School Of Business Alumni Newsletter University Of Otago June 2011

Description
School Of Business Alumni Newsletter University Of Otago June 2011

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CONTENTS
1. Dean’s Welcome
2. Alumni Stories
3. Staff News
4. School News
5. Otago MBA/Chris
Cattaway
6. Student News
7. Where Are They Now?
8. General
9. From the Archives
10. Alumni in Business
11. Alumni in the News
12. School of Business –
update link
Dean’s Welcome
As students you probably ventured into Central Otago for winter
ski trips or to ful?l an ambition to jump off a bridge with a bungy
cord strapped to your legs.
Now you have a reason to keep your feet ?rmly planted on the
ground. The University of Otago has secured space at Queenstown
Resort College to allow us to deliver quality education in the
Central Otago - Lakes area. The School of Business is the ?rst
to use the new Otago campus and on 20 July our Master of
Entrepreneurship programme starts in Queenstown.
The degree programme is taught in a series of three-day modules
every six weeks. The MEntr is already well established in Dunedin
and will continue to be offered there. The Dunedin course is taught
from February and the Queenstown course will commence in July
each year.
The six-weekly classroom modules mean you can continue to
spend time working on your business venture, and much of the
assessment can be tailored around your business idea so you see
instant relevance and application as well as learning valuable skills
to equip into the future.
In keeping with an innovative theme, the School has also
introduced a new Postgraduate Certi?cate in Technology &
Entrepreneurship (PGCertTE). This postgraduate certi?cate
provides an introduction to technology-based businesses, the
processes involved in commercialising science and technology,
innovation management and the ways in which knowledge can
be applied to drive innovation. It fosters the knowledge, skills
and behaviours necessary to be a successful entrepreneur in the
technology industry.
This quali?cation is suited to postgraduate students from
science and business backgrounds, who have an interest in the
commercialisation of science and technology, and to employees in
technology businesses. The PGCertTE is offered in Dunedin only
at this stage.
For further information about either of these programmes I invite
you to visit the Centre for Entrepreneurship’s website: www.otago.
ac.nz/entrepreneurship.
See you in Queenstown!
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nv.x, scuooi ov nusixvss
School of Business Alumni Newsletter
University of Otago June 2O11
alumnews
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Alumni Stories
Climb every mountain, cross every stream
Dr Steve Taylor (PhD
Tourism 2010) is one of
our most far-?ung alumni,
currently working as a
researcher and lecturer at
West Highland College,
part of the University of
Highlands and Islands, based
at the Fort William campus
on Scotland’s west coast.
The campus, in the shadow
of the United Kingdom’s highest mountain Ben Nevis (1,344
metres, 4,409 feet), is perfectly sited for Steve to continue
his studies. His PhD investigated the range of factors that
in?uenced people to go mountain biking, ranging from their
motivation to ride to the characteristics of biking destinations.
Originally from near Cambridge, England, Steve’s ?eldwork
was undertaken in Shrewsbury, on the English-Welsh border,
and in Nelson, which he says are both lively and popular
mountain biking centres.
His principal role now is to identify funding opportunities
and develop tourism projects for the College’s School
of Adventure Studies. Internationally, he has recently
submitted an application to create a network of businesses
and research institutions which facilitate entrepreneurship
in the adventure tourism sector in Northern Europe. He is
also looking to recruit more international students onto the
degree programme – both from established markets in the
likes of North America and the fast-developing adventure
tourism markets, such as India.
On a regional scale, Steve is working with other academic
and industry partners on a project that aims to develop a
knowledge exchange programme to encourage and facilitate
the creation of new tourism enterprises in Scottish forests.
To ensure his days are completely occupied, Steve is
organising an adventure tourism conference in Fort William
in September this year which aims to bring academics and
practitioners together in lively debate. He is also co-writing
an article on a Bourdieusian analysis of independently-
organised adventure tourism activities, exploring how
social relationships develop in sports such as sea-kayaking
and mountain biking. (Pierre Bourdieu (1 August 1930 – 23
January 2002) was a French sociologist, anthropologist and
philosopher. Starting from the role of economic capital for social
positioning, Bourdieu pioneered investigative frameworks and
terminologies such as cultural, social, and symbolic capital, and
the concepts of habitus, ?eld or location, and symbolic violence
to reveal the dynamics of power relations in social life. Ed)
Steve’s other role is to lecture on the BA in Adventure
Tourism Management, focussing on rural tourism issues and
customer care in the outdoor recreation sector. Using the
knowledge gained from both writing his thesis and working
as a tutor on undergraduate tourism courses at Otago, Steve
is keen to instil entrepreneurial skills in young people seeking
a career in the fast-growing adventure tourism industry.
After breaking his wrist skiing locally this past winter (as
well as breaking his hip mountain biking in Queenstown
three years ago) he is hoping the students are able to learn
from his mistakes out on the pistes and trails rather than
making their own. He says from the evidence seen so far ‘he
is failing miserably’.
The dream deal
Fancy a Milford Sound cruise
for just $1 or a jet boat ride
up the Skippers for half price?
Bookme is the website for you.
A gap in the Queenstown
market, an eye for an
opportunity and a passion
for online media proved
the perfect mix for James
Alder (BCom Marketing &
Management 2001).
After graduating James spent time in Wellington researching
a business idea while he worked security at a bar.
Acknowledging that he needed practical business experience
in order to develop his sales skills, James took a job as an “Ad
Executive” at Queenstown’s Mountain Scene newspaper.
Two years into the position, James was offered the
opportunity to manage a visitor magazine called
Queenstown Today & Tonight which Mountain Scene part-
owned. The magazine was later sold to Jasons Travel Media
but by then the idea for Bookme had taken hold.
“I found it dif?cult to ignore the increasing advantages offered
by online media. Being able to accurately measure marketing
impact was particularly attractive in that marketers are held
accountable and paid on results,” James says.
“Starting my own business was always a goal and Bookme
was the perfect opportunity to branch into online media, and
stay within the New Zealand tourism industry. Seeing how
web successes like wotif.com and grabaseat were engaging and
rewarding consumers, I saw the chance to use similar ideas to
create a powerful tool for the activity and attractions sector.”
James recognised that most people who travel to places like
Queenstown do so to sample the activities on offer and he
spent many long evenings researching and drawing up plans
for the website, offering both discount and full-rates for
everything Queenstown had to offer. He tinkered with the
best of existing sites while incorporating other ideas to add
even more value such as the authenticated reviews. Bookme
products can only be reviewed by those who have booked,
paid and participated in a speci?c product.
“I wanted to come up with a comprehensive marketing tool
that worked well for operators that also delivered the best
possible value and convenience for consumers,” he says.
An aunt’s partner had the skills to build the site and the rest
is a very ?ne, if still young, history. Bookme was launched
less than a year ago but met immediate success.
“The ?rst real litmus test was pitching the idea to operators,
so it was a massive high to get the response we did - nearly
all the people approached signed up.
“With such a massive consumer shift towards the web,
the market has been cluttered with websites and smart
phone applications offering the same old print advertising
business model. The reaction from operators was fantastic
reinforcement we had created something unique.”
