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Notable hi-tech leaders win Bell Gully Flying Kiwi Award
Two New Zealanders who have created their own technology legacy have been named joint winners of the Bell Gully Flying Kiwi Award at the 2007 Hi-Tech Awards.
Bill Gallagher, chief executive of Gallagher Group, and the late Trevor Eagle, founder of Eagle Technologies, were announced winners of the Bell Gully Flying Kiwi Award at the PricewaterhouseCoopers New Zealand Hi-Tech Awards, held at The Town Hall in Wellington on Saturday.
They join technology industry luminaries Sir Angus Tait, Neville Jordan, Sir Woolf Fisher, Maurice Paykel and Peter Maire in the New Zealand Hi-Tech Hall of Fame.
Established in 2003, the Flying Kiwi Award is awarded to individuals that have made a sustained and outstanding contribution to New Zealand's hi-tech industries, which include software, electronics, telecommunications, biotechnology and creative technologies.
In their 14th year, the Hi-Tech Awards also include a supreme award and 11 category prizes, recognising New Zealand technology businesses and the people behind them.
Auckland-based Endace, a world leader in network traffic monitoring technology, won the Supreme Award and the Rakon Deal Award this year. Judges commented that Endace continues to thrive, achieve, and to boldly venture where few New Zealand companies haven't even thought of going.
"The 2005 listing on the London Stock Exchange's AIM was a considerable achievement in itself, and recently strategic sales and acquisition deals have continued to raise the bar. An international exporter since day one, Endace stood out this year with its strong combination of product, market and business leadership," they said.
Xero took out three awards including PR/Marketing Campaign for its strategy around a $15 million share offer to list on the NZX this year; the Endace Young Achiever Award for chief technology officer Craig Walker; and one of two NZX Entrepreneur Awards to chief executive Rod Drury, who takes this title for the second year in a row.
Dean Oppenhuis, Bell Gully technology practice leader and a Hi-Tech Awards judge, says the awards reflect the depth of industry talent and commitment.
"From some of the early innovators such as the new Bell Gully Flying Kiwi Award winners Bill Gallagher and Trevor Eagle to the more recent success stories of Xero and Endace, it's very clear that New Zealand's technology entrepreneurial spirit is in great heart and in fact, striking out into new areas.
"The awards are a showcase of the best - and we congratulate all the nominees as well as the winners."
HI-TECH AWARDS 2007 WINNERS
Bell Gully Flying Kiwi Award
Joint winners: Bill Gallagher and Trevor Eagle (1932-2000)
Bill Gallagher, Chief Executive, Gallagher Group
Bill Gallagher has been Chief Executive of Gallagher Group since 1975 and chairman of the board since 1985. He has helped transform Gallagher Group into a multi-national manufacturing and marketing company, specialising in animal control and agricultural fencing systems, integrated security systems and specialised plastic products, with a long-term commitment to its partners in more than 100 countries across the globe. Since being appointed Bill has expanded annual sales from $0.19 million to approx $150 million. Gallagher Group global headquarters are based in Hamilton. www.gallagher.co.nz
Trevor Eagle, Founder, Eagle Technologies (1932-2000)
Eagle Technology Group Limited is one of New Zealand's largest and most successful privately owned information technology companies. Formed in 1984 by Trevor Eagle, the group gathered a range of specialist and high technology companies. It evolved into a true systems integrator and also established itself as a leader in geographic information systems. At the time of Trevor's death he was chairman of 12 companies, 10 of which come under Eagle Technology Group Limited. For many years he took a leading role in the information technology industry and was former president of the Information Technology Association of New Zealand, and former chairman of the Computer Software Industry Joint Action Group. Trevor was a committee member of the Technology New Zealand Advisory Board and lobbied vigorously for changes in the tax laws relating to research and development investment. He is remembered for his boundless energy and enthusiasm, as well as his valuable mentoring and guidance. www.eagle.co.nz
PricewaterhouseCoopers Supreme Award
Endace
Endace provides network monitoring, latency measurement and application solutions to capture, inspect and report on every single data packet regardless of network type or speed. www.endace.com
CATEGORY WINNERS
Endace Young Achiever Award
Craig Walker, Chief Technology Officer, Xero
Craig Walker leads Xero's software development and architecture, based in Wellington. He has spent his career building mission critical internet applications, including co-founding software-as-a-service provider Viatx and working for leading Microsoft consulting firm Glazier Systems, now Intergen. Craig has been chief technology officer for five start-up companies, including NewsTech Ltd, and his own company Monolith Solutions. www.xero.com
PR/Marketing Campaign Award
Xero
Xero is an online accounting system designed for small businesses and their advisors. Based in Wellington, it was founded in July 2006 by successful technology entrepreneur Rod Drury and small business accountant Hamish Edwards, and launched on the New Zealand Stock Exchange in June this year. In February 2007 Xero implemented a marketing and PR campaign leading up to the release of their share offer document in May. The campaign aimed to build a wide and credible profile of the company's founders and staff, educate and build relationships with key media and promote the offer by managing interviews and coverage, and succeeded by achieving a $15 million fully subscribed share offer. www.xero.com
Professional Advisor Award
Connect New Zealand
Connect New Zealand is a not-for-profit advisory network for the technology sector focused on helping early stage technology companies address the range of strategic issues and challenges they face - whether that be identifying their proposition and business model, their market and channel strategies, governance, or raising capital. Connect New Zealand services a wide range of technology-based sectors including biotechnology, ICT, electronics and robotics. Connect New Zealand have offices in Auckland and Christchurch. www.connectnewzealand.com
Fronde Journalist Award
Divina Paredes, Editor, CIO magazine
Second time winner Divina Paredes has been covering the ICT sector since November 2000. As the editor of CIO magazine based in Auckland, her distinctive articles focus on the management challenges IT executives face. Meticulously researched, Divina's interviews provide insights from New Zealand and offshore IT directors, analyst firms and management experts. She was the winner of the inaugural Fronde Journalist Award in 2006.
NZX Entrepreneur Award
Joint winners: Rod Drury and Darrin Grafton
Rod Drury, Chief Executive, Xero
Rod Drury is founder and chief executive of Xero, a Software as a Service online accounting solution for small businesses, based in Wellington. Xero listed on the New Zealand Stock Exchange in June 2007 after raising $15 million in a fully subscribed share offer. Prior to this Rod was founder and chief executive of AfterMail which was acquired by Quest Software in January 2006 and subsequently won Best Exchange Product at TechEd 2006 in Boston. He was the winner of the NZX Hi-Tech Entrepreneur Award in 2006. www.xero.com
Darrin Grafton, Chief Executive, Serko
Darrin has over 18 years of experience in solution development and management for the information communication technology industry. During this time he has created travel management software available worldwide, including e-commerce applications and interface to web booking engines. He designed the architecture for solutions that have won six of the IT industry's International awards including Best E-Commerce Solution, Asia/Pacific region. In 2004 he received a commendation award for Innovation in Technology from the New Zealand Government. Darrin is also a co-founder of Interactive Technologies, and is based in Auckland. www.serko.co.nz
IRL Emerging Company Award and K One W One High Growth Award
Energy Mad
Formed in 2004 and based in Christchurch, Energy Mad implements large-scale energy efficiency projects that reduce climate changing carbon dioxide emissions. These projects have included the world-leading energy saving Ecobulb projects and the recent commencement of the world first efficient household Ecosmarthome project. Energy Mad has achieved a revenue growth of 2,850% over the past two years, and increased staff from two to 15. www.energymad.com/nz
Tahia Investments Company Leader Award
Richard Mander, Chief Executive, HumanWare
Richard was appointed HumanWare Chief Executive in March 2006, and leads a team of 250 globally from Christchurch. Before this he spent 14 years working in the US — seven years playing a role in advanced technology development for Apple, and another seven working as a consultant on customer-centred product development for leading technology companies such as Adobe, Boeing, Motorola, Microsoft, Netscape, Palm, Sun and Yahoo. In 2004 Richard was awarded the World Class New Zealander Award, presented by the Government for the expatriate making the most outstanding contribution to New Zealand's economic development. www.humanware.com
Enatel Innovation Award
Fronde Anywhere
Fronde Anywhere is a specialist provider of mobile products for the financial services sector, with its head office in Wellington. Released in June 2007, its new security product TwoSecure™ is a mobile two factor authentication (2FA) solution that generates one time passwords (OTPs) by using an installed and downloaded application that runs on a mobile device. The pending use of TwoSecure™ to authenticate point of sale transactions for credit cards represents one of the most significant global case studies for any identity verification product. www.frondeanywhere.com
Avnet Corporate Award
HumanWare
HumanWare designs manufactures and sells innovative technology for the blind, visually impaired and learning disabled. Its products empower customers to live independently and compete effectively in a sighted world. Over the past five years the company has grown significantly and now employs 250 people globally, has a turnover of $70 million, and has become the market leader with about 60% t of the blindness market globally. HumanWare's headquarters are based in Christchurch. www.humanware.com
Rakon Deal Award
Endace
Endace provides network monitoring, latency measurement and application solutions to capture, inspect and report on every single data packet regardless of network type or speed. In early 2007 Endace secured a contract with a major US telecommunications company worth US$2.2 million. Endace's corporate headquarters are based in Auckland. www.endace.com
