Contact chairman joins EDS

By PETER GRIFFIN

Contact Energy chairman Phil Pryke will continue to head the board of the country's largest electricity generator and retailer when he takes up a plum role at IT services giant EDS this month.

Pryke picks up the convoluted title of vice-president global sales and client solutions for Asia Pacific, a full-time position that gives him responsibility for sales across a big market for EDS, a Texas-based company. No stranger to the IT industry, Pryke served as a board member of EDS New Zealand a few years ago.

He has also run the Australian and New Zealand operations of telecoms equipment maker Lucent, striking a huge deal during his tenure there with telecoms operator One.Tel.

One.Tel collapsed in 2001 and Pryke went on from Lucent to head fibre-optic network owner NextGen which collapsed last year.

On the EDS payroll again, he will no doubt bump into Michael Boustridge, another Kiwi who is one of the most powerful people in EDS after his promotion to vice-president of global sales last year.

Pryke will fill the role from Sydney, where he lives.

An EDS spokesperson said Pryke would say nothing until he took up his new role on April 27.

Pryke received director's fees of $80,000 from Contact Energy during the year to September 30, 2003.