Our Team

Leadership

Andy Matheson

Andy Matheson

Managing Director
BBS, DipBS, MBA

Andy is an experienced technology business development executive and senior private equity and venture capital manager with 25 years’ experience. He particularly enjoys taking new technology ventures to the global stage.

Most recently, he led the international expansion of an advanced surface materials venture spun out of Auckland University as Executive Director and Vice-President of Global Business Development.

Formerly Group General Manager for Renewables at Solid Energy, and Managing Director of Nature’s Flame, Andy built this new technology corporate venture into a $50m revenue contributor. Previously, Andy was an Energy & Infrastructure investment executive at investment firm HRL Morrison & Co/Infratil.

Ian Woodhead

Ian Woodhead

Advisor
NZCE, BSc, PhD

Professor Ian Woodhead is Lincoln Agritech’s Chief Scientist and Group Manager of the Lincoln Technology Group. With almost 40 years’ experience in sensor development, his main research interests are measuring the broadband dielectric properties of composite materials including water content, physical measurements using microwave and mm waves, and high speed electronics.

Professor Woodhead has created a number of globally-marketed sensors, including devices to evaluate the performance of electric fences and the Aquaflex electronic soil moisture sensor, sold by Streat Instruments, that has paved the way for more efficient irrigation systems and allowed farmers to use water more sustainably.

He is a member of IEEE and the Antennas and Propagation, portfolio leader and management team member for the National Science Challenge – Science for Technological Innovation, Chair of New Zealand Electronics Institute Canterbury, board member of Lincoln University’s Centre for Soil and Environmental Quality, and editorial board member of Biosystems Engineering (Elsevier). Woodhead has been an advisor to and is a regular assessor for MBIE Science, assessor for the French National Research Agency, and technical/organising committee member and session chair of ISEMA, IEEE I&M, ICST and TDR international conferences.

Professor Woodhead was awarded the Royal Society Te Aparangi’s Scott Medal in 2017; the engineering science and technology award was presented in recognition of the wide range of sensors he has developed for the agricultural and environmental sectors.

Team

Ethan Dale

Dr Ethan Dale

Operations Technician
BSc, PhD

Ethan Dale joined the HydroMetrics team in 2022, after working as a postdoctoral researcher for Bodeker Scientific, studying urban air quality.

Ethan completed his PhD at the University of Canterbury, studying the interactions between large storms and sea ice in Antarctica. Before that he completed a BSc in physics.

Outside of work Ethan likes to spend as much time in the hills as possible, either skiing, hiking, mountaineering, mountain biking, rock climbing, or paddling down rivers.

Dave Rankin

Dr Dave Rankin

R&D Advisor
BE, PhD

Dave has a Bachelor of Engineering and PhD in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the University of Canterbury.

He has a passion for business; in 2004 he formed Indigo Systems, a successful start-up wireless communications company that produced various types of telemetry equipment. The company was acquired by CropLogic in 2014 and Dave became the Chief Technical Officer.

Dave joined Lincoln Agritech as a Senior Research Scientist, but is now the team leader for our new GreenTech group, with a primary focus on greenhouse gas monitoring and mitigation.

He specialises in:

  • system modelling
  • science innovation
  • advanced product development.