Movers and shakers: Meet the new ICT leadership team at SkyCity
- 19 December, 2016 06:30
SkyCity CIO Glen McLatchie has appointed a new ICT leadership team for the group’s New Zealand and Australian operations.
Julian Lonsdale is now the Group ICT Architecture Manager, coming from Optimation where he was the Chief Architect. Before this, he was with Spark as Head of Design and Change working on the transformation programme there and has had roles at IBM NZ as Chief Technologist, IBM India as Lead Architect and CSC UK as Managing Consultant.
John Deane joins SKYCITY as Group ICT Delivery Manager, coming from an ICT leadership role at Spark working with large clients in the networking, cloud and aaS space. He previously held ICT leadership roles at Sleepyhead, PwC and Unisys.
Johneen Morris is the new Group ICT Applications Support Manager at SkyCity. Her previous roles included Customer Service and Support Lead NZ, Microsoft, and Linux/VMWare and Application Hosting Manager, IBM NZ.
David Osborne joins SkyCity as Group ICT Operations Manager. The former mergers and acquisition digital expert and operations manager at Air New Zealand with prior IS solutions delivery experience as solutions manager at Mighty River Power (now Mercury), says: “I’m excited to now try my hand within entertainment after 14 years within the airline industry and five years within the power industry.”
Angela Dutton is now SkyCity’s Group ICT Commercial Manager at SkyCity. She has worked as Group Commercial Manager at Optimation, and was Director Law and Corporate Affairs at Microsoft. Dutton started her career specialising in IT law/contracting at Simpson Grierson.
McLatchie also announced two new ICT leaders in the group’s operations in Australia.
Stephan Fourie is the IT Manager at SkyCity Adelaide. Prior to this, he was Group Infrastructure and Environment Manager at Ardent Leisure.
Lance Dippenaar joins the SkyCity team at Darwin as IT Manager. His previous roles included IT Operations Manager - Sun International, Master Engineer - Sun International and Senior Network Engineer - Computer Networks.
Bernard Seeto joins Southern Cross Healthcare as strategy and architecture manager.
Before this, Seeto was with IAG as head of solution delivery. He has also held a range of business and technology executive roles at Vodafone, AMP and Suncorp.
Antonia Watson is appointed managing director retail and business banking at ANZ New Zealand. Watson has been the bank’s CFO for the past four years and replaces John Body who is on extended leave.
Watson has worked for Morgan Stanley in Hungary and Sydney, as well as in various finance roles in London. At ANZ New Zealand she is the chair of the bank’s Staff Foundation Advisory Board and the executive sponsor of its Pride Network.
NZ-German robotics research team
The interaction between soft materials and rigid robots is the key focus of an international research team from the University of Auckland and University of Stuttgart.
The collaboration is led by two professors from the University of Stuttgart - Professor Oliver Röhrle and Professor Alexander Verl and two professors from the University of Auckland, Professor Peter Xu (Faculty of Engineering) and Associate Professor Leo Cheng (Auckland Bioengineering Institute).
The aim is to educate a new generation of digital engineering doctoral students at the University of Auckland and the University of Stuttgart in areas including simulation technology, computer modelling, sensor technology, and robotics and control engineering.
The interaction of rigid robots with easy-to-deform materials is challenging even independent of its applications in functions such as the field of developing and designing exoskeletons, fully automatic apple pickers, or meat cutting devices.
It will significantly improve our understanding of the interaction between next-generation robotic devices and soft human tissues.
“Soft materials or tissues are often subject to damage or injuries when handled by rigid robots and so far there have been few attempts to improve this situation,” says mechatronics expert, Professor Peter Xu from the University of Auckland.
“To contribute to a long-term and significant impact that solves these problems, the new International Research Training Group (IRTG) established an interdisciplinary environment for enhancing basic research and training outstanding doctoral students,” he says.
“This IRTG will greatly benefit from the synergies between both universities, in particular in the areas of simulation technology, cyber-physical engineering, robotics and biomedical technology,” says Distinguished Professor Peter Hunter, director of the Auckland Bioengineering Institute. ”It will significantly improve our understanding of the interaction between next-generation robotic devices and soft human tissues."
The group will develop novel simulation technologies and sensors to estimate the deformations of materials that are subject to the interaction with the rigid robot. It will also develop new automation and control strategies for robots interacting with easy-to-deform materials.
These new applications will improve the knowledge base for the design and the automation of industrial plants in general, and the knowledge and experiences will form a basis to enhance the exchange of information between the virtual and the physical world.
