Bio
Bridget Coates is co-founder of Kura, the consumer nutrition division of California-based White Cloud Nutrition, LLC. She is also Chair of the Board of Directors for White Cloud Dairy Innovation Ltd., a New Zealand food and beverage innovation hub which is committed to taking the very best of New Zealand’s outstanding food and beverage products and ingredients to world markets.
A global business leader with a dual-country career, Bridget and her R&D team developed the concept for Kura in New Zealand, with the country’s pristine grass-fed dairy protein as its base. Kura Nutrition has since added non-dairy proteins to its product range and currently seeks other, New Zealand sourced, functional ingredients which will complement its “pure nutrition” positioning. Kura products are now found in many major accounts in the US totaling more than 6000 retail outlets, as well as online through all major channels.
Bridget is a current director of the Board of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand and has held several director-level board leadership positions in the past - Fisher and Paykel Appliances Holdings, Sky City, Uniservices and the Council of the University of Auckland. She has managed an investment company in New York, focused on investments in healthy living companies. Prior to that, Bridget was the chief operating officer of New York City’s strategic innovation consulting firm, Fahrenheit 212.
Bridget was the inaugural chair of the ICEHOUSE, an incubator developed to create business opportunities between the University of Auckland and the wider business and government community.
Bridget also held leadership roles in the Knowledge Wave Trust and in KEA, the global kiwi network.
Bridget holds a Bachelor of Arts in English, economics and marketing, as well as a Master of Arts in English from the University of Auckland. She also received her Chartered Financial Analyst credentials and a Harkness Fellowship in financial analysis and business planning. She has been awarded a New Zealand Order of Merit for her work in global business development from New Zealand.
