Dawie Olivier as chief information officer, taking over from Jason Millett who is interim CIO.
Olivier will report to CEO David McLean as a member of the executive team, reflecting the continued importance of technology in Westpac NZ’s strategy, the bank said in a statement.
His appointment is subject to Reserve Bank of New Zealand approval with an anticipated start date in April.
Olivier is currently Executive Head of Group Technology Build at Standard Bank Group in Johannesburg, South Africa. His previous roles at Standard Group included Chief Information Officer – personal and business banking - South Africa and Director - Africa IT Shared Services. He was also CIO at Sasfin Holdings.
Olivier will lead a 300-plus IT team at Westpac, which was ranked number 24 in the 2014 CIO100, the annual report on the largest ICT using organisations in New Zealand.
Neil Gong is now the IT Manager at Airedale Property Trust, which provides property development, project management, and property and tenancy management expertise for Methodist Church properties in the wider Auckland area. It is part of the Methodist Mission Northern.
His previous roles include IS Manager at NZMA and ICT Manager at Laidlaw College. Gong has a Bachelor in Computer Science from the University of Auckland.
Digital transformation in government
New Zealand has set a target that by 2017, 70 per cent of all New Zealanders can complete their most common transactions with government easily in a digital environment.
This goal is under Result 10 for Better Public Services program released over a year ago.
The focus is to provide ‘truly citizen-centred services designed around the needs of digital customers of government that are secure, trusted and private,' said Richard Foy, general manager, digital transformation at the Department of Internal Affairs.
‘It’s exciting to map and watch the development of Kiwi customer service delivery compared to the rest of the world,” said Deepak Selvaratnam, Director, Customer Services Audit, and one of the sponsors of the conference.
“New Zealand is beginning to make inroads digital channels taking the leads from the UK and counterparts across the Tasman. Service NSW and the Fair work Ombudsman office have interesting parallels and insights to offer us in NZ.”
"We believe that all agencies within the public sector would benefit to gather and share trends and best practice approaches to deliver services to the public."
Michael Friedberg is now head of response and lead management –Asia Pacific for IBM, moving from Software Group Marketing Executive: Enterprise/MidMarket & Channels
Damien Manuel is now Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) for Blue Coat in Australia and New Zealand.
Before the Blue Coat CISO appointment, Manuel was senior information security governance manager and later as an enterprise IT and Security risk manager at National Australia Bank (NAB) and was responsible for managing the banks’ Information Security Standard globally. He has also worked as account director at RSA.
He is on CompTIA’s executive advisory committee and is the national branch director for the Australian Information Security Association (AISA ).
Joe Levy joins Sophos as Chief Technology Officer, and before this, was CTO for Blue Coat Systems.
Canon New Zealand Managing Director Yusuke Mizoguchi will take up the regional reigns of the company, after being promoted to the role of MD of Canon Australia/Canon Oceania, based in Sydney. Mizoguchi replaces outgoing MD Taz Nakamasu,
Following Mizoguchi’s appointment, Kim Conner, Canon NZ General Manager Canon Consumer Imaging, will be promoted to the role of MD of Canon NZ. In accepting the role Conner will become the first female MD for the Canon Oceania Region.
Michelle Roach and Connie Miller, are now digital content strategist and project manager, respectively, at search engine optimisation firm Pure SEO.
Roach has worked at Transdev Auckland, where she was involved in information campaigns for the Rugby World Cup, the electrification of Auckland rail, and the introduction of new lines and trains.
Before joining Pure SEO, Miller was project manager for the Just Water International group. She is also a mentor in the women’s mentoring program at the University of Auckland Business School, and a founding trustee of the Mazda Foundation Trust.
Connie Miller
Richard Conway established Pure SEO in 2009 by after he moved to New Zealand from the UK. The company won the Google Engage All Stars Agency 2013, the 2014 Westpac Auckland Central Business Awards (Best Emerging Business category), and the Supreme Award in the 2013 David Awards
David Williams joins Emulex as vice president of product development and strategy. Prior to Emulex, Williams served as VP of strategy in the CTO office at BMC.
Rocketspark wins Xero innovation award
Waikato-based web development company Rocketspark has been named the most innovative add-on by online accounting software firm Xero at the London Xerocon event.
Rocketspark, established by four Waikato men 2009, beat out 380 Xero ancillary services (add-ons) to take out the ‘Shaking Things Up’ award at the Battersea Evolution in London.
The four Rocketspark directors comprise brothers Grant and Jeremy Johnson, Lee Reichardt and Richard King. All but Grant, who lives in London, are based in Cambridge.
“It was definitely not an expected accolade, that’s for sure because Rocketspark is one of Xero’s less established add-ons and is also completely self-funded,” said Grant (39), who received the award on behalf of the company at the event. “But the judges said they liked that our system connects with a wide range of other add-ons within the Xero ecosystem.”
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