KEY POINTS:
* Lane Lawson has joined as business development manager for Techtonics based in Wellington. Lane has spent 15 years in sales roles, the last seven in ICT. He was previously with Gen-I, and prior to that worked for Cogent and Telecom. Alister Gates (right) has been appointed as sales manager for Auckland. He has spent the last seven years as Founder/CTO at Perfectus, creating an online document process automation tool. At TechTonics he will be working with clients to improve customer and supplier satisfaction, decrease risk and compliance costs by implementing contract lifecycle management applications.
* Porter Novelli has hired Louise Wright who will head up its marketing communications division. She is currently ACPs publishing director of mass market titles, Womans Day, The Australian Womens' Weekly (NZ edition) and New Weekly magazine. She has previously edited Cleo and She & More, worked as a journalist for the Sunday Star Times, the Christchurch Press and the Auckland Star and North Shore Times, and worked in PR in the UK.
* Farm improvement company, LIC, has announced the appointment of Dermot McNerney as its general manager of the Farm Solutions Group. McNerney has a Veterinary degree, an MBA, and post graduates in pharmacology and therapeutics. He has worked in the international pharmaceutical industry in a diversity of sectors including health, agribusiness, legal and export. Prior to joining LIC Dermot spent a year at Gribbles Vet Pathology. He has also worked with Fonterra and previously owned his own consulting business.
* Gail Henshaw has been appointed LIC's communications advisor. Miss Henshaw's most recent background was in journalism. Prior to joining LIC she was the editor at Piako Post and joint editor of the quarterly publication, Rural Delivery. She has also worked as a reporter/journalist with Hamilton Press and wrote a column in the Waikato Times Motor Times.
* International SOS, the assistance company, has announced the appointment of Craig Presland as managing director for its New Zealand business. The former managing director Dean Finlay has been promoted to general manager, Australasia and is now based in International SOS regional Head Office in Sydney. Presland has held senior roles within several New Zealand multinationