Hon David Cunliffe
Minister for Communications and Information Technology

7 December 2007 Media Statement

New appointments to support Digital Strategy

Two new appointments to new roles that will support the government’s refresh of its Digital Strategy by June 2008 were announced by Communications and Information Technology Minister David Cunliffe today.

“Only one week on from the Digital Future Summit I am pleased to announce two new appointments that will assist with the roll out of the Digital Strategy refresh process,” said Communications and Information Technology Minister, David Cunliffe.

“The Ministry of Economic Development has appointed Doug Martin to lead engagement with the ICT sector to establish a new representative body that will provide a stronger unified voice.”

“Doug’s appointment and work programme is a concrete step in progressing further collaboration in the sector and the goodwill demonstrated at last week’s successful Digital Summit. Strong engagement with the sector will be critical to ensuring any new entity is robust, effective and enduring.”

Tony van Horik has also been appointed to support and facilitate the roll-out of community-based broadband network initiatives.

“Working with Local Government New Zealand and the Ministry of Economic Development, Tony will lead work to develop a “Know How Guide” for local government and community groups to use to develop a business case for broadband connectivity in their local areas ,”said Mr Cunliffe.

“He will also work on development of a “Broadband Friendly Protocol” to assist local governments manage the processes around the roll-out of broadband infrastructure.”

Information on the Digital Future Summit 2.0 is available on www.digitalsummit.org.nz.

“I encourage people to revisit the Summit website,” said Mr Cunliffe. “Speeches, presentations and webcasts of the whole Summit are progressively being made available online, with something new each day.”

ENDS

Biography for Doug Martin

Doug Martin is a Director of MartinJenkins and is one of New Zealand’s most experienced and respected advisors on governance and accountability and issues, consulting widely throughout both the public and private sectors.

Doug has recently advised Accelerate Auckland on the establishment of a collaborative mechanism for engagement between the ICT industry, the Auckland-based tertiary education institutions and AucklandPlus that will address skill shortages in the ICT industry. Doug has, in the past, also acted as a strategic consultant to SAP and Telstra Saturn.

Biography for Tony van Horik

Tony van Horik is Managing Director of Advanced Technology Solutions Limited. Tony brings over 30 years experience in the telecommunications and IT industry, including senior management positions in a number of New Zealand’s largest companies.

Over the last six years Tony has been actively engaged in initiatives focused on the development of high speed broadband networks and services and has assisted a number of local government organisations apply for funding for the Digital Strategy’s Broadband Challenge programme. From 2002 to 2005 Tony was the Project Director for Project PROBE, the government initiative to bring high speed broadband access to schools and rural communities.