TIN100 Leaders Dinner 2008

On the day that Barack Obama became Americas President Elect, CEO’s and partners of the TIN 100 gathered for the Annual Leaders Dinner. The dinner, now in its fifth year is sponsored by Ernst & Young. Guests included a veritable who's who of some of NZ’s largest and most promising technology businesses. Companies represented included Allied Telesis, Datacom, Douglas Pharmaceuticals, Gallagher Group, Navico, Fisher and Paykel, Orion Health, Compac Sorting Equipment, Endace, Actronic, Wellington Drive Technology, Imarda, Atrax, Wherescape, Touchpoint, Phitek. The Leaders Dinner is a unique opportunity for CEO’s to converse with a large number of their industry peers in a relaxed, social and private environment.

   

In an environment of dire economic news, it was fitting that 2008’s MC and key note speaker was Westpac Chief Economist Brendan O’Donovan. For those who might have thought that someone whose life was spent embroiled in the entrails of complex financial data would be dry and academic… they were in for a big shock. Brendan, who clearly had been a best man or MC at many Irish weddings, held court from the beginning … from his explanation of the rules of the business pub quiz to his forecasts on the economy. More to follow…

The dinner was held at Mantells in Mt Eden. As is the case every year the Mantells team provided the ambience food and service for which they are renowned. Arriving guests initially congregated in the entrance room, warmed by a blazing log fire that provided refuge from the afternoon rain. As more people arrived and the rain abated, guests made their way out to Mantells internal courtyard, to be entertained by string duo “Heartstrings”. 

At the start of the dinner Greg Shanahan, CEO of TIN, welcomed guests followed by an introduction on the TIN100 Report from Ben Willems, Head of Technology Sector for Ernst and Young. Brendan then took over by introducing the guests to the three competitions of the evening

1.                   A prize for the best table name, based on an ideal  Melbourne Cup Winner Name.

2.                   A 6 question pub quiz to be held throughout the evening.

3.                   A prize for a long weekend loan of a new BMW from Team McMillan BMW. The winner, whose place card would be drawn from a bucket at the end of the evening, would have to successfully identify the author of a quote on the reverse side of their card.

   

Before dessert, Brendan undertook a robust explanation and discussion of the current economic environment. Whilst the fall in the value of the NZ dollar was good for exporters, there were many worrying signs for the domestic and international economy. Concerns for the local economy were marked by the fact that much of the recent historical growth, had been funded by overseas debt. i.e. the economy has not been paying its way and instead been living on credit.      But back to the good news: Brendan predicted that the NZ$ would be in the high 0.40s (US) in twelve months time. This would clearly benefit those who were able to sustain sales volumes.

Brendan’s talk sparked enthusiastic questions from the audience including what could be done to reign in the financial systems that had caused this problem. For a summary of Brendans 2009 predications click here.

 

The next segment ,chaired by Brendan, included a panel discussion by three industry leaders, around their observations of the current marketplace. The three CEOs were Bill Gallagher of Gallagher Group, Miles Valetine, CEO of Zeacom and Selwyn Pellett, CEO of Imarda and founder of Endace. Bill Gallagher was first. From what he was seeing, Gallagher’s primary markets Agritech and Security were not being affected by the recession. He remained confident of sustained sales volumes, as these markets were more insulated from the economy. 

Miles Valentine, (winner of the Technology Section of the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Awards 2008), CEO of Unified Communications Company Zeacom was next. Having been based in the US for the past few years, Miles noted a slow down in purchase decisions, but as yet no major fall in revenues. However he observed that the signs in the US economy were concerning and that he was less certain about the year head. Following the gradient of optimism from Miles, Selwyn Pellet voiced .more detailed concern on the impact and seriousness of the US Recession. His asset tracking company Imarda, which provides solutions targeted at the trucking industry, was seeing significant contraction in their markets. Large trucking companies in the US were mothballing parts of their fleet and cutting back on expenditure as the recession bit.

In summary, the recession was still to fully play out, but would not affect all businesses equally. In fact for some the current may environment presents the opportunity of a lifetime!

  

These heady matters considered the audience returned to their food, wine and conversation. The last formality of the evening was the BMW prize draw. The winner was Steve Corbett of Massey e-Centre.

 

Formalities over, guests meandered outside to finish the evening with cheeses coffee and port. Sometime around midnight, the world put to rights, the last person departed.

 

Thanks very much to Brendan O’Donovan for his great job as MC. Thanks to our event sponsor Ernst & Young, BMW and to NZTE, the principal sponsor of the TIN100 Report. Thanks to Mantells for the superb job they do every year.

 

Lastly thanks to our guests, representing many of NZ’s most successful technology businesses. Thank you for your ongoing support.

 

Heres to a successful to 2009.

 

Greg

This years event was proudly sponsored by