Mike Mrdak (NEC)
NEC Australia and New Zealand (A/NZ) has appointed its executive chair and former government secretary Mike Mrdak as its interim CEO for the local region.
He comes into the role from 1 April to replace the outgoing A/NZ president and CEO Mitsuhiro Murooka, who has been promoted to senior vice president and chief commercial officer (CCO) and relocated to NEC's Tokyo headquarters.
According to a spokesperson for the Japanese communication, display and services multinational, the company will go through a process to fill the role in the future.
Murooka said Mrdak played a “key role” in developing NEC’s long-term growth strategy, which saw him first join the company as its inaugural non-executive chair in June 2020.
“[In] the last two-and-a-half [years,] NEC has made excellent progress and seen substantial growth across our business,” Murooka said.
“We have solidified our commitment to the development of Western Sydney through various MoU [memorandum or understanding] partnerships, strengthened our relationship with key government and enterprise customers and expanded our innovative, market leading product offerings.”
Prior to his time at NEC, Mrdak has held a number of secretarial roles over 15 years with federal government departments, his most recent posting being with the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications for over 10 years.
He is currently chair of Airport Development Group / Northern Territory airports, adjunct professor at the University of Canberra School of Business, Government and Law, as well as being a member of the advisory board of L.E.K. Consulting.
ARN understands Mrdak will continue these existing positions while also being NEC A/NZ’s interim CEO.
“We have a strong strategy in place and lots of momentum that will no doubt bring continued successes for the business and our customers,” Mrdak said.
“Murooka has been an outstanding leader and his passion and dedication through a difficult time in the Australian market has yielded incredible results. I look forward to working closely with the teams in Australia and New Zealand to continue that success into the future.”
NEC New Zealand recently signed a partnership agreement with infrastructure construction company Civtec to help deliver upgrades across Enable’s fibre broadband network.
