Board Members

Rob Gill has experience from a 25+ year business career working for many leading International companies. Rob spent his early years as a Navigator in the mercantile marine, whilst attaining his professional qualifications and diploma in Nautical Science. He re-trained as a Systems Analyst at Auckland Unitech in 1984 and held sales and sales management roles for Systems Integrator McDonnell Douglas, followed by spells with IBM and Compaq in the late 80s and early 90s, gaining further experience in sales management, channel management and marketing.

In 1993 he became the first Managing Director for Nokia in NZ, and three years later was promoted to Director Sales and Marketing for Nokia fixed networks business in the UK and member of the Nokia European executive board. Whilst in Europe he studied at INSEAD France on their Executive Management Programme. In 1998 he moved to Australia as Managing Director and Area General Manager for Nokia Networks Pacific region, and was a member of the Nokia Asia executive board.

In 2000 Rob returned to NZ becoming Sales and Marketing Director Asia Pacific for Nokia Broadband Networks. For the last 5 years, he has run his own consulting business working with a number of clients world-wide, and added a new challenge as professional director. He is a director of several private companies in NZ including Tait Electronics and Mobile Mentor.

Prior to founding Mobile Mentor Denis spent 15 years with Nokia in a variety of management positions worldwide. His career spanned product development in Finland, project management in Sweden, account management in New Zealand, and General Management in Switzerland. His final role was as a Director of Nokia New Zealand. Whilst at Nokia Denis built long-term partnerships with the leading mobile operators including Vodafone and Orange to position Nokia as the sole supplier for GSM and 3G networks and associated professional services.

Denis has a proven ability to develop sound strategies, then build and lead high-performance teams across different cultures. He has successfully built and managed large business units with annual sales over Euro 100 million and has a strong operational focus to ensure that results are achieved.

He was educated first in Ireland obtaining a 1st Class Honours Degree in Electronic Engineering from the University of Limerick, then a Master's Degree in Telecommunications Systems from the Helsinki University of Technology in Finland and in 2003 he took a sabbatical and completed an Executive MBA from IMD in Switzerland. Denis also speaks Finnish and French.

Prior to joining the Board of Mobile Mentor, Chris spent more than 20 years with German and Swiss Banks in Germany, Singapore, Tokyo and London. Before moving to New Zealand Chris was the COO and General Manager of a major German bank in London. His previous roles included derivative trading, global business development, structured finance, new product development and strategy and regulatory matters in a number of management positions.

Chris has multiplied the size and profitability of businesses over several years and arranged financing transactions of up to US $1B. In an increasingly complex environment, he was in charge of managing regulatory and wider governance aspects over multiple jurisdictions.

Chris holds a First Class B.A. Honours in European Business Studies from Middlesex University, UK, as well as the equivalent degree from a German University and an MBA from IMD, Switzerland. Chris speaks German, English, Japanese, French and Spanish.

Paul Vodanovich is a well rounded commercial manager and chartered accountant (CA member of ICANZ) with over 20 years experience in increasingly senior financial control and project management roles.

The majority of Paul's industry experience has been gained in substantial multinational marketing, distribution, technology and financial services organisations including Thomas Cook / Travelex, FUSION Electronics, Zespri International and ORIX New Zealand.

Paul has gained considerable international experience through commercial roles in London England (3 years), mainland Europe (Antwerp Belgium - 1 year), Sydney Australia (4 years) and Auckland New Zealand.