While Bookme’s signi?cant discount rates generate an
enthusiastic response, James says what has really been
exciting is the growing number of full price sales through
the website. This, he says, demonstrates that “demand is
being stimulated and people are using the reviews and
information as a trusted source to plan their activity and
attraction purchases”.
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He aims to grow Bookme as a national brand, which looks a
certainty with inquiries already being ?elded from other key
tourism regions.
“The plan is to begin expansion to key tourism areas in the
North Island this winter.”
Aside from expansion James says the ongoing challenge will
be to stay at the forefront of the online market with its rapid
changes and technological developments.
“Embracing the internet’s dynamic nature with sound
marketing principles as a foundation will keep us delivering
winning solutions for operators and better value for
consumers.
“We are also excited about the prospect of one day exporting
the knowledge and technological solutions we are developing.”
Got the world covered
Norwegian Magnus
Kjeldsberg (MTour 2009)
has a rare double – a Master
degree from the world’s
southernmost university and
a Bachelor degree from the
northernmost.
Before coming to New
Zealand in early 2008,
Magnus completed Bachelor
of Social Planning at the
University of Tromsø in northern Norway. After two years
at Otago and armed with his MTour, he returned to Tromsø,
re-established his contacts in the tourism industry and
attended a number of conferences to develop new networks.
It proved a smart move with the Tourist Board of Northern
Norway on the lookout for a suitably quali?ed person to
administer one of the two destination management of?ces in
the districts adjacent to Tromsø. Magnus was contracted and
moved to Storslett, a four-hour drive north-east of Tromsø,
at 70 degrees North and inside the Arctic Circle.
His role comprised regional tourism planning and product
development, and allowed a close working relationship
with the Reisa National Park of?ce and local government.
Magnus also worked alongside marketing personnel in the
Tourist Board, which he says was very interesting and which
also led to his next position.
With his contract nearing an end, Magnus was put in touch
with the Nordland Research Institute in Bodø. The institute
was keen to strengthen its tourism research team and was
planning to start a research/competence centre focused
on development and innovation within the experience
industries of tourism and culture.
Again it was a case of being in the right place at the right
time and Magnus started as researcher for Nordland
Research Institute last month. The institute’s aim is to act as
a bridge between research and business, initiating processes
that lead to research-based innovation and product
development within businesses in the experience industries.
Magnus says his experience in New Zealand is “greatly
appreciated here in Norway.
“This is due to the fact that New Zealand is regarded as a
role model when it comes to adventure tourism, tourism
research, tourism marketing, the issue of conservation versus
recreation, and facilitating for recreation.”
New UPEI Dean
Alan Duncan (BCom Accounting
1976) has been appointed Dean of the
University of Prince Edward Island
(UPEI) Business School in Canada,
the position effective from 1 July.
Currently an Assistant Professor
and the Director of International
Relations for the School, Alan
offers a signi?cant record of senior
management experience and success
in the business community.
The UPEI Board of Governors’
commendation noted that “in addition to a growing
understanding of a university setting, Alan brings to the
position of Dean a wealth of experience as a senior business
leader in Canada and overseas”.
“In the short period of time that Alan has been with the
School of Business at UPEI, he has already made an impact
on the lives of students, on the development of relationships
within the local community and on the realization of the
university’s international objectives.”
Alan is a Chartered Accountant with over 25 years’ experience
in the international ?nancial services and pensions industries,
and has served as a senior executive with companies in
Canada and abroad where he focused on establishing
?edgling businesses in new and expanding markets.
After graduating from Otago, Alan gained his CA with
Coopers & Lybrand (now PricewaterhouseCoopers) in
1979 before working with the company in London, UK and
Bermuda. He then joined Fidelity Investments and enjoyed
an 18 year career in executive roles in Bermuda, Australia,
Luxembourg and Canada. Before joining academia he was
the Executive Director of Delivery for the United Kingdom
Pension Protection Fund.
Prince Edward Island is the smallest Canadian province in
both land area and population and is situated on the Atlantic
Coast. The island was named for Prince Edward, Duke of
Kent and Strathearn, the fourth son of King George III and
the father of Queen Victoria.
Good advice – ‘shamelessly exploit yourself ’
Otago’s excellent reputation
globally gave Gordon
Youngson (BCom Accounting
1999, BA Economics 1999,
LLB 2002) the leg-up he
needed when he arrived in
London eight years ago.
“Picking up work in the
world’s biggest ?nancial
centre was fairly challenging,
but amazingly, everywhere
I went, most people in the UK had heard of the University
of Otago, and unsurprisingly Otago is held in very high
regard,” Gordon said.
After several distinct changes in the type of legal work he
undertook (criminal, civil, prosecutions, insurance – ‘a
natural quartet’), and joining the English Roll of Solicitors,
Gordon found himself working with the legal team at a
company that is at the centre of the UK payment system –
UK Payments.
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UK Payments oversees all payment methods from the old
fashioned cheque to the immediate electronic payment
through the CHAPS system. Separate service companies
administer each scheme with ultimate funding collectively
by the UK banking industry. Tens of millions of pounds
per day are monitored with £70 trillion worth of payments
supervised in 2007 alone.
Gordon noted that working for such clients requires careful
analytical skills and solid business acumen – and ‘good old
fashioned kiwi hard work’.
“One of our clients, Payments Council, an industry
oversight body set up in 2007 at the behest of the Of?ce of
Fair Trading (similar to the NZ Commerce Commission) is
leading the way in developing electronic alternatives to the
cheque prior to the forthcoming closure of the UK cheque
clearing in 2018,” he said.
“A key part of our work is advising on competition issues,
and if you are watching world events, you will have seen
the arguments that the banking industry contributed to the
world ?nancial crisis.
“Another one of our clients, the Cheque and Credit Clearing
Company, wanted me involved in discussing the payment
industry position on a future banking crisis through the
Banking Act 2009 (UK) and the Special Resolution Regime –
designed to give ‘super powers’ to the Bank of England/FSA/
HM Treasury in the event of a bank failure.”
Gordon believed the economic analysis he learnt at Otago,
under the tutorship of the likes of Paul Wooding, Alan King,
Stuart McDougall, and Stephen Knowles, provided him with
a ‘fantastic background but more importantly in my work
advising these clients’.
“I always look back on my days at Otago with fondness, and
I ?nd it encouraging to read the School of Business updates
to see that Otago graduates and students are still working
hard and leading the world.”
He said he uses the skills he developed at the School of
Business (and the Law Faculty) in the Economics and
Accountancy departments every day in his work.
Gordon is also keen on sharing some advice for those who
are persevering in the current – “display that good old
fashioned kiwi work ethic, and don’t give up when things get
tough.
“When I arrived in a completely different jurisdiction
without a job, I polished off the CV, and starting knocking
on doors. I always backed myself, in spite of many initial
knockbacks, and you will ?nd that people admire your
keenness. I cannot stress the importance of networking
– just talking to others about anything, not even business
related.
“I shamelessly exploited this while trying to get actively
involved in ‘in-house’ legal circles and now I ?nd myself
on the London Region Committee of the Commerce and
Industry Group – the leading voice of all in-house lawyers
in the UK where we look after some 3000 London based
in-house lawyers.
