Cather Simpson leaves the board.

Te Whai Ao Dodd-Walls Centre Board Chair Charlotte Walshe has announced that University of Auckland Professor Cather Simpson has resigned from the Centre’s Governance Board, with immediate effect.

Professor Simpson has been a board member since 2023 and a member of the Centre executive since 2007 when she moved to New Zealand from the United States. She leaves to take up a role on the board of the newly created New Zealand Institute for Advanced Technologies (NZIAT).

Ms Walshe says Professor Simpson’s appointment to the NZIAT was not a surprise given her impressive track record but did obviously create significant conflict of interest challenges with her Dodd-Walls Centre of Research Excellence (CoRE) governance role.

“What’s good for Aotearoa New Zealand unfortunately has a down-side for the Centre. While we celebrate Cather’s new NZIAT governance role, we are also sad to accept her resignation from the board and the CoRE.  

We will miss Cather’s mix of insight and irreverence, and we wish her all the very best on this next journey, proud of what she’ll help create for New Zealand’s future, as someone who has commercialised excellent science and technology.”

Ms Walshe says Professor Simpson has challenged paradigms and created new ways of working.

Cather Simpson founded the Photon Factory at the University of Auckland in 2010. The Photon Factory was built to face outwards, to exploit the cutting-edge fundamental photonics research performed by the group, and to lift the productivity at existing businesses and startups.

She went on to create photonics company, Engender, a bovine sperm sorting company acquired by CRV International in 2018. She has co-founded three other start-ups: Luminoma with Dr Michel Nieuwoudt, Beam Agritech with Dr Francesco Merola, and Orbis Diagnostics. All of them originated from the University of Auckland’s Photon Factory supported by the Dodd-Walls Centre. Luminoma delivers non-invasive laser diagnosis of skin cancer, Beam is pioneering the use of lasers to eradicate Varroa destructor mites from honeybees and Orbis is developing a new method of point-of-care clinically accurate blood testing.  

Professor Simpson is also a partner at venture capital firm, Pacific Channel encouraging them to invest in the growth, technological development, and strategic expansion of local firm Quantifi Photonics. In 2025 NASDAQ listed Teradyne purchased Quantifi Photonics for an undisclosed sum.

Combining multi-disciplinary research excellence with commercial savvy, Ms Walshe says Professor Simpson has been an exceptional Board member.

“She has been insightful in helping guide the direction of the Centre, pushing us all to think bigger and more courageously. Cather has also been a good friend, mentor, and cheerleader, for many of us.”

The Board will begin recruitment for a new independent director in the coming weeks.

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