Susan Searle - President and Publisher, Reseller News
The leading female front runners of the New Zealand ICT industry joined together in celebration as Reseller News kicked off its inaugural Women in ICT Awards (WIICTA) in Auckland.
Held at a jam-packed event at the Sofitel Hotel, over 100 tech leaders combined to celebrate gender diversity and recognise female excellence in the New Zealand channel.
Reflective of IDG’s continued dedication to the local market, the awards recognise the very best in the channel, celebrating the achievements of a talented crop of standout female figures who have become influential figures in New Zealand’s ICT industry.
As outlined during an inspiring keynote by Westcon-Comstor Executive VP of Asia-Pacific Wendy O’Keeffe, WIICTA aims to celebrate the innovation excellence and entrepreneurial spirit of Kiwi women in ICT.
Reseller News congratulates all the winners, highly commended, finalists and nominees, and thanks our esteemed judging panel who gave so generously of their time.
The winners for the 2016 Reseller News Women in ICT Awards are:
Technical
Given New Zealand’s standing as one of the world’s fastest adopters and embracers of new technologies, the Technical award recognises the candidate who has excelled in ICT and engineering, demonstrating a proven depth of knowledge and abilities.
Kiwis are renowned for their ability to try new things and push the boundaries of technology, with this candidate capable of demonstrating excellence in problem-solving and decision-making skills, with an outstanding level of accomplishment in job performance.
Winner: Deborah Maud - Enghouse Interactive
Deborah wins this technical award for playing an integral role between business and customer needs, ensuring that product development meets the requirements of both sides.
Under Deborah’s guidance, Enghouse Interactive now supply Communications Centre technology to almost 40 percent of Local Government contact centres, with other prominent customers including Southern Cross, Jucy and Co-operative Bank.
Community
The Community award recognises the candidate with an outstanding service record, through philanthropic initiatives.
Specific to this award, this goodwill ambassador will be actively making a difference in the community, or working towards the advancement of women in ICT.
Winner: Diane Knowles - Hewlett Packard Enterprise
Diane wins the Community award for her work in driving global discussions around how to foster the growth and support of women within ICT.
Diane is also executive sponsor of ELEVATE in New Zealand, a women’s networking and leadership group designed to unite all Hewlett Packard Enterprise employees regardless of role, business area or background.
Rising Star
The Rising Star award recognises the candidate with a proven desire to reach the next level of professional development.
The candidate - who has been working in the ICT industry for under 10 years - is growing quickly in importance, demonstrating outstanding business acumen and professional integrity.
Highly Commended: Jordanna Murray - Microsoft
Winner: Emma Krouglova - The Instillery
Emma wins the Rising Star award for her top performing results at The Instillery. Just three months into the role, Emma has helped the company expanded into new territories, specifically the USA which now represents 40 percent of The Instillery’s revenues.
Despite her young age, there is no doubt that Emma will achieve her lofty goal of being the CEO of her own company and a SaaS expert by the age of 30.
Entrepreneur
The Entrepreneur award recognises the candidate who has turned a bright idea into a successful business; a driven and resilient individual who has achieved success through risk-taking and initiative, often shattering the status quo in business in order to fill a gap in the market and set up new ventures, products or new services.
Winners: Jackie Hatchwell and Kendra Ross - Duo
Jackie and Kendra win the Entrepreneur award for building a distribution business in Duo, which the pair founded in 1998.
As a value-added distributor of security solutions, Duo is experiencing 30 percent growth in revenue year-on-year for the last three years, and recently opened a second office in Auckland in March of this year.
Innovation
The Innovation award recognises the candidate who is a stand-out in implementing big picture ideas and vision , thereby discovering unique opportunities of delivering new value and positive change.
The candidate shows a proven track record of finding new and better ways of doing business, continually pushing the envelope against a changing ICT landscape.
Highly Commended: Michelle Hall - Westcon-Comstor
Winner: Rebecca Laracy - Spark Digital
Rebecca wins the Innovation award for her work in assisting the rollout of the N4L (Network For Learning) Managed Network, a high-profile project that operates a managed network of fast safe internet connections for 700 schools.
To meet the public sector customer’s needs, Rebecca changed the internal Spark Digital business model entirely, delivering service to 90 percent of all schools a year ahead of target.
