business, working with global thought leaders, influencers and entrepreneurs.

She is absolutely thrilled to have joined the board of NZDC to support the evolution of contemporary dance in NZ.