“I do regret not being more actively involved in networking
while at Otago, and I would encourage Otago students
and grads to overcome any nervousness and step up to the
challenge.”
From the shop ?oor to the Board Room
Derrick Waylen, director of
e-Services ?rm Right Aligned,
who is currently studying
towards a MEntr, could one
day tell his story of working his
way up the business ladder from
starting in the mail room to
sitting in the Chief Executive’s
chair – well, almost.
Interested in economics and
?nance Derrick left New
Zealand for London without a degree in 1999, determined
to become involved in the ?nancial services industry. There
he landed an entry level job at Goldman Sachs, not in the
mail room or on the shop ?oor but in the production
department, where the bankers’ pitch books are printed and
prepared for client meetings.
It wasn’t long before Derrick’s ‘can do’ attitude was noticed
and he soon found himself managing a specialist team
producing the materials for the pitch books. He says it
was ‘a pretty cool place to work, surrounded by some very
intelligent colleagues, working in all kinds of languages and
time zones’.
Not bad for a young fellow from the tiny Waikato town of
Springdale (population: 2,500; and where, at one time, the
Waylen family contributed 10% of the primary school’s roll)
and that experience ignited an idea which got Derrick thinking.
“Our presentation unit operated 24 hours a day and seven
days a week, meaning the majority of work was completed
during unsociable hours. During the dot.com bubble there
was a ridiculous amount of work around and even more
demand for presentation creation,” he said.
“Often we needed to call on our colleagues in New York,
Frankfurt and even Sydney to assist, often reciprocating the
assistance. This got me thinking. Why was Goldman Sachs
paying nearly £30 per hour for someone who was working
from midnight to 8am and could hardly stay awake when
New Zealand was on the opposite time zone working a
normal working day?
“The seed which grew into Right Aligned was planted.”
Right Aligned creates professional presentations using
Microsoft Of?ce, known in the industry as presentation
graphics. Established in 2005, the company now operates 24
hours a day, ?ve days a week and has presentation graphic
specialists in Spain, South Africa, England, Australia and
New Zealand. These specialists are all ex-colleagues of
Derrick who took their specialised skills to wherever they
chose to settle and now work from home.
Without internet technologies such as Skype, SharePoint,
dropbox and others, the Right Aligned business model
couldn’t exist.
“The attraction we offer our employees is they can take their
laptops and work anywhere in the world,” Derrick said.
“Our employees are our competitive advantage, each of
whom has over ?ve year’s industry experience at investment
banks such as Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Deutsche
Bank, UBS, and many others.
“Right Aligned has spent the last six years providing and
re?ning our presentation graphics business model for one of
the world’s premier executive search ?rms, a world leading
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private equity investor in emerging markets and a number
of other global clients.”
Derrick is con?dent the con?dence and theory learnt during
the MEntr course will open the way for Right Aligned to
expand rapidly.
“Our aim is to outsource as much of the presentation
production to New Zealand, making the most of the
overnight time zone advantage New Zealand has when
servicing clients in Europe and the United States.”
Opportunity knocks
To take the offer of work
or to complete one’s study?
That was the question facing
Rob Hallot (BCom Finance
2009) early last year.
It wasn’t so much of
a dilemma but one of
practicality and Rob is now
happily in the employ of
Goldman Sachs in Auckland.
After graduating from Hilton College in KwaZulu-Natal
Midlands in South Africa, Rob moved to New Zealand in 2007
for his ?rst year of graduate study. In his third year he applied
for a range of ?nance internships with Investment Banking
being of high interest and took up a summer internship with
Goldman Sachs in Auckland at the end of 2009.
Such was the impression he made Rob was then offered a
full-time job with Goldman Sachs beginning at the start of
2011, a role he accepted. With that security behind him he
returned to Otago to study an MBus in Finance but just two
months into the programme, Goldman Sachs called and
offered Rob the chance to start his position as an investment
banking analyst earlier than anticipated.
He decided the move north was the best option because
practical experience was important along with the
opportunity to get a head start in the industry. Rob started in
July last year and spent the ?rst six weeks of his appointment
in New York on an intensive training course.
While at Otago, Rob received a number of scholarships
including a Westpac Travelling Scholarship, University of
Otago Prestige Scholarship in Commerce, University of
Otago Postgraduate Award and a Bonded Merit Scholarship.
He is currently completing his CFA and in his spare time he
plays the saxophone and enjoys hockey, swimming and travel.
Scan, buy and enter – very smart
Smartphone technology is changing the way Kiwis use the
internet and an iPhone application developed by a group of
Wellington-based Otago alumni is shaking up the ticketing
industry.
1-Night (1-night.co.nz) allows people to buy and store
tickets to events on their iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch.
Josh Dry (BCom
Management, 2009) says
the ?ve former Otago mates
behind the company decided
the traditional method of
ticketing wasn’t working.
“Ticketek and Ticket Master
had a duopoly and secured
sole ticketing rights across
venues. They’ve faced little
competition while customers paid big overheads and waited
anxiously for their tickets to arrive in the mail,” Josh says.
The free app is environmentally friendly because it eliminates
the need for paper and a tree is planted for every event for
which it sells tickets. Since launching last June, 1-Night has
clocked up a database of 45,000 users and covered 250 events.
Users can scroll through events and buy a ticket to be stored
with login details on their iPhone. They’re also given a plastic
Eftpos-like card which holds the same details.
Event organisers can include a barcode on their publicity
posters which people can scan with their phone to buy
tickets while the idea is “hot and fresh” in their minds. Entry
to events can be gained by presenting the card or phone app
at the door. Money and giveaways can be loaded on the card
for use at events and 80 per cent of users are reloading other
tickets on to it.
The company is now working on app versions for Blackberry
and phones with Google’s Android. The team has sold
tickets for acts including De La Soul, Ministry of Sound and
the 42Below Vodka World Cup, and is about to get involved
with the Thomas Oliver Band, Red Bull events and music
and arts festival Splore.
wearingJACK
Alissa Wilson (PGDipCom
Marketing 2003) is the
founder of up and coming
New Zealand design and
made casual-street clothing
label, wearingJACK.
wearingJACK boasts a range
of guys and girls tees, singlets
and hoodies and Alissa says it
was spawned by a gap in the
market for a genuinely New
Zealand made casual-street label. While many ‘designed in
New Zealand’ aren’t made here, wearingJACK is all about
offering a 100% New Zealand made, quality and sweatshop
free product that takes everything that is inherently kiwi and
wraps it up in some very comfy, cool and guilt free threads.
To read more about Alissa’s story click here or to go straight
to the wearingJACK website.
The complete media man
From charging through Fiordland ?lming the world-famous
Southern Traverse adventure race, to working on a variety
of documentaries, to ensuring the environment is protected
Emmy-nominated executive ?lm producer Gus Roxburgh
can do it all.
Gus (BCom Marketing
Management 1987) has
enjoyed a wide-ranging career
in the media for over 15 years.
