Joins growing rank of NZ tech leaders transitioning to the top role Credit: Harcourts International Todd Cassie has left Harcourts International after three years as CIO, and is joining vBridge as chief executive officer. With his move to the information technology services provider, Cassie joins the growing number of New Zealand CIOs who have stepped up to CEO roles. Cassie tells CIO New Zealand that his more than 20-plus years in technology roles and leading teams will help in his transition to CEO. “I have a sales background, this is a skill set that becomes valuable outside the CIO role itself,” says Cassie, who worked as IT and computer sales manager early on in his career. In an earlier interview, he likewise cites communication skills as critical to the success of any leader. “It’s all about the three Cs – communicate, communicate, communicate,” he states. “It’s about truly understanding the business, the challenges, the people and then identifying how we can enable them to amplify what they already do well and turn weaknesses into strengths.” “I continually relearn this lesson every year.” Prior to Harcourts, Cassie was digital development and ICT manager at Christchurch International Airport. He has also held technology roles in a number of organisations including Gen-i (now Spark), JP Morgan Chase, Thomson Reuters and CentreLink. Sam Higgins Sam Higgins joins Forrester Research as principal analyst. He is part of Forrester’s CIO Research Team and will also support professionals in related roles such as enterprise architecture professionals, security and risk management, chief marketing officers and customer experience professionals. His previous roles include enterprise architect at Transport for NSW, enterprise and information architecture consultant for Perpetual Limited, advisor at IBRS, and research director at Longhaus. Gwilym Funnell is now senior vice president Asia Pacific at Genesys. Previously, Funnell was vice president of Genesys Australia and New Zealand, where he was integral in driving a triple-digit revenue increase for Genesys Cloud since taking up the role in 2016. Funnell has more than 20 years’ experience in IT and telecommunications and has worked at start-ups and emerging technology companies. Prior to joining Genesys, he was the director of the collaboration and contact Centre practice at Telstra. Genesys also promoted Mark Buckley from sales director to vice president of Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) and will serve as country manager. Related content feature 10 most popular IT certifications for 2023 Certifications are a great way to show employers you have the right IT skills and specializations for the job. These 10 certs are the ones IT pros are most likely to pursue, according to data from Dice. By Sarah K. White May 26, 2023 8 mins Certifications Careers interview Stepping up to the challenge of a global conglomerate CIO role Dr. Amrut Urkude became CIO of Reliance Polyester after his company was acquired by Reliance Industries. He discusses challenges IT leaders face while transitioning from a small company to a large multinational enterprise, and how to overcome them. By Yashvendra Singh May 26, 2023 7 mins Digital Transformation Careers brandpost With the new financial year looming, now is a good time to review your Microsoft 365 licenses By Veronica Lew May 25, 2023 5 mins Lenovo news Alteryx works in generative AI for speedy analytics results OpenAI integration and AI wizardry for report generation are aimed at making Alteryx’s analytics products more accessible. By Jon Gold May 25, 2023 3 mins Analytics Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe