Meet the NZSCA Board & Staff
Board 2026/2027
Alice Burton | President
John Burton Limited, Tāmaki Makaurau/Auckland
+6421 154 5086
Alice has worked in coffee for 10 years. She grew up around tea and coffee with her grandfather (Jack), father (John), and uncle (David) all working in the industry, so the dinner table chat was always interesting! In 2014, she spent 12 weeks doing a ‘coffee internship’ in Costa Rica and Nicaragua, discovered her love for working at origin, with suppliers and producers, and never looked back.
Alice is incredibly proud of the contribution that her family has given to our industry and hopes to continue that legacy, while adding her own personal touch. In her role as General Manager for JBL, she’s involved in all aspects of running a business and is passionate about inclusivity, community, and education.
Richard Corney | Vice President
Flight Coffee, Pōneke /Wellington
+64 27 286 9968
Richard has been in the coffee industry for 20 years, beginning with his first cafe in 2006, his career has taken him from behind a coffee machine to coffee farms in Colombia, washing stations in Burundi to head judging the World Barista Championships. Richards work with World Coffee Events has taken him all over the world teaching WCE Rules & Regulations and hosting national coffee championships. His work in Raw Material has been some of the most rewarding. Developing and building new relationships with in-country partners for project work in Rwanda and Burundi and connecting coffee buyers with meaningful and impact-driven coffee value chains all over the world. Richard was a Certified Q-Grader between 2015-18 and volunteered for the Coffee Quality Institute and the Coffee Corps Programme. At the beginning of 2021, Richard stepped into the Managing Director role of Inigo Coffee Group and back into the ‘dark’ (roasted) side of the industry.
Carl Sara | Immediate Past President
Sucafina, Ōtautahi / Christchurch
With more than 25 years in New Zealand’s coffee industry, Carl has worked in business as a Barista, Café Owner, Roaster, and Trader. During that period, Carl has had the chance to serve in various industry representation roles, including on the Board of World Coffee Events, including a term as Chairman, and previously has contributed 5 years on the Board of NZSCA, including a year as President in 13/14. Carl says, “I believe in the New Zealand Coffee industry, our people, and our businesses. They have matured with a healthy, competitive, but supportive community spirit, and I am excited to have an opportunity with NZSCA to help build a future that stands on the shoulders of a strong and proud coffee history.
Sarah McMath | Second Vice President
Goodman Fielder, Tamaki Makaurau/Auckland
Throughout Sarah’s diverse career, she has developed her skills in marketing and activations, working across various industries. Sarah’s specific focus on the food service and coffee industry over the past five years has been particularly rewarding. In her role as Marketing Manager for Meadow Fresh Food Service, she collaborates closely with cafes, baristas, and other stakeholders to promote the specialty coffee industry.
Sarah loves working alongside the talented and passionate individuals she has met in the specialty coffee industry. The collaboration and camaraderie within this community have been inspiring and energising. Together, Sarah and the events team have produced some great events and had a lot of fun doing it. Sarah is looking forward to working with this team and the wider industry to keep the momentum going!
Leon Dumper | Treasurer
Wolf Coffee Roasters Tāmaki Makaurau/Auckland
With over 15 years of experience as a barista across New Zealand and Canada, Leons journey in coffee has been anything but ordinary. Alongside working as a barista, he’s worn many hats—from coffee account manager and trainer to touring the world as a musician, tour manager, and stage tech, and even working as a ski instructor.
Coffee has always been the constant thread in his career. For a long time, Leon didn’t realise it could become a real job—let alone a career with purpose and impact.
Leon is passionate about showing baristas that there’s so much more to this industry than just making coffee behind the machine. He loves helping them grow in skill and confidence and showing them that there’s a future in coffee beyond the daily grind. Whether it’s through hands-on training or fun, high-energy events, Leon loves seeing people push themselves, build community, and fall even more in love with what they do.
Bonnie Lam |
The Coffee Dojo and The Coffee Shack, Wānaka
Bonnie is a café owner, barista competitor, and highly action-oriented person who believes strong communities are built through people, systems, and continual improvement. Her experience comes from both operating cafés day-to-day and competing within the specialty coffee industry, giving her a practical understanding of the challenges, opportunities, and realities our community faces.
Bonnie is passionate about creating structures, initiatives, and opportunities that don’t just solve immediate problems but help build an ecosystem that continues to grow and improve over time. Whether that’s through education, accessibility, competitions, or community connection, my focus is always on long-term impact and creating pathways for others to succeed.
Bonnie brings a proactive and solutions-focused mindset to her work. She believes challenges are there to be worked through, not worked around, and she is someone who will continue pushing for better outcomes, stronger systems, and meaningful progress when something needs improving.
At the heart of everything Bonnie does is people. She cares deeply about our coffee community and want to represent everyone within it — from business owners and competitors to working baristas and newcomers entering the industry for the first time.
Andrew Feldon |
Mouthwater Coffee, Palmerston/Manawatu
Andrew Feldon has been part of the New Zealand coffee industry since 2004, being a franchisee, and privileged enough to have worked for various roasters around NZ, and is now the owner of Mouthwater Coffee Company in Manawatu. Over the years, he’s worn a number of hats in coffee, from barista and business owner to competition competitor, then judge and enthusiastic long black drinker. His daily dad jokes have become infamous in Palmy.
Andrew is passionate about creating a more connected, inclusive, and supportive coffee community, building on what those who have been working hard to do that. With a love for practical solutions, good people, and even better coffee, Andrew brings a grounded, people-first approach to the NZSCA board, with the occasional dad joke thrown in for good measure. Andrew is eager to jump in and help out where he can.
Kelly Qu |
MQ Coffee, Tamaki Makaurau/ Auckland
Kelly entered the coffee industry after a background in hotel management, working across major hotel brands in China specialising in hotel openings, setting up systems and SOPs. During that time, a visit to a coffee farm in Yunnan sparked what would become the beginning of her career in coffee.
Returning to New Zealand, she went on to own and operate cafés, helping revive struggling businesses and transform them into thriving community spaces.
Today, Kelly is building a B2B coffee manufacturing business focused on convenient brewing formats, helping pioneer an emerging category within New Zealand coffee.
Passionate about building things from the ground up, Kelly enjoys connecting people, creating opportunities, and supporting the next generation of coffee professionals entering the industry. She is particularly interested in making specialty coffee more accessible through education, connection, and innovation.
Kelly is also an SCA Q Grader
Dan Lacey |
Mojo Coffee Cartel, Tamaki Makaurau/Auckland
Dan Lacey is a senior coffee and hospitality professional with over 15 years of experience across specialty coffee in New Zealand and the United Kingdom.His background spans retail, wholesale, training, product development and multi-site operations, and he is currently General Manager for the Auckland business of Mojo Coffee Group, overseeing cafés, wholesale and roastery production across multiple brands, including Kōkako Organic Coffee and Eighthirty Coffee Roasters. Dan has been an active contributor to the specialty coffee community for many years. In the UK, he served as a competition judge across the Barista Championship, Brewers Cup and Latte Art, and coached competitors in both the UK Barista Championship and Coffee in Good Spirits. He has also delivered training at barista camps and supported the development of emerging coffee professionals across the industry.
As a former SCA Authorised Specialty Trainer, Dan spent nine years delivering certified training across barista skills, brewing and sensory. He worked closely with the London School of Coffee, training individuals and groups, and helping to lift quality, consistency and an understanding of coffee across the industry. Alongside his technical background, Dan brings strong commercial and operational leadership experience, including work across organic, Fairtrade and sustainability-led coffee programmes. His focus is on developing people, improving systems and delivering sustainable performance across multi-site hospitality environments.
Patrick Russell |
Sucafina, Tamaki Maukaurau/Auckland
Based in Tamaki Makaurau, Auckland, Pat is the General Manager for Sucafina New Zealand. Pat’s career in coffee began in 1996 behind the counter of his neighbourhood Second Cup cafe in suburban Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Unbeknownst to him at the time, it was the start of his journey on the coffee road. Pat spent nearly 20 years working within the Second Cup system, managing cafes, supporting franchisees, leading franchisee training, product development and green sourcing. After nearly a decade of managing roast profiles and blends in conjunction with roaster partners like Kraft and Mother Parkers, Pat moved from client side to roaster side as the Director of Coffee for Reunion Coffee Roasters. For the last nine years, Pat has been based in Aotearoa, spending the first five supporting sourcing, blending and product development in the coffee and tea space for JDE New Zealand prior to moving to Sucafina in late 2022.
Simon Lewthwaite |
Boring, Tamaki Makaurau/Auckland
Simon is a coffee professional stretching back to Altura in 2005. He’s done about all you can do in coffee except production roasting. Simon brings a wealth of knowledge and experience, not only from his 10 years in the UK, but also across different channels within our wonderful coffee world. Inc sales, team management, marketing, large-scale manufacturing and alternative milk. Simon strives to create connection and community. Coffee started this way, and it’s our responsibility to keep that going. This is why I started the NZ Coffee Chat, a growing collaborative space of over 400 coffee people, where everyone can be heard.
Staff
Jessica MacDonald | General Manager
NZSCA and Digital Jess, Muriwai Beach /Tamaki Makaurau, Auckland
+64 21 372 630 | info@nzsca.org
Jessica is the General Manager for the NZSCA. Jessica’s journey in specialty coffee began over 20 years ago, when a move to Melbourne sparked her love for the craft while working at Icoco in Albert Park. This early curiosity evolved into a deep passion, leading her to London, where she supported high-end events across Europe and helped establish a roasting operation, gaining extensive technical knowledge of coffee and equipment along the way.
In 2010, Jessica joined Square Mile Coffee Roasters, where she progressed through the company to become Head Roaster, overseeing quality control as the business grew from a startup to a leading name in the UK’s specialty scene. During this time, she earned her Q Grader certification and became an active contributor to the global coffee community, serving on the Cup of Excellence jury, coaching baristas, judging competitions, and chairing the WCE Rules & Regulations Subcommittee.
In her role with the NZSCA, Jessica brings a strategic and thoughtful approach to communications, combining her digital marketing experience with a deep understanding of the industry.
Jessica is passionate about making information accessible, building momentum for industry events, and shining a spotlight on the people who power New Zealand’s coffee scene.
Moi Yokota | Event Coordinator
Tamaki Makaurau/ Auckland
+64 21 027 40079 | events@nzsca.org
Moi’s coffee journey started in 2022, being a barista in a small local cafe in Herne Bay, which piqued her curiosity to dive deeper into the coffee world. Making the move to Atomic Coffee Roasters in 2024, her career excelled with increased opportunity and involvement with the coffee industry through competitions, throwdowns, and the student coffee community.
Moi has a wide scope of the industry through her broad range of experiences, including hosting events through student-based specialty coffee body SCSC (Specialty Coffee Student Community), judging the Aotearoa Latte Art Championships, volunteering at national competitions, participation in various throwdowns, and competing in the 2025 Auckland Regional Barista Champs, where she placed 2nd place.
Being a part of the running committee for SCSC (Specialty Coffee Student Community) as the Lead Events Co-ordinator for two years, Moi is passionate about connection, approachability, inclusivity and community – hoping to continue sharing specialty coffee culture with others no matter skill or knowledge level. She hopes to use these connections and skills to bring more positive change into the wider Aotearoa coffee industry.
Join Today!
To join the NZSCA fill out the online application form and pay the annual dues (an invoice will be sent).
Memberships are renewed automatically on 1 April every year unless written notification is made to the Communications and Administration Co-ordinator of the NZSCA.
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