Originally an award-winning
freelance writer, Gus
branched into television in
the mid 1990’s. Since then
he has gained a wealth of
experience working his way
through virtually every role
from camera operator and production manager to director,
host and producer. He’s also worked across a range of genres
from producing Oscar short-listed theatrical documentaries
to reality, travel and science television series.
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His ?rst job was for National Geographic Television doing
24-hour legs as a ‘terrier’ camera operator following the
Southern Traverse Adventure Race, known as the toughest
race on Earth. With an extensive outdoor background,
including 12 years helicopter ski guiding in the Southern
Alps, a penchant for travel and a Masters degree in
Environmental Management, Gus is ideally suited to
working on the projects with an adventure, environmental
or travel component.
Combining a ‘can do’ attitude with a genuine passion for
his craft, Gus has worked on many fascinating productions.
He’s travelled 16,000 miles around the United States
without using gas for a Discovery Planet Green channel
travel series. In the course of his hosting work he has had
to ?re walk, feed lions by hand, sit in a tank of icy water for
an experiment on hypothermia, experience the effects of
exercise at high altitude to illustrate oxygen depletion and
been hypnotised and tested for pain tolerance.
As a producer his work has taken him from Antarctica to
Alaska and many places in between with his unique and
well-rounded set of production skills meaning he is equally
comfortable behind or in front of the camera.
Gus sits on the board of Films by Youth Inside – a Los
Angeles-based charity that teaches ?lm-making to
incarcerated youth. He has also been closely involved with
Surf Aid International since its inception.
Gus’ credits include:
~ Producer – Crips and Bloods: Made In America (2009)
~ Producer - The Youngest Candidate (2009)
~ Producer – Dying for Everest (2008)
~ Producer/Director - the Kite Goddesses (2007)
~ Host - Brain Power (2007)
~ Host – The Human Potential (2006)
~ Writer / Host – Wicked Weather (2005)
~ Producer – COOLFUEL (2004)
~ Director – Ski Season (2003)
~ Director / Host – Samsung Olympics (Torino, Salt Lake
City, Sydney)
Accountants – meet the boss
Ross Jackson (BCom
Accounting 1985) is the
new president of the New
Zealand Institute of Chartered
Accountants (NZICA).
Ross is Managing Partner
of McCulloch & Partners, a
large provincial accounting
practise based in Invercargill
and with of?ces in
Queenstown and Te Anau.
He is a past Chair of the Southland Branch and has served
on the NZICA Council since 1999. He has been Chair of the
Practice Review Board and a member of the Audit, Finance
and Risk Management Committee. He has also served on the
National Public Practice Committee, National Professional
Development Committee and Young Chartered Accountant
of the Year judging panel.
A former Chairman of Sport Southland, Ross has had a
long involvement with the administration of the Southland
Cricket Association, Southland Amateur Sports Trust and
the Hillary Commission. He plays a bit of “golden oldies”
for the Southerners Cricket team and has coached his son
Bradley’s school cricket team for the last four years.
Ross says for an accounting ‘lifer’, the role of President is a gift,
with branch visits being the most enjoyable part of the job.
“It’s an excellent way to get to know people around the
country,” he says.
“Our members are passionate about the profession.
Members have local ties and champion local issues. It’s by
listening and harnessing that passion constructively that
NZICA can try to be more relevant to members.”
Born to the bank
A visit from an American
Professor of Financial
Management Roger Stover in
1991 fuelled a burning desire
for Steven Davey (BCom
DipGrad 1992) to become a
banker.
Steven, who now heads the
strongly-performing Kiwibank
in Dunedin, enrolled at Otago
in 1989 fresh from Otago
Boys’ High School.
After ?nding stage two accounting ‘rather drab’ he changed
to a ?nance major in 1991 and took a specialist paper in
Financial Institution Management run by Prof Stover. With
Prof Stover making banking so logical and easy to understand
Steven says he ‘just had to be a banker when I grew up’.
Steven left Otago at the end of 1991 with his ?nance degree
only to face a 20 percent youth unemployment rate as New
Zealand battled with the post-share market crash recession.
So it was back to Otago and enrolment in the DipGrad
course, rounding out his degree with stage 3 economics.
While hunting banking jobs with economics and ?nance
majors under his belt Steven worked in New World for six
months before his break came with Trust Bank Southland. He
moved to Gore in mid-1993 to be a Rural and Commercial
Loans Of?cer. Working in a small country town for a rapidly
growing regional bank proved to be the best thing he could do.
“The experience of being isolated and trusted to just get on
with it was superb,” Steven says.
At the end of 1994 he was head-hunted by Trust Bank
Wellington to work as a Business Manager in Wellington
Central. There he ran all the business banking inner city
branches for Trust Bank Wellington while also being
seconded into various projects at Trust Bank New Zealand’s
head of?ce where he was in demand to advise on process,
product and system design.
With Trust Bank being purchased by Westpac in 1996
Steven secured a role as an analyst on the merger project
team. For 18 months he was consumed by what he calls a
‘fantastic project’ – one of the most complex bank mergers
undertaken at the time, rolling all of Trust Bank’s regional
banks into one and then merging them into Westpac to
create the combined WestpacTrust.
Then followed a role as a Product Manager where he
managed WestpacTrust’s set of Business Products for
compliance, pro?t, systems and process design before a
promotion to Manager Home Loans in 2001, running the
bank’s entire mortgage portfolio (some $30 billion in loans
and around $225 million of interest income). This period
coincided with the September 11 2001 terrorist attacks, the
following mess in ?nancial markets and then into the 2003
economic recovery.
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After three more years in various jobs with Westpac Steven
transferred to the BNZ as Head of Business Marketing and
Strategy, a move which meant living in Auckland. However
after living in Auckland for three years he felt the lure of
the south and in mid-2006 he moved his family back to
Dunedin where he was responsible for setting up Kiwibank’s
Business Banking business units in Otago and Southland.
“Starting a bank unit from nothing was a wonderful
challenge in a city I love”, he says.
“With no customers and an unknown business brand in a
new market the canvas was completely blank. How many
chances are there to start a bank from nothing?”
Steven is very proud of the impact and success Kiwibank
has had in the south where scores of small and medium
businesses and professional relationships have been
identi?ed and nurtured. From time to time he is also
involved in Kiwibank projects in Wellington.
Every day’s study just a little bit different
Dr Arianne Reis (PhD
Tourism 2010) is currently
on a three-year research
fellowship at the Southern
Cross University’s Coffs
Harbour campus, on the
New South Wales coast 540
kilometres north of Sydney.
Arianne, who is originally
from Rio de Janeiro in Brazil,
was offered the postdoctoral research fellow position with
the SCU School of Tourism & Hospitality Management
in late-2009 but had to cool her heels for a further nine
months, due to immigration issues, before moving in
October last year.
During her ‘enforced’ stay in Dunedin Arianne continued
working with Dr Anna Thompson and Dr Brent Lovelock in
the Centre for Recreation Research, as a research fellow for
externally funded projects they were leading.
The contract Arianne has secured allows her the freedom to
research whatever she chooses and she is currently immersed
in a number of projects.
These include one on climate change and travel behaviour
with her Otago PhD supervisor and Head of the
Department of Tourism, Prof James Higham, due for
completion in July. She is also leading a project funded
by Industry & Investment NSW on the impacts of a
major sport event on local tourism businesses and one, in
collaboration with four Brazilian scholars, on the impact of
the upcoming Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games on the level of
sports participation of the local population.
Arianne will be presenting some of the preliminary results
from the Olympic Games study at a seminar for the Centre
for Recreation Research in July.
Once her contract ends Arianne hopes to settle into a
permanent lecturing or full-time research position, ideally
with SCU or Otago.
7
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8
Staff news
Professor Ken Deans, Head
of Marketing, is currently
a visiting professor at the
Adolfo Ibanez University
School of Business in
Santiago, Chile. Ken, who is
President of the Australian
and New Zealand Academy
of Marketing, the largest
professional association in
that part of the southern
hemisphere, has joined Aurelia Leufaux-Durand from HEC
(Montreal, Canada) as part of the international project
network ‘Cluster Network Competitiveness’ and ‘Regional
Innovation’. This research network aims to build awareness
of excellence in matters relating to Regional Innovation
Systems and Clusters, and with researchers linked with
their international peers in Canada, United Kingdom,
Norway, Finland, New Zealand and Australia, a protocol to
create a standard research methodology for international
comparative purposes is being developed. Prior to his work
in Chile, Ken spent time in France and Finland.
Dr Bronwyn Boon
Management Department
lecturer, was one of the
keynote speakers at last
month’s Otago Careers
Festival with her address
covering such issues as those
who motivated her early
years and how to begin the
journey to the ‘dream career’.
Insider share trading in the
United States gleaned almost $US2 billion ($NZ2.7 billion)
in pro?ts from the buying and selling of stock in faltering
debt-laden companies, according to a prize-winning joint
study undertaken by the University of Otago’s School of
Business and the University of California.
The eight-year study, from 2000 to 2007, scrutinised stock
sales and buys before and after companies announced
breaches of banking covenants. It was led by Prof Paul
Grif?n, of UC’s Davis campus, working with Otago
University’s business school’s Prof David Lont and Kate
McClune.
Prof Lont said while the
study solely investigated
the US markets, a recent
New Zealand Securities
Commission action suggests
debt covenant violations
and subsequent waivers
may now fall under the New
Zealand share market (NZX)
continuous disclosure rules.
“New Zealand could help
avoid this [insider trading] situation by requiring companies
to reveal debt covenant violations and waivers promptly to
the market and impose a blackout period for insider trading
around debt negotiations,” Prof Lont said.
The study hinged on the sale of stock by insiders before
breaches of banking covenants were publicly disclosed,
which generally then saw the share price fall, partly as
concerns of bankruptcy took hold. This was followed by
the subsequent purchase of shares by insiders after banks
re?nanced the company and the share price recovered
alongside the company’s turnaround.
The study documented increased insider selling as stock
prices dropped, just before disclosure of violations,
and subsequent increased insider buying following the
disclosures, as stock prices recovered in response to the
company’s turnaround. The statistical analysis showed
insiders sold four to eight weeks before a violation
disclosure, and similarly bought stock four to eight weeks
ahead of the market recovery.
The aggregate return to insider traders - the sum of their
losses avoided from selling and their gains from buying
stock – was about $US1.97 billion in pro?ts over the eight-
year study period.
Prof Lont said those who typically lost out from this type of
trading were non-privileged investors who might have sold
earlier, had they known about the covenant violation.
“Prompt public disclosure of all insider buys and sells
would allow for improved monitoring of unusual behaviour
around a material disclosure event.
“If disclosure was done using a data-friendly format that
would also help the investing public,” Prof Lont said, noting
also that listed companies should also have insider trading
policies in place.
At the annual New Zealand Finance Colloquium in
Christchurch in February, the New Zealand Institute for
the Study of Competition and Regulation (ISCR), based
at Victoria University, awarded the study the prize for best
paper on ?nancial regulation.

School News
Community-based Entrepreneurship Initiative
The Centre for Entrepreneurship is taking a leading role in
developing an international research project on indigenous,
family and community-based entrepreneurship.
In July, the Dunedin City
Chair in Entrepreneurship,
Professor Brendan Gray, will
be chairing a two-day research
workshop in Samoa that has
attracted 20 researchers from
New Zealand, Samoa, Canada,
the USA and UK, all of whom
have an interest in researching
how indigenous communities
can develop innovative,
export-oriented businesses.
The workshop at the National University of Samoa (NUS)
is being sponsored by the Canadian-based International
Entrepreneurship Scholars Network.
The researchers attending have also volunteered to present
papers during six special sessions on cross-cultural and
entrepreneurship research methodology which Prof
Gray has also organised for the Samoa 2 Conference to
precede the community-based research workshop. Several
participants will also assist in presenting seminars for NUS
postgraduate students and staff on research methods, which
will be held the day before the conference starts.
9
“Two things got me interested in indigenous
entrepreneurship,” Prof Gray says.
“The ?rst was my involvement with KUMA – the southern
Mäori business development network which opened my eyes
to the potential of Mäori-owned businesses to transform
struggling communities. The second event was a holiday in
Rarotonga, where it became obvious that the Cook Islands
were exporting all their ?nest minds to New Zealand and
Australia to go to university, but there were no high quality
jobs for these young people to come back home to.
“So, the only alternative looks like creating new export-
oriented ventures based in the Paci?c Islands.”
During his sabbatical last year Prof Gray visited Samoa twice
to discuss research opportunities.
“We’re starting with an historical case study of Women in
Business Development Inc – or WIBDI – which is an incredibly
successful community-based entrepreneurship development
organisation. One of its success stories is that it is the only
supplier of virgin coconut oil to the Body Shop internationally.
“Suzanne Duncan, from Te Tumu, and I are interested
in whether the WIBDI model can be adapted for other
developing communities.”
Last year Prof Gray also canvassed the opinions of
researchers with similar interests at the McGill International
Entrepreneurship Conference in Montreal and on the way
home he visited Professor Ana Maria Peredo, from Victoria
University, British Columbia, who is the leading researcher
in community-based entrepreneurship.
“We are thrilled that Professor Peredo has agreed to kick off
our research methodology track at the Samoa 2 Conference
and that she is keen to lend her expertise to a multi-
country study of indigenous, family and community-based
entrepreneurship,” he says.
Executive Education
Courses; 10% Alumni
discount on all courses
Executive Education’s ?ve-day
courses allow experienced business
people to select areas for their own
personal development while also
formalising knowledge acquired
during their career to date.
Executive Education courses are
delivered from the University of Otago Dunedin campus
with accommodation and meals provided onsite at the
Executive Residence. This allows you to immerse yourself
alongside other professionals in ?ve days of intense hands-
on learning.
All courses also contribute towards a Postgraduate Diploma
in Executive Management.
Upcoming Courses:
~ Women and Leadership 15-16 June
~ Strategic Thinking 11-15 July
~ Marketing – Creating Value For Customers 1-5 August
~ Managing People and Performance 22-26 August
For more information about the courses and the discount,
contact Jacque Moon, Business Development Coordinator
or visit www.execedotago.co.nz
Internship programme
While the formal student application process is underway,
expressions of interest from students and potential
employers alike remain open for the Business School’s 2012
internship programme.
