Heavyweights To Deliver Inspirational Punch

Business Heavyweights To Deliver Inspirational Punch At Software Summit

Press release, 14-Aug-2008, Canterbury Software Cluster, Christchurch, New Zealand:
The Canterbury Software Cluster with sponsors PricewaterhouseCoopers, New Zealand Trade & Enterprise, NZi3, and IBM will present a riveting line-up of battle-hardened business experts who will share the ‘war stories’ behind their success at the 2008 Software Summit in September.

National Party Transport, Communications and Information Technology Spokesman Hon. Maurice Williamson will present a keynote address at the Summit entitled “Broadband : 21st Century Highway”, and is among a line-up of six notable business leaders speaking at Christchurch’s Hotel Grand Chancellor on 3rd September.

Canterbury Software chairman Terry Paddy says the annual summit is the highlight on the cluster’s calendar and provides a unique opportunity for members and local software people to learn and network with others in the industry.

“Traditionally, the collective experience of the summit speakers is unparalleled in Canterbury, and this year will be no exception. We have a string of exciting presentations from respected business speakers, whose brief is to inspire, motivate and educate,” Paddy says.

Peter Montgomery, managing director of Cavotec MSL, is among the list of inspirational speakers attending the summit. Montgomery founded Mooring Systems Ltd (MSL), which develops innovative vacuum-mooring systems. It listed on the NZX in 2000, and completed a merger with Dutch firm Cavotec in 2007, creating Cavotec MSL Holdings Limited.

The Software Summit, which has been running annually since 2002, aims to encourage business growth by sharing examples of world-class innovation, commercialisation and export. This year’s theme is ‘Creating Growth’ and includes speakers from some of NZ’s most successful and entrepreneurial high-tech companies.

Mr Paddy says the committee is anticipating 150-200 attendees this year, a significant increase on last year. “It just keeps growing. We had 110 attend last year from more than 50 companies and received some really positive feedback, so we are gearing up for another increase in numbers,” he says.

The event opens at 12.00pm, and drinks, networking and a prize-draw will follow from 5.30pm onwards. Cost is free for NZ Software Alliance members and $80 for non-members.

To register visit www.canterburysoftware.org.nz

Sponsors

The Canterbury Software wishes to thank our sponsors PricewaterhouseCoopers, New Zealand Trade & Enterprise, NZi3 and IBM for their valuable contribution in enabling us to host the Summit. We’d also like to thank members of the Canterbury Software Committee for volunteering their time to manage and promote the event.

Summit Programme

12:00 Registration
12:15 Opening address
12:30 Keynote speaker: Hon. Maurice Williamson, MP
13:00 Al Munro, NextWindow
13:30 Peter Montgomery, Cavotec
14:00 Break
14:20 Tony Crewdson, i-Lign
14:50 Neil Butler, Optimation
15:20 Matt Armstrong, AuthorIT
15:50 PricewaterhouseCoopers
16:10 Darin Graham, NZi3
16:30 Break
16:40 Panel Discussion (chaired by PricewaterhouseCoopers)
An opportunity to question speakers on how they achieved business growth
17:20 The Canterbury Software Cluster – what to look forward to in 2009
17:30 Drinks, Nibbles and Networking
18:00 Prize Draw
19:00 Close

Speakers

Hon. Maurice Williamson

Maurice Williamson has been a National Party MP for Pakuranga since 1987. He is a former Minister of Research, Science and Technology, Communications, Statistics, Information Technology, Transport, Local Government and Broadcasting.

He is a member of the Pakuranga Rotary Club and a member of the International Federation of Operations Research Societies. He was Auckland Toastmasters Club Communicator of the Year in 1993 and appointed a Fellow of the NZ Computer Society in 1995.

He holds a Bachelor of Science in Physics and Mathematics and post-graduate qualifications in computer science and applied mathematics from Auckland University.

Peter Montgomery, Managing Director, Cavotec MSL

Peter Montgomery is the New Zealand managing director of Cavotec MoorMaster Limited, a subsidiary of Cavotec MSL a multi-national, NZX-listed company. Cavotec MoorMaster specialises in designing and manufacturing automated vacuum mooring systems for large ships.

Peter completed an MBA at Massey University in 1995 and previous to this spent 12 years at sea as a Deck Officer in the Merchant Navy.

Montgomery founded Mooring Systems Ltd (MSL) which was listed on the NZX in 2000. The company completed a merger with Dutch firm Cavotec in 2007, creating Cavotec MSL Holdings Limited. From MSL’s small beginnings in Christchurch, the company now employs over 600 people internationally and has revenues of NZ$300,000,000. Although Cavotec’s corporate office is located in Switzerland, Cavotec MSL remains listed in New Zealand and is based in Christchurch.

Cavotec is a global leader in innovative and environmentally friendly engineering solutions, supplying fully integrated systems to the maritime, airport, mining, and general industry sectors.

Al Monro, CEO, NextWindow

Al Munro has been the CEO of NextWindow since it started-up in June 2002. NextWindow is a designer and developer of touch screen technology for OEM markets, from 15” to over 100” and in industries such as consumer PC, medical monitors, Public Information Displays (interactive digital signage), and education (Interactive WhiteBoards). Now employing around 50 people in New Zealand, USA, Australia, Taiwan and China.

Prior to NextWindow Al was involved in private equity, in the supply chain space, predominantly in Australia, and prior to that with IBM. He was part of the New Zealand executive team for 8 years, Including National Sales manager, and Auckland Regional manager, with General Manager roles in IBM Malaysia and IBM Vietnam. Al graduated with an LLB from the University of Canterbury in 1980.

Tony Crewdson, CEO, i-Lign Ltd

i-lign Limited is a 9 year old privately owned, New Zealand based company which has developed, markets and supports the i-lign portfolio, programme and project management software. In a crowded market place our focus is global and we aim to compete as a disruptive technology and by smart use of web technologies to support our go-to-market model. We are now often short-listed against the market leaders both here and offshore.

i-lign is in a growth phase. Tony Crewdson, the founder and CEO of the company, has worked in the public, private and not-for-profit sectors for over 30 years in a wide variety of challenging management roles. He is a member of the Institute of Directors and provides mentoring to young companies. Tony has a Masters in Public Policy from Victoria University, a Masters in Public Administration from Harvard, and other qualifications in Education, Criminology and Psychology. He was a New Zealand Harkness Fellow in 1991.

Neil Butler, CEO, Optimation
Neil Butler is the founder and CEO of Optimation, a New Zealand IT services organisation that was formed in 1992. Optimation delivers services and solutions in three areas: Software Services, Technology Services and Managed Services. Its capabilities span analysis, design, development, implementation, security, and support across these three core service lines. Optimation works with New Zealand’s leading corporate and government organisations, understands the issues being faced by these businesses today, and works with them to deliver solutions that help to achieve their goals for the future.

Matt Armstrong, Sales Director Asia Pacific, Author-it Software Corporation (ASC)
Author-it Software Corporation (ASC) was founded in 1996 and a decade later over 95% of the company's revenue is generated from exports. ASC is a world leader in software for authoring, content management, publishing, and localisation. Like many high technology companies, ASC started with a problem; how to convert a product manual into an online help system. The founder of ASC, Paul Trotter noted that the applications available to perform this task were woefully inadequate and only exacerbated the problem by creating multiple versions of product documentation in different software applications. He conceived of applying the same principles to documentation as were being used for software development. By applying an object oriented model to documentation, Paul foresaw a world where content could be written once, stored in a central repository, referenced to many documents and then published from this one source to: print, the web or help systems.
In the 10 years that followed, Author-it researched the global market and identified clear opportunities in the US and Europe. In 2006, Matt Armstrong joined Author-it initially focusing on further development of the US region, and, more recently, is now focused on development within the Asia Pacific market. Join Matt to hear about some of the challenges Author-it has faced, both in moving into the global market, and more recently, in the Asia Pacific region.

Dr Darin Graham, Director, NZi3
Dr Darin Graham is the Director of NZi3, the national ICT Innovation Institute based at the University of Canterbury. Darin is a passionate proponent of bringing new technologies to market. His refined blend of strategic leadership, consummate business skills and advanced academic achievement is an ideal match for the challenge of bridging business and technology — the crux of NZi3.
Darin’s previous two roles were as President of Canadian organisations Innovation Initiators and Communications and Information Ontario (CITO), an Ontario Centre of Excellence. Darin successfully managed leading-edge academic research, established numerous start-up companies and brought together industry and academia to facilitate economic growth. Within CITO Darin created a $1M investment fund that enabled start-up companies to accelerate product development and obtain over $100M in external capital investment.
Darin’s knowledge of a diverse range of technologies is built upon a strong academic foundation in engineering, mathematics and computer science. He received his PhD and MASc engineering degrees from the University of Toronto’s Institute of Aerospace Studies and was awarded a Double Honours Co-op BMath degree in applied mathematics and computer science from the University of Waterloo.

About Canterbury Software Inc.

The Canterbury Software Cluster (Canterbury Software Inc.) is a non-profit incorporated society aimed at helping the Canterbury software sector succeed at home and worldwide. This cluster of small-to-medium Canterbury and other South Island companies works to facilitate strong foundations for commercial success in world-class software products and services, and establish national and international business relationships.

ENDS

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