Stories by Divina Paredes

“It is important to be prepared to positively and continually disrupt ourselves,” says Mark Leadbetter, IT director at House of Travel (HOT).

Over the past two years as inaugural chief technology officer at Entrada Travel Group (ETG), Pete Yates and his team worked on a portfolio of initiatives with massive impact on the organisation. “No part of the business has been left untouched,” says Yates of the programmes that include implementing a new financial system incorporating all financial workloads, replacing the core reservation system and bringing corporate data into one place.

“We use technology for competitive advantage in a traditional industry sector,” says Brian Northern, group CIO at Fulton Hogan

Richard Kay knows being Chief Digital Officer of New Zealand Trade & Enterprise (NZTE) means any actions he and his team undertake will have impact across international borders.

Foodstuffs North Island has moved from not even operating retail e-commerce to having online revenues now measured in the hundreds of millions annually, says its chief digital officer Simon Kennedy.

Allan Lightbourne, chief digital officer at Tauranga City Council, got his team members to work with their colleagues from across the organisation, and look at the city’s key challenges that could be alleviated by technology.

“My approach is to let business users make informed choices and create compelling business cases that are win/wins,” says Contact Energy CIO Iain Gauld.

“Critical to the success of any CIO is the team around them, and the most important lesson I have learned has been to ensure that I put in place the most effective team possible,” says Mandy Kennedy, chief technology officer of Regional Facilities Auckland.

Roger Jones holds a C-level role at Auckland Transport (AT), as executive general manager technology, which also involves being the co-executive leadership team lead of the customer and innovation committee.

Rebecca Thomas heads the PwC Asia Pacific CIO Council, and through this, influences the global PwC IT community

“Building a comprehensive data set of real-time data on our environmental issues, our farming practices, and our cities needs is contributing towards a shift to a smarter, innovative and liveable city for the future, now,” says Mark John Denvir, ICT director at Auckland Council.

“Our objective was not just to improve the current carbon offset offerings but to reinvent the market itself,” says Paul Brady, chief technology officer and co-founder of startup Carbon Click.

Jennifer Sepull highlights her team’s work on the company-wide programme to improve Air New Zealand’s On Time Performance (OTP) metrics, which led to a raft of innovations across the business

Harmoney had just celebrated its fifth year and has grown from a startup to a strong successful business, says its CTO Andrew Bates.

“Law firms are recognised as traditional and risk averse due to the nature of the service they provide. However, innovation is in our firm’s DNA,” says SarahThirlwall, who took on the inaugural CDO role at MinterEllisonRuddWatts following a long-term executive career in the health sector.