A growing number of businesses are taking the opportunity
to employ an intern. Those interested in the prospect of
an internship next year or in ?nding out more about the
commitment should contact programme coordinator Julie
Pearse. Julie is actively seeking new businesses to bring on
board.
Postgraduate Certi?cate in Technology &
Entrepreneurship (PGCertTE)
The Centre for Entrepreneurship recently added the
Postgraduate Certi?cate in Technology & Entrepreneurship
(PGCertTE) to it’s suite of study options. This postgraduate
certi?cate provides a practically focused introduction to
technology businesses, innovation and commercialisation. It
will foster the knowledge, skills and behaviours necessary to
be a successful entrepreneur in the technology industry.
This certi?cate provides an introduction to technology-
based businesses, the processes involved in commercialising
science and technology, innovation management and the
ways in which knowledge can be applied to drive innovation.
It complements undergraduate courses in Science, Applied
Science and Commerce and will also be bene?cial for PhD
graduates from Sciences or Health Sciences. The PGCertTE
can be completed full-time over six months or part-time
over up to two years.
This quali?cation is suited to postgraduate students from
science and business backgrounds, who have an interest
in the commercialisation of science and technology, and
to employees in technology businesses, for whom the
course would provide a formal quali?cation in an area of
relevance to their employer. The certi?cate ?lls a gap in the
entrepreneurship degrees.
For further information please visit the Centre of
Entrepreneurship homepage.
MBA news
MBA Wellington function
Otago MBA graduates living in and around Wellington will
be in for an exhilarating event later this year.
Invited as guest speaker to the MBA’s inaugural alumni
function in the capital (date to be con?rmed but to be in late-
July, early-August) is the founder and Chief Executive of the
Sustainable Future Institute, Wendy McGuinness (MBA8 1984).
The Sustainable Future Institute is a Wellington-based
independent think tank specialising in research and policy
analysis with its purpose being to produce timely, complete
and well-researched information focussed on New Zealand’s
long-term future. Since its establishment in 2004, the SFI has
provided students with a place to learn and experts with a
place to educate the next generation of thinkers.
Originally from the King Country, Wendy completed her
secondary schooling at Hamilton Girls’ High School and
Edgewater College. She then went on to study at Manukau
Technical Institute (gaining an NZCC), Auckland University
(BCom) and Otago University (MBA8 1984), as well as
completing additional environmental papers at Massey
University. As a Fellow Chartered Accountant (FCA)
specialising in risk management, Wendy has worked in both
the public and private sectors.
10
She also sits on the boards of Futures Thinking Aotearoa and
the Katherine Mans?eld Birthplace.
Trish Franklin, MBA Business Networks Manager, attended
the StrategyNZ: Mapping our Future event in March which
was hosted by Wendy and while in Wellington, was part of
a syndicate which presented its Strategy Map to MPs and
invited guests at a function in Parliament.
Wendy will just be back from this years’ World Futures
Society conference in Vancouver, Canada, and will be
presenting her observations.
Globally in?uential humanitarian, project
manager
Chris Cattaway (MBA26,
2003) is a vastly experienced
Project Manager, Consultant
and Learning Facilitator in
the Private and the NGO
Sectors.
Armed with a BSc (Hons)
in Biomedical Electronics
Chris started his career as
an engineer and project
manager for some of the
very ?rst multi-million dollar ?bre-optic undersea networks
which are the backbone of today’s internet.
Over the past 17 years he has alternated between periods
in the international telecommunications sector and global
Non Governmental Organisations (‘NGOs’ or ‘charities’)
and has lived and worked in several least developed and
developing countries in Africa and Asia. Chris cut his teeth
in the humanitarian sector working in the refugee camps
in the Great Lakes region of Africa in the aftermath of the
1994 Rwandan genocide and since then has set-up and led
large multi-cultural teams for some signi?cant emergency
programmes (including Save the Children’s response to
Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar in 2008, - one of the largest
disaster responses ever implemented by a single NGO).
Chris has held the Project Management Institute’s Project
Management Professional (‘PMP’) certi?cation for more
than 12 years, he has taught NGO Project Management to
masters students at the Roehampton University and Cass
Business School in London and to NGO project managers
from all over the world, both face to face and online in
virtual classrooms.
He was a Founder Member and Principle Advisor to
PM4NGOs - a group of NGO project practitioners who
believe that improving project management practice in
the Sector would signi?cantly improve the impact of NGO
projects. In 2009, he initiated a partnership between with
the APM Group – the organisation which certi?es Prince2
and many other leading credentials – which has established
‘PMD Pro’, an internationally-recognised professional
certi?cation for Project Management Professionals in the
International Development Sector.
For the past ?ve years, Chris has consulted for international
relief and development organisations, in the ?eld and at
headquarters levels. As its Interim Director, he is currently
assisting six Australian humanitarian NGOs to establish
mechanisms to collaborate to receive funding for emergency
responses from AusAID, the Australian Government’s
international development department. He undertook a
similar role in 2009-10 which established a Consortium of
15 British Humanitarian Agencies. These groundbreaking
initiatives are revolutionising the partnerships between
NGOs and governments which fund emergency responses.
In 2010, the UK’s Association for Project Management’s
Magazine and the UK’s Telegraph newspaper business
supplement listed Chris as one of the ten “Most in?uential
?gures in Project Management” as a result of his pioneering
work to build project management capacity in the
International Development sector. In the same year, the
Project Management Institute’s UK Chapter recognised his
contributions to the profession by awarding him Honorary
Life Membership. He is a popular international conference
speaker and will make a keynote address at the International
Project Management Association’s World Congress in
Brisbane in October this year.
In recent years Chris has increasingly appreciated that
whilst engineering, project management and business skills
are important, it is the so-called ‘soft skills’ – emotional
intelligence, communications, teamwork and leadership
which really make the biggest contributions to successful
outcomes, particularly in today’s global and multi-cultural
work environment.
In mid 2010, he moved back to Dunedin with his Kiwi wife
and two young sons. With the tag-line ‘Realising the Power
of Your People’ his aptly-named consultancy and training
business Global Achievements is now based in New Zealand
‘envisioning and catalysing transformational change’
throughout the APAC region and internationally. Drawing
on his diverse multi-sectoral, globe-spanning experiences
and leading-edge theory, Chris facilitates entertaining
and informative interactive workshops using world-class
psychometric typing and leadership development systems.
His work helps individuals, teams and organisations
from all types of business to develop effective leadership
competencies in order to improve their performance by
working more effectively together.
Chris’s main motivation for moving back to New Zealand was
the outdoors opportunities available to his family. In his spare
time Chris enjoys family life, sailing, sea kayaking, tramping
and camping. He is a coastguard volunteer and enjoys
tinkering with a recently-acquired beaten-up old Landrover.
Student News
Global Student Exchange Scholarships
Lucy Turner – proud Francophile
A semester on exchange at
École des Hautes Études
Commerciales de Paris (HEC
Paris), may well have been a
life-changing experience for
Lucy Turner, who will ?nish
a Marketing honours degree
this year.
