All A-Board! CultivateIT Elects Seven to Start the Journey

All A-Board! CultivateIT Elects Seven to Start the Journey

Waikato IT cluster group CultivateIT held its first Annual General Meeting on Friday 3 March, at Waikato Innovation Park. A healthy turnout of members were charged with electing the inaugural board, which will be tasked with making real the mission, vision and the ground work of the founding Interim Board.

Interim Board Chairman Graham Gaylard led the AGM with working group member Rachel Kelly. There was high praise for the sweat equity contributed by Interim Board and working group members, Mark McCabe at PWC all of whom had freely given their time to the cluster in its formative period, which spans a year since inception.

Following CultvateIT’s official launch on 16 February, 64 companies have taken up membership. The goal is to capture at least 25% of the estimated 400 technology businesses in the region – a task which CultivateIT is well on its way to achieving.

The major focus of the AGM was the election of the CultivateIT’s inaugural Board – voted by its members to comprise seven seats, with the roles of chair, secretary and treasurer to be allocated by the elected board.

Twelve nominations were proffered, spanning tertiary education institutions, civic bodies, larger corporate businesses and independent contractors. The following were successfully elected by members to serve on the board.

Room9 founder Claudia Hill, states that she was drawn to the board in order to inspire a significant change in the perception many New Zealanders have about the Waikato, and open eyes to the caliber of tech in the region. Originally from Munich, Germany, Claudia brings over a decade of experience in the industry across a number of disciplines. She says, “I am keen to give CultivateIT the love and attention it requires. I hope that other board members will enter with a similar enthusiasm.”

Thomas Coats hails from rural Waikato, and has worked across a number of industries under the Information Technology sector umbrella. Now based in Matamata working for J Swap Contractors, he is also a member of the Institute of Directors. “I believe the Waikato is an ideal location for growing New Zealand’s Information Technology capability. We have many organisations already excelling on the global stage. With a collective voice and identity, IT in this region can attract more talented people and additional business.”

Guss Wilkinson has been with Wintec for nearly six years as a Team Manager for the Centre for Business, Information Technology and Enterprise, and is currently active on the local branch committee of ITPNZ. “I am passionate about education and IT, and have a particular interest in emerging technologies. Using my strong connections with tertiary providers across New Zealand, my hope is to be able to add value to CultivateIT by representing IT education and investigating the potential for collaborative research opportunities.”

Born and bred on a dairy farm in South Taranaki, Kristy Toroa has worked with a number of public and private environments facilitating positive organisational change journeys and growing leadership capability. As part of Enlighten’s executive management team, Kristy is responsible for leading the talent function and development delivery teams. “I joined the Enlighten family to expand the organisation’s ability to deliver exceptional outcomes by enhancing talent journeys and driving high operational performance.”

Due to work commitments, Richard Jeffares was not present at the AGM. In his role as Chief Operating Officer, he oversees all Ultrafast Fibre business operations, and was the recipient of the Emerging Leader of the Year award at the 2016 Westpac Waikato Business Awards. He is an active member of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). Previously he has led business-wide digital transformation within telecoms, media and infrastructure companies, whilst creating advanced business intelligence and data analytics capability across organisations.

Warren Williams of Digital Taniwha is originally from Gisborne, making Hamilton his home in 1991, so beginning his journey in IT completing a computing and mathematics degree at the University of Waikato. Warren has worked in tertiary education at the University, Wintec and Te Wānanga o Aotearoa. He is a current member of the Expert Advisory Group for the Māori Digital Technology Development Fund, and a working group member of Te Mana Raraunga (Māori Data Sovereignty Network). Warren brings a Māori worldview and small business perspective to his governance roles and leadership decisions. “I have a special interest in the Waikato business landscape, and I am inspired by the energy and passion of Waikato business owners.”

David Hallett was overseas at the time of the AGM. The only working group and interim board member to seek election, he is a director and shareholder of Hamilton-based technology businesses Company-X, E9, Need A Nerd, and FleetApp. He is also chairman of the Waikato branch of Information Technology Professionals New Zealand, and is the ICT sector lead for the Waikato Regional Labour Market Strategy.

With the board elected it is time for CultivateIT to focus on its first big event - presenting an Agritech Panel Discussion event at Waikato Innovation Park on 29 March, chaired by Rachel Kelly (NZ Tech Deputy Chair), along with Rob Heebink (Gallagher), Andrew Cooke (Rezare) and Dion Cawood (LIC). The event is free to attend and open to all practitioners within the tech space, of course, information on how to become a member company of CultivateIT will be available.

There are a number of other exciting events planned, most notably Tech Week (6 – 14 May) which will see a number of events involving Farming 2020 and LIC, including a hackfest for secondary school aged students, who will have a unique opportunity to be part of the spearhead voice for agritech in the Waikato.

Ends

© Scoop Media