# Aaron Ward

> Aaron Ward is a New Zealand entrepreneur of Ngāti Maru descent, based in Portland, Oregon. He co-founded AskNicely with John Ballinger in 2014, served as CEO, moved into strategy in 2023 and took a board seat in 2024. He is now co-founder and CEO of Huckleberry, which combines voice-based peer feedback with professional AI coaching. His career connects customer recognition, employee development and making technology careers more visible to Māori.

- **Role:** Co-founder and CEO at Huckleberry; co-founder and board member at AskNicely
- **Organizations:** Huckleberry, AskNicely, Orange UK
- **Nationality:** New Zealander
- **Known for:** Co-founded AskNicely and led it through international expansion., AskNicely won Emerging Company of the Year at the NZ Hi-Tech Awards in 2018 and Māori Company of the Year in 2023., Led AskNicely during its US$10 million Series A and US$32 million Series B.

## Career timeline

- **Early career** — Worked in finance before moving into strategic marketing at Orange UK.
- **2014** — Co-founded AskNicely with John Ballinger in Auckland.
- **2018** — Relocated with his family from New Zealand to Portland, as described in his own public recollections.
- **2019** — AskNicely raised a US$10 million Series A and moved its headquarters to Portland.
- **2022** — AskNicely raised a US$32 million Series B led by Five Elms Capital.
- **2023** — AskNicely won Māori Company of the Year; Ward handed the CEO role to Kirsten Newbold-Knipp and became chief strategy officer.
- **2024** — Left AskNicely’s executive team for a board role and began work on a new startup.
- **2025** — Launched Huckleberry as a voice-based peer feedback platform.
- **2026** — Presented Huckleberry’s professional AI coach at Transform 2026.

## Achievements

- Co-founded AskNicely and led it through international expansion.
- AskNicely won Emerging Company of the Year at the NZ Hi-Tech Awards in 2018 and Māori Company of the Year in 2023.
- Led AskNicely during its US$10 million Series A and US$32 million Series B.
- Co-founded Huckleberry, which announced US$1.2 million in pre-seed funding led by Oregon Venture Fund.

## Latest updates

- **2026-04** — Huckleberry’s account of Transform 2026 describes Ward demonstrating its professional AI coach during a public-launch interview.
- **2026-01** — Published a LinkedIn article titled “It’s 2026. Why are we still filling out surveys?!”
- **2025-08** — Announced Huckleberry’s voice-based peer feedback platform.

## Links

- Website: https://www.huckleberry.work/p/aaron
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aaronward

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/aaron-ward
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-23