Movers and shakers: CIO to CEO – Matt O’Mara at Stratford District Council

Matt O’Mara is now chief executive at Stratford District Council, joining the growing number of CIOs who have moved to CEO roles.

His previous roles include chief information and technology officer at Central Agency Shared Services of the New Zealand Treasury and CIO at Careers New Zealand.

Stratford is located in Central Taranaki, and is the closest main centre to Egmont National Park.

Matt O’Mara at a CIO roundtable discussion in Wellington

“We were very pleased to attract a large number of applicants for the CE role and delighted to appoint someone of Matt’s calibre to the position,” says Stratford Mayor Neil Volzke, in a statement on O’Mara’s appointment.

He says O’Mara’s “strong background in information management, strategic planning and council operations” will serve the council well.

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Cher Wang, chairman and co-founder of HTC, takes over as chief executive officer, and Peter Chou will transition to a strategic new role leading future product innovation, at the Android smartphone maker.

“We are seeing rapid changes in the industry, with the smartphone as our personal hub connecting us to a growing world of smart devices,” says Wang, who co-founded HTC in 1997.

“We pioneered the smartphone industry; now we are applying that thinking to realise the potential of a new generation of connected products and services. The overwhelming response that our virtual reality product, HTC Vive, received earlier this month underlines the importance of these new connected technologies for our future.”

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