NZICT has appointed Candace Kinser, former CEO of global biotech software firm Biomatters, as its new CEO.
Biomatters is headquartered in New Zealand with subsidiary offices in the USA. Kinser has also held senior roles at Telecom NZ, SolNet NZ and Biolab Scientific.
She is a director of NZBIO, a membership-based group that represents companies and organisations in the biotechnology sector and she is on the advisory board of the Massey University School of Business. Kinser was previously director of the NZ Health IT Cluster for nearly three years.
In a statement announcing the appointment Kinser says she aims to forge stronger connections with NZICT's members and continue to work closely with government on a range of initiatives including Ultra Fast Broadband and the government's use of ICT.
Kinser also says she is passionate about the growth of startups and mid-size companies in our tech sector. In a Q and A interview with Unlimited, Kinser (who is originally from Texas) offers the following advice about growing fledgling IT companies:
"I think where a lot of companies fail is they aim for the moon when they should be aiming for the next galaxy. Whenever you create a product, whenever you create a concept, think of your market. Everything that we do — our pricing in US dollars, our website wording in American English, all the big PR that goes out the door — I read with my American brain on because that’s over 50 percent of our market. So have your end market in focus; create and tailor everything about your company for your number-one market that you want to focus on."
Kinser takes up the new role from mid October, but she has already starting working with the NZICT board.
