CEO Unscripted | Sam Vye CEO and Founder of SYOS Aerospace

Priority One’s new event series, CEO Unscripted

In partnership with Ryan + Alexander

Meet the real people behind the title and get specific insights from some of the Bay of Plenty’s most high-profile CEOs. These talks will go beyond company success stories to explore the behind-the-scenes journey of leadership.

Along with the stories of personal achievement and success, we’ll be asking CEOs about the setbacks, risk taking, turning points and lessons that don’t make it into their annual reports.

You’ll hear how CEOs:

• Make difficult decisions with imperfect information

• Handle failure, pressure and doubt

• Have tough conversations and lead in a crisis

• Grow personally as their businesses grows

• Think about leadership, people and culture

You’ll leave with perspective, insights and the confidence that the challenges you’re facing are a normal part of being a leader.

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Announcing our first speaker in the series: Sam Vye, CEO & Founder of SYOS Aerospace.

4-6pm, Thursday 12 February at Bay Oval

SYOS Aerospace is a world-class manufacturer of land, sea, and air drones based in Mount Maunganui. It was named Company of the Year at the NZ Hi-Tech Awards 2025. The company has been winning lucrative global business, including a $67m contract with the UK Ministry of Defence.

About Sam: Sam Vye is a Mount Maunganui leader with a simple playbook: be straight up, back your people and move faster than the problem. A geophysicist by training, he’s done hard miles in engineering and venture building, from the UK to the Bay, Sam is known for cutting the corporate fluff and creating teams that lead from wherever they sit.

He believes positivity under pressure isn’t a slogan – it’s a skill. Case in point: years ago he got properly stuck in the Arctic and turned the experience into a set of principles about preparation, calm decision-making, and not panicking when the map runs out. (Turns out, that works just as well on a factory floor as it does on shifting ice.)

These days, you’ll find Sam toggling between the back‑of‑the‑shed chats at smoko and higher‑stakes conversations with partners offshore – exactly the leadership blend the Bay does best: jandals on, sleeves up, results first. Sam lives by: empower good humans, keep the signal‑to‑noise ratio high, and send it – together.

Sam will be in conversation with Priority One’s new CEO, Dave Courtney.

This event is also about bringing together our business community, so come along to make valuable connections and enjoy stimulating conversations!

This is the first event in this series, so stay tuned as we bring you more conversations with our region’s talented CEOs.

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Priority One’s CEO Unscripted series has been created in partnership with Ryan + Alexander, a professional recruitment agency offering a world-class service from the Tauranga city centre. Focusing solely on the Bay of Plenty region, the Ryan + Alexander team are top performers in their field, so whether you want to find your perfect employee or your next job, get in touch.