Located on a woodland
campus in Jouy-en-Josas, a
small village on the outskirts
of Paris, near Versailles, HEC Paris is regarded as one of
Europe’s ?nest business schools.
There Lucy studied a range of marketing and international
business papers, as well as French Language and French Society.
She says courses are quite different from those at Otago, not
only because they are designed to incorporate a global outlook
but because every subject is primarily based around case
studies that are relevant to each particular topic studied.
10
11
“A roll is taken at the beginning of every class, and the
professors, who are often successful businessmen as opposed
to academics, ask lots of questions which they expect you to
answer,” Lucy said.
“This can be quite stressful when there are generally only 20
of you in each class. You certainly can’t hide at the back!”
Lucy said her time at HEC Paris has broadened her
perspective on the world, opened the way for immersion in
another culture (she admits to being a total Francophile!)
and enhanced her academic studies and career prospects.
Outside of the lecture theatre, Lucy undertook a signi?cant
amount of travel, taking in such cities as Bordeaux, Nice,
Champagne, Monaco, Normandy and Antibes along with a
number of other European countries.
Her career ambitions include work for a French company
such as Nestlé, L’Oréal or LVMH, or applying her marketing
skills in the fashion and beauty industry. Naturally she is also
very keen to returning to Europe.
Where are they now?
International MBA winners, 20 years on
In January 1992 a team of four Otago MBA students
achieved a resounding and historic victory in the
International MBA Case Competition in Montreal.
The Otago team, coached by Prof David Band, comprised
Philip Shewell (captain), John Gosney, Philip Manson and
Ian Clarke (MBA 15).
Entry to the competition was limited to 24 business schools
from around the globe with entry by invitation only. Otago’s
invitation was the ?rst issued to a Business School in
Australasia.
Teams were given case studies (30 to 40 pages in length with
?nancial tables included) and had three hours to analyse
the case, identify the range of options facing the company,
set out appropriate strategy and make the presentation
to a panel of senior North American business executives.
The presentation was a maximum of 25 minutes and was
followed by 30 minutes of questions by the judges.
Two teams presented from the same case study with the
series contested twice a day over ?ve days. Otago beat off
such prestigious opponents as the London Business School,
University of Toronto, McGill University, Gothenburg
University, University of Western Ontario.
Philip Shewell, a professional company director following
30 years of retail management experience in New Zealand,
Australia and the United Kingdom, is now Chairman of
the Retail Institute. He is also a trustee of the Wellington
Museums Trust, an independent director of AMI Insurance
Ltd and of Kirkcaldie & Stains Ltd.
John Gosney is a business consultant with extensive
management experience and a background in ?nance and
investment with Goldman Sachs and J P Morgan. He has
consulted to a number of both private and public companies
and is currently a Director of Dorchester Paci?c Ltd.
Philip Manson returned to Fletchers after his MBA and
held a variety of senior marketing and planning roles in the
building materials sector. After leaving Fletchers he has held
a several CEO positions including a Dairy Technology start-
up in which he is a major shareholder and, most recently,
The Prima Group, a company established to commercialise
intellectual property from the vocational tertiary education
sector. He is Chairman and President for life of Critical
Mass Limited, his own business involved in Sporting
goods imports, and when time allows remains involved in
marketing, property development and consulting.
Ian Clarke has broad business experience in the gas,
agriculture, broadcasting and television production industries.
With a diverse background, including farming and general
management and operational experience among major New
Zealand corporates, Ian took over the national operations role
with the Fronde Systems Group in October 2003 and became
General Manager, New Zealand South in November 2005. He
was appointed Chief Executive in April 2008.
General
Strong University and Dunedin link to national
IT programme
A successful summer internship pilot programme to encourage
people to take up IT as a full-time career is about to be
launched nationwide by the New Zealand Computer Society.
Society chief executive
Paul Matthews (BCom
Management 2002) says
the ‘Summer of Tech’
programme had been
running successfully in
Wellington for six years.
Each year student numbers
attending the programme
had increased and the trend
had been for companies to go
through the programme multiple times, showing they were
pleased with the results, he said. The programme aimed to
bridge the gap between tertiary institutions and industry for
students interested in becoming part of a vibrant industry,
which was now the country’s third-highest export earner.
The students in the internship attend boot camps and
workshops, learning soft skills such as how to write a CV
and dress for an interview. They also worked as interns
with IT companies in Wellington. The society is seeking to
af?liate with a successful Dunedin City Council programme
that offered similar internships.
The key objective was to address the gaps between tertiary
institutions and industry and encourage professionalism in
the IT industry.
“When you talk about professional and accountants, people
know what you mean. But when you talk about professional
and IT, some people treat it like a swear word.”
All professionalism meant was education, experience and
ethics – the core of any profession, he said.
Paul says one of the problems had been people not
recognising what IT meant, with many thinking it was word
processing or preparing a spread sheet.
He praised The Distiller incubator at the University of Otago
for its work in mentoring IT entrepreneurs.
11
12
From the Archives
A look back through the Division of
Commerce’s earliest newsletters
Opening Day
It’s been almost 20 years since the $30 million Commerce
complex on Union Street welcomed its initial intake.
Four of the 11 ?oors had been completed by late-1991 with
the ?rst students (Departments of Accountancy and Finance,
and Quantitative Analysis) enjoying the facilities from
February 1992. The building was of?cially opened in late-1992
as the Commerce Division celebrated its 80th anniversary.
Prior to that Commerce, which had been established as a
modest out-of-hours course in 1912, had been housed in
such diverse spots as the old Dental School, the zoology
complex and the library building.
Remember Dunedin’s It’s Alright Here
campaign?
Twenty years ago two members of the School of Business
Marketing Department – Dr Rob Lawson and John Guthrie
– contributed a chapter to The International Casebook on
Marketing of Services, which was edited by two leading
British academics.
The book sold more than 10,000 copies in the United States
and Europe and opened the way for thousands of students
to become aware of the Dunedin campaign and the city’s
attractions. It’s Alright Here was designed to showcase
Dunedin as physically and economically desirable and
encouraged investment, business development, job creation,
increased tourism and convention business.
Otago to Otaru
Paul St George was the ?rst Otago student to win a
scholarship to the Otaru University of Commerce, leaving
these shores in January 1991. Paul completed a Postgraduate
Diploma in commerce with his thesis in information
science involving the study of security arrangements for the
Otaru City Council’s computer system. Otaru is Dunedin’s
Japanese sister city.
Sex, money, fame and the academic!
Have things changed at all in 20 years?
By suggesting that women have to be better than men
to be equal to them in business in New Zealand was a
theory ?oated 20 years ago by Michael Fay, senior lecturer
in Marketing – and it precipitated a frenzy of radio and
television interviews.
Michael’s study had surveyed 200 branches of New Zealand’s
four major banks of the time – BNZ, ANZ, Westpac and
National – with the results clearly demonstrating women were
likely to be declined for a loan considerably more often than
their male counterparts, simply because they were women.
The proposed business utilised in the application form was
one which would ‘normally have been seen as a reasonable
investment for the bank’ yet while 90 percent of male
applicants were granted a loan, that ?gure fell to 68 percent
for women. Of the loans granted, 32 percent to women were
restricted with only 10 percent restricted to men.
