29 September 2004

New Chief Information Officer appointed

The Ministry of Social Development today announced the appointment of Tim Occleshaw as the Ministry's new Chief Information Officer.

"This appointment recognises the strong leadership and business capabilities required to manage the Ministry's IT functions,” said Chief Executive Peter Hughes.

“Tim is a highly experienced IT professional who comes to us from the ANZ Bank here in New Zealand. His most recent role has been working as the Head of Information Technology. He understands the responsibilities of managing a large IT team delivering high quality solutions and services to business clients.

“I am delighted that Tim has accepted this appointment. He brings to the role excellent leadership and management skills. He will be a key member of the Ministry to help us build and further develop our capability to best position ourselves for the future.

“This is a senior appointment in New Zealand's IT sector. The Ministry of Social Development has the sixth biggest IT shop in the country and relies heavily on a range of systems to provide social and employment assistance to more than one million New Zealanders," said Peter Hughes.

Key systems include:

SWIFTT (Social Welfare Information for Tomorrow, Today) which is used to assess and pay benefits and entitlements; TRACE (Tracking, Recovery and Collection Enforcement) which is used to manage non-current debt; SOLO (legacy system for the former Employment Service) which is used to by case managers to assist job seekers; SAL (Student Allowances and Loans) which is used to administer the student loan and benefit system.

Biography

Tim Occleshaw has 25 years in business and IT roles in New Zealand and Australia. These have included project and programme management, business and information risk management, and IT.

His current position is Head of IT for the ANZ Banking Group NZ. Previous roles with the bank include:

Head of Technology Infrastructure Services

Year 2000 Programme Director

Manager Business Systems

Mr Occleshaw’s career in banking dates back to 1978

ENDS

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