John Walters (Nextgen Distribution)
Nextgen Distribution has named NEC’s head of public safety solutions in New Zealand, Lynne Jeffery, as its new managing director in the local market, replacing long-serving MD Terry Dunn, who has retired from the role.
In her new role, Jeffery will be responsible for leading and growing the Nextgen New Zealand Team, developing and maintaining the company’s relationships with its core vendors and partners and driving the distributor’s services businesses, Bang, Optima, Connect and Orbus into the New Zealand market.
Jeffery will also work closely with Nextgen’s Australian team to drive an increased cross-Tasman alignment for the group, while at the same time respecting the independence of the New Zealand market.
“I’m excited to be joining the Nextgen family,” Jeffery said in a statement. “I look forward to leading the New Zealand business on an accelerated growth program, challenging the traditional distribution model and driving transformational change in market through innovation and dynamic partner eco- systems with customer outcomes at the heart of what we do.”
Jeffery, who will step into her new role with Nextgen on 1 June, comes to the Australian-headquartered distributor after more than three years with NEC in a role that has seen her responsible for growing the company’s biometrics technology offering in New Zealand.
Before joining NEC in late 2016, Jeffery spent time with Wynyard Group, Jade Software, Spark Gen-i and overseas roles with Cable & Wireless in the U.K..
For Nextgen CEO John Walters, Jeffery’s professional history provides her with a solid background and experience for the distributor’s push into more solution orientated enterprise software and services related business.
“Finding a replacement for Terry [Dunn] has been difficult”, Walters said. “Terry has huge shoes to fill and I insisted on a Kiwi that had broad experience across the New Zealand IT sector. Lynne [Jeffery] fits this perfectly and will bring her strong sales and marketing background to leverage increased growth of Nextgen NZ.
“In addition, we have a passionate commitment to building a diversified team and it is wonderful that Lynne becomes our first female managing director across the Nextgen Group’s five business units. This follows on from the appointment of Susan Searle to our main board last year,” Walters added.
Jeffery’s appointment comes just weeks after Walters formally announced Dunn’s retirement from his role with the company at the Nextgen annual Leadership Forum in Sydney, with Walters thanking him for his six-plus years of service.
Dunn, who helped to found the company, along with CEO John Walters, had been managing director of Nextgen NZ since October 2013, when Nextgen launched its Kiwi operations, opening offices in Auckland and Wellington.
