John Hanna has been appointed as the chief executive of WEL Group’s 100 per cent community-owned fibre business Ultrafast Fibre Limited (UFF), replacing William Hamilton who retired in September.
WEL chairman Rob Campbell said Hanna will start in the role on June 4, and thanked Geoff Lawrie for his contribution as interim chief executive. Lawrie will now step back from this executive role and focus on his independent non-executive directorship of both WEL and UFF.
“We have been able to secure John who is a highly experienced New Zealand chief executive with a strong track record in the technology sector,” Campbell said.
“John was the CEO of Network for Learning from 2012-17, the CEO of Maxnet from 2009-12 having been the chief operating officer of Simpl from 2006-08. Earlier roles included senior executive positions in IBM, Computerland and SolNet Limited in New Zealand and Australia.”
Hanna is a member of the New Zealand Institute of Directors, a trustee of the Professionelle Foundation (a charitable trust supporting professional women in all stages of their career), chair of the Eat Right be Right Trust, and a trustee of the Bright Future Trust.
“John joins Ultrafast Fibre at a very exciting time with continued customer focus on the rapid migration from copper to fibre, and as we prepare to deliver unbundled access to the UFB network,” Campbell said.
Meanwhile, as New Zealand gears up for its largest ever festival of innovation this May, Ultrafast Fibre is the platinum sponsor of the Te Waka event series in Waikato.
“We are a proud regionally-based and community-owned business, supporting more than 120,000 customer connections on our fibre network across the central North Island,” Lawrie said.
“Geography should never be a barrier to participation in our growing tech industry, and this is an opportunity for us to ensure our local communities can access and participate in Techweek events.”
The theme for Techweek19 is “innovation that’s good for the world”, with a focus on how New Zealanders can find and create solutions to some of the world’s biggest challenges.
“Despite Waikato recently being named the fastest-growing tech region in New Zealand, we know there is still work to be done around access, and it starts in our own backyard,” said chief operations officer Richard Riley.
“Ultrafast Fibre has committed to an ambitious work programme for 2019, which includes a suite of innovative approaches to support digital inclusion across regional New Zealand.”
Visit www.cultivateit.nz/TechWeek for the full programme of events and further information.