As is the case now, the practice of sexual discrimination
is socially unacceptable, counter to the stated policies of
?nancial institutions – and illegal.
Alumni in Business
Dunedin-based manufacturer Scott Technology has bought
a controlling stake in electromagnet manufacturer HTS-110
Wellington with a view to playing a key role in developing
a New Zealand high temperature superconductor industry.
Superconducting technology enables the transmission of
electricity without resistance or the loss of energy. Scott
Technology managing director, Chris Hopkins (BCom
Accounting 1984) says the company’s revenue and earnings
are expected to increase “signi?cantly in the medium to
long-term as the product range moves through to full
commercialisation”. Scott Technology revenue increased from
$20.3 million to $21.8 million in the second half of 2010 with
pro?t before tax up from $1.4 million to $2.2 million.
Nathan Pattison (BCom Management 2000), Managing
Director for Fluid recruitment, expects two families a month
to move to Dunedin from Christchurch and a further two
families a month to move to the city from further north.
Nathan said telephone inquiries to the agency about jobs
in Dunedin from Christchurch residents increased by 25%
following the February 22nd earthquake.
Catherine Taylor (BCom Information Science 1983) has
been appointed president of the Human Resources Institute
of New Zealand. For the past 10 years Catherine was
Kiwibank’s human resources general manager.
Peter Townsend (BSc Hons (Zoology) 1972, PGDipBus
1973) is the long-serving Chief Executive of the Canterbury
Chamber of Commerce and continues to play an integral
part in the Christchurch recovery effort post the earthquakes
of September and Boxing Day last year, and February 2011.
Geoff Zame (BCom Accounting, 1994) has been appointed
head of institutional equities for Craigs Investment
Partners, based in Auckland. Geoff joined Craigs as head of
institutional equity research two years ago following a role as
senior equity analyst with ABN Amro.
Gareth Parry (BCom Information Science 1997) has
joined digital advertising agency Method Studios as account
director. Gareth spent the last decade with design ?rm
Wavelength, ?rstly as a graphic designer and ?nishing his
tenure there as chief executive.
Cindy Davies (BCom Management 1988), General Manager
of Mediaworks Otago, has received two national wards of
behalf of More FM for its ‘Save Our Neurosurgery’ campaign
which highlighted the need to retain neurosurgery services
and facilities in Dunedin.
David Skeggs (BCom Accounting, LLB 1985) is the
Managing Director of Dunedin’s Skeggs Group which,
through tourism operator Southern Discoveries Ltd, has
acquired a 50% stake in Queenstown’s Kawarau Jet. David
says the partnership with Kawarau Jet was “in line with
a big-picture programme of investment, development
and growth”. The company had bought out the 50%
shareholding of Kawarau Jet directors Andrew Brinsley
(BCom Management 1999) and John Martin (BCom
Marketing Management 1973, LLB 1977). Kawarau Jet
operates eight jet-boats, employs 15 staff and offers jet-boat
rides on Queenstown’s Kawarau and Shotover rivers.
New Zealand’s richest man Graeme Hart (MBA11 1987) has
sold eight farms near Tokoroa out of 29 on offer through his
Rank Group-owned Carter Holt Harvey forestry company.
Rank converted 11,600ha of south Waikato forestry land
after buying pulp and paper giant CHH in 2006 for $3.4
billion. About 8,600ha became effective dairy farms.
13
Alumni in the News
Paul Hudson (BCom Accounting 1971) is Chairman of
Dunedin City Holdings Ltd which was embroiled in the
debate last month over whether or not the Dunedin City
Council should sell its underperforming company Citibus
Ltd. The DCC announced a ‘conditional sale’ to Invercargill
Passenger Transport Ltd.
Michael Woodhouse (BCom Accounting 1993), National list
MP based in Dunedin, who will stand for the Dunedin North
seat at this year’s election, recently announced the decision
to allow the Southern District Health Board to purchase a
multi-million dollar linear accelerator. Linear accelerators are
used for a range of radiation treatments for cancer.
Neil Jorgensen (Executive Education GCertBusA 2005),
Waitaki District Council assets group manager, is involved
in discussions with North Otago Federated Farmers on the
issue of a fair rating system.
Vanessa van Uden (BCom Management 1987, MBA 1999)
is the Mayor of the Queenstown Lakes District Council and
has been involved in the selection of a new chairman of
the Queenstown Airport Corporation. Murray Valentine
(BCom Accounting 1991), senior partner at Jackson
Valentine in Dunedin and an airport board member, has
taken on that role in an interim capacity.
Justin Geddes (BCom Accounting 1994), a business advisor
at Dunedin’s WHK, has ?nished a term with the Telford
Rural Polytechnic Council, Telford becoming a division on
Lincoln University in January.
Grant McKenzie (BCom Accounting 1990), the University
of Otago’s Director of Financial Services, has reported a $22
million surplus for 2010. Last year’s enrolment of 19,661
equivalent full-time students was 1.7% increase on the
budgeted ?gure. Grant also recently reported Otago’s combined
trusts recorded an operating surplus of $9.56 million in 2010.
Arthur Klap MNZM (BCom Marketing Management
1973), Chief Executive of the New Zealand Winter Games,
is gearing up for the 2011 event which he says could have an
‘economic impact’ of $50 million for the regions involved.
Arthur said the winter festival trust had a 25-year vision of
the games attracting 25,000 non-competing visitors to the
South Island. This year’s programme will include festivals in
Dunedin, Naseby, Queenstown, Wanaka and Methven with
more than 1,000 elite snow and ice sports athletes attending.
Sir Eion Edgar (BCom Accounting 1967) is Chairman of
the New Zealand Winter Games Trust.
Athol Stephens (BCom Economics 1973) is the Dunedin
City Council’s long-serving General Manager of Finance
& Corporate Support and currently the city’s acting Chief
Executive. Athol will ?ll that role until the appointment of a
new chief executive in July.
Stephen Selwood (MBA7 1983) is Chief Executive of the
New Zealand Council of Infrastructure (NZCID). The
NZCID, which includes construction companies such as
Downer, Higgins, Fletcher Construction, Fulton Hogan,
McConnell Dowell and Mainzeal amongst its members, has
released survey results which show most New Zealanders
would prefer new infrastructure to be paid for through user-
pays and public-private partnerships (PPPs) rather than
by all taxpayers, Stephen says the survey had found some
people considered that central and local government could
not afford to pay for all the community’s infrastructure
needs.
Jarod Chisholm (BCom Accounting 1995), a tax principal
at WHK in Dunedin, says thousands of New Zealanders who
have worked in the UK could face potential tax problems. A
change in exemption rules may have caught out Kiwis who
had done their ‘OE’ in the UK from 2006 onwards.
KEEP IN TOUCH
You may not want to blow your own trumpet but we would really enjoy hearing stories about our graduates and to be able to
share those achievements with fellow Alumni.
You may have a friend or colleague whose successes we can share in the next edition of Alumnews. Please send us some details
which will allow us to ‘ring their bells’, tell their stories.
Any suggestions would be welcome. Please contact:
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