Gen-i Appoints Independent Advisory Board

Gen-i Appoints Independent Advisory Board for RuralZone

Auckland, 2 September 2010 – Gen-i, a division of Telecom New Zealand, today announced that RuralZone now has an independent Advisory Board, with 12 members drawn from the agricultural, business and information technology sectors.

RuralZone is a cloud computing service established by Gen-i that enables the capture, storage and sharing of information among multiple users in the rural sector.

Gen-i Rural Market Manager, David Walker, says the Board’s establishment is a critical step in the development of RuralZone.

“Our independent Advisory Board members will challenge and counsel us on issues such as commercial structure, ownership of data, information privacy and security requirements, and protection of intellectual property. Their input will help build trust in RuralZone’s offering and develop a service that the primary sector and its partners value and use.”

“Our vision is to provide New Zealand’s major export sector with a secure ecosystem for the safe and controlled transport of data and information. We believe RuralZone will enable economic growth and help the rural industry develop intellectual property for exporting worldwide.”

Advisory Board Chairman, Dr Andrew West, says the Board provides a structure that will determine and monitor RuralZone’s direction, and will engage with a wide range of interested parties.

“Gen-i’s decision to establish an Advisory Board gives a voice to the future users of RuralZone. The Board members are enthusiastic about the productive gain New Zealand will make if it can accelerate information exchange up and down primary industry value chains.

“We are also realistic, and it will be the Board’s role to test, examine and refine RuralZone to ensure it meets the rural sector’s needs. The opportunity to stimulate a powerful, frictionless flow of information that will boost this country’s economic growth is truly significant.

“The Board members – many of whom have deep links into their local farming, forestry and horticultural communities – will ensure through professional and informed oversight that Gen-i and its partners are encouraged to realise RuralZone’s potential,” says Dr West. “It is encouraging that a company with the depth of resources, the scale and the professionalism of Gen-i/Telecom is making such a commitment to productivity growth in this country’s most important export industries.”

RuralZone’s Advisory Board will convene up to eight times a year, using virtual conferencing technologies to minimise unnecessary travel.

RuralZone will be delivered using ReadyCloud Server, Gen-i’s locally hosted Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) virtual compute and storage product.

The Board members are:

Dr Andrew West, Chair, Seales Ltd

Dr West recently announced he is to head up strategy development at Seales (animal nutrition) Ltd based at Morrinsville, following his resignation earlier this year from the position of CEO at AgResearch Ltd. His career has spanned local and international appointments across government and industry, particularly in science and education. Dr West has led two Crown Research Institutes (AgResearch and the Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences). He has also overseen the commercialisation of significant intellectual property within New Zealand’s private sector and with multi-nationals.

Brendan O’Connell, Tru-Test

Mr O’Connell is on the executive team of Tru-Test, the world’s leading manufacturer of livestock management and milk metering equipment. He joined the business in 2006 and his work experience includes leading the R&D team and developing company technology and business strategies. Prior to joining Tru-Test, Mr O’Connell worked on R&D initiatives in consumer electronics, telecommunications and biomedical sectors including leadership roles at Navman, Nokia, and BioMedical Research.

Andrew Gibbs, Deloitte

Mr Gibbs is a Partner in the Wellington office of Deloitte. He joined the firm in 1986, and has held positions in London, Poland and the former Soviet Union. He has had a wide experience of investigation and advisory work in connection with restructuring and privatization of industry sectors, outsourcing, feasibility studies and business planning. Additionally Mr Gibbs is an active member of the Deloitte Agribusiness sector group with a lead role in the fishing sector and sits on a number of advisory boards.

Peter Berg, Pentarch Forest Products

In June 2010 the New Zealand Institute of Forestry Inc (NZIF) presented the Kirk Medal to Peter Berg in recognition of his outstanding contributions in the field of forestry in New Zealand. Mr Berg, who was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to forestry in 2004, is currently Chairman and Executive Director of Pentarch Forest Products (NZ) Ltd and NZ Forestry Ltd. He has previously held senior positions in Rayonier NZ Ltd, NZ Forestry Corporation Ltd, and the New Zealand Forest Service. Other positions include: President of the NZ Forest Owners Association, Board Member of Woodco since 2005, Chair of the NZ Section of the Commonwealth Forestry Association, Deputy Chair of Tane’s Tree Trust, Board Member of NZ Forest Industries Training (FITEC), a Member of the Auckland Conservation Board since 2005 and a Director of Scion since 2006.

James Parsons, Farmer

Mr Parsons farms a 370ha Northland hill country farm, running 1,000 high performance ewes and winters 200-300 bulls on cell grazing systems. He is a Director of the New Zealand Meat Board; Beef + Lamb New Zealand; Pastoral Genomics and Kaitaia Veterinary Services Inc. Mr Parsons is a 2008 Nuffield Farming Scholar, where he studied agri-value chain design and information systems.

Murray Donald, Farmer

Mr Donald operates an intensive 455ha sheep and beef farming operation in Southland. He was elected to the Board of Alliance Group Ltd in 1991 and is currently Chairman of Alliance Group Trustee Ltd; is a Director of Farmers Mutual Group; and is a past National President of Young Farmers Club. Mr Donald received a Commemorative Medal for services to agriculture in 1990, and was a Kellogg Scholar in 1992.

Kingi Smiler, Farmer

Mr Smiler, a chartered accountant, has a wealth of international business experience. He spent eight years in Toronto with Ernst & Young, and returned to Wellington in 1987 where he was a Partner, working in the areas of business planning and corporate restructuring. Mr Smiler in the past has held several directorships in the wool sector. Current directorships include: Chairman of Wairarapa Moana Incorporation; Chairman of Miraka Limited; Director on Mangatu Incorporation and Integrated Foods (IFL); Trustee on Wi Pere Trust; Chairman of Tairawhiti Land Development Trust; Chairman of the Federation of Maori Authorities Dairy Company and Director on Wellington Rugby Union.

Earl Rattray, Farmer

Mr Rattray – an accredited member of the Institute of Directors and fellow of the New Zealand Institute of Primary Industry Management – is currently a Director of several privately held farming companies and King Country based electricity distributor The Lines Company. In addition to acting as a private agricultural investment advisor, Mr Rattray is Chairman of the Upper Central Zone Rugby League Board. He is past Chairman of Dairy Companies Association, was a founding Director of Fonterra; and is currently an external Monetary Policy Advisor to the Reserve Bank of New Zealand.

Tony Egan, AsureQuality

Mr Egan became the CEO of AgriQuality in 2007 and facilitated its merger with ASURE New Zealand to form AsureQuality, with 1800 staff in 140 locations in Australasia. Previous roles include CEO of AFFCO New Zealand Ltd; Managing Director Marketing and Finance at Greenlea Meats; and Director of Caesar Consolidated Shipping.

Andy McFarlane, Deer farmer

Mr McFarlane was elected Chairman of Deer Industry New Zealand in July 2010. He is the principal shareholder of mid-Canterbury rural consultancy firm MacFarlane Rural Business. As well as his many years of involvement in deer farming, he has a diverse range of dairy, other rural and commercial property commitments and ownership. Other professional roles include: Director of ANZCO Foods; immediate past President of the New Zealand Institute of Primary Industry Management; member of Lincoln University Council.

David Walker, Gen-i

Mr Walker has many years experience as a Taranaki dairy farmer, and his family business interests include dairy farming, transport and aquaculture. He has held directorships in the dairy, retail, and electricity sectors and in rugby. He was involved in the set up of Fencepost.com and is currently the Rural Market Manager at Gen-i.

Chris Quin, Gen-i

As Gen-i’s Chief Executive Officer, Mr Quin leads a team of nearly 3,000 people at one of the fastest-growing and most innovative ICT services providers in Australasia. Mr Quin has led the business through the merger of Gen-i, Telecom Advanced Solutions and Computerland in 2004, having previously established Telecom Advanced Solutions. Before joining Telecom in 1991, he was CFO for Mitel and Financial Accountant at Orica (formerly ICI). Mr Quin plays an active role in organisations such as the NZ ICT Group, ICE HOUSE business incubator, and New Zealand Centre for Social Innovation.

In July 2010, he was awarded an Emerging Leader Award in the Sir Peter Blake Leadership Awards for his leadership achievements and contribution to New Zealand.

ENDS

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