Movers and shakers: Making the transition from IT exec to CEO

Jayden MacRae is now CEO of Patients First, replacing the inaugural CEO, Andrew Terris, who was with the not-for-profit organisation for almost five years.

MacRae came from Compass Health where over the past 11 years he has held senior management roles including the director of research and innovation, and general manager of ICT.

“Moving into a more general leadership role is a natural progression for those that have worked at a CIO level,” says MacRae.

“It requires you to continue to think about the wider business like a good CIO must, but gives you the opportunity to broaden that thinking a little further.

“I’d encourage any smart CIO to believe in their abilities and embrace the wider organisational responsibilities of becoming a CEO. Technology leaders are very capable business people in their own right, adept at understanding complex problems facing all aspects of business,” he says.

Technology leaders are very capable business people in their own right, adept at understanding complex problems facing all aspects of business Jayden MacRae, Patients First

MacRae has also worked in technical operational roles with responsibility for software development and information analysis. He has been working in the health IT sector since 1999 in both primary and secondary care and prior to that qualified as a physiotherapist.

The organisation provides GP2GP, an electronic transfer system which enables the transfer of patient medical records from one general practice to another. Prior to this, patient notes were mailed or faxed between practices.

“We need to support health professionals to deliver their best by ensuring they have the right information when they need it,” he says. “Integrated information systems and quality information frameworks can help to achieve this. As we are successful in improving integration we must also be mindful to continue to balance and protect patient privacy.”

Other appointments:

Anthony Hafoka is now consulting director at TechnologyOne, following executive roles at Optimation, HP and KPMG.

He says his appointment supports TechnologyOnes’ continued growth in New Zealand enterprise solutions after adding customers such as Christchurch Airport, Wintec, Southern Cross Hospitals, AUT and Queenstown Lakes District Council. Hafoka is also a member of the Industry Advisory Board, School of Computing and Mathematical Sciences at AUT.

Simon Bright has moved up from group chief operating officer, to the CEO of Microsoft services provider Intergen New Zealand. Simon joined Intergen in 2009 from Hewlett Packard where he led the Microsoft Services division business in New Zealand.

Simon Bright, Intergen

Intergen has also announced two new executive appointments, Emma Barrett, director solutions and services, New Zealand and John Bessey, director client development, New Zealand.

Emma Barrett, Intergen

John Bessey, Intergen

“We now have the leadership team in place to ensure our New Zealand business continues to provide the foundation for further international expansion,” says Tony Stewart, group chief executive, Intergen.

Thomas Sammons has been awarded the inaugural Potentia Computer Science Scholarship. Sammons is a full-time student at the University of Auckland and has worked at Roam Creative as a mobile applications developer for the last 18 months.

The scholarship provides an annual $5000 cash grant. “Education is our future, no place more so than in our fastest growth industry – IT,” says Josh Comrie, Potentia managing director. He says competition for the scholarship was intense, but Sammons stood out for his clear vision for IT and “deep passion” for the industry.

Thomas Sammons, University of Auckland

Chris Skelton is now the managing director for Adobe in Australia and New Zealand, reporting to Paul Robson, president of the company’s Asia Pacific operations. Skelton has been leading Adobe’s Digital Media business across Australia and New Zealand, Southeast Asia and Korea since 2012.

Chris Skelton, Adobe

“Adobe has invested heavily in Australia and New Zealand over the past three years,” says Skelton. “We have doubled our staff numbers in that time, we’ve established a Centre of Excellence in Sydney to drive enterprise sales across Asia, and we’re also a pilot region to test new innovation for the company globally. I look forward to working with the team to continue to drive momentum across this important region.”

Counties Power chief executive Sheridan Broadbent is now a board director at Kordia.

Polycom appoints Geoff Thomas as president of Asia Pacific. He joins Polycom from Juniper Networks, where he was vice president enterprise sales Asia Pacific. Prior to Juniper Networks, he worked for 15 years at Microsoft, holding several executive leadership positions.

Geoff Thomas, Polycom

Auckland-based young entrepreneurs, Alliv Samson (25), Hengjie Wang (23) and Jordan Thoms (21) have debuted the cloud-based editing app, Notable PDF.

“There is simply the need in the market for this app. Notable PDF transforms traditional PDFs into interactive documents to make any writer’s life less complicated”, says co-founder Samson.

The group is backed by NZ investment companies, Flying Kiwis and Hopscale and unidentified “angel” investors.

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