Pham Stepping Down As NZTech Chair

After six years of dedicated unpaid service, NZTech’s chair Mitchell Pham has passed the baton to the next generation.

Pham worked tirelessly for NZTech and the NZTech board, guiding the growth of NZTech and helping it evolve in recent years.

During Pham’s term NZTech has grown from representing 423 members to 1780 and from a single association to a Tech Alliance of 20 associations, chief executive Graeme Muller says.

“During this time our team has quadrupled and our revenues have grown five times. We have members creating impact throughout the tech ecosystem and our 2022 annual report captures the most recent highlights.”

Pham was one of the refugees to get out of Vietnam in the 1980s. He survived several near-death experiences crossing the South China Sea and two perilous years in four refugee camps in Indonesia.

He says he resettled in the best country on earth, received world-class education, established his life in New Zealand, built a technology business group and expanded back into Vietnam years later. He is not leaving NZTech entirely as he will continue to work in his role as deputy chair.

NZTech’s new chair is Delphine Ducaruge, who is the general manager of SiteM8, an NZTech startup member. Ducaruge was elected to the board in 2020 and has been a member of NZTech’s finance sub board.

Muller says having spent years actively maintaining a diverse board, it is exciting to be working with NZTech’s first female and French chair. 
 

The board continues to focus on improving the New Zealand tech ecosystem’s diversity and inclusion. It has integrated a better understanding of Te Tiriti o Waitangi (Treaty of Waitangi) into its practices to better support the participation of Māori in New Zealand’s tech and digital future.

In December last year, the NZTech board stepped up on its environmental concern by establishing a sustainability and climate change sub board.

Its aim is to drive action among its communities towards becoming more sustainable as organisations and as an industry. It will encourage collaboration across the Tech Alliance to provide solutions to other industry sectors.

The Aotearoa technology sector is a significant contributor to the New Zealand economy, creating many jobs, GDP and exports. New Zealand’s tech sector has 113,440 employees and each new tech sector job creates 4.8 other new jobs. Investment in early stage tech firms grew 48 percent in 2020.

New Zealand’s tech sector contributed $18.8 billion to GDP in 2021 and the average tech salary last year was $100,000. Last year, New Zealand’s tech sector exported $8 billion globally as Kiwi tech exporters’ overseas sales grew 14.4 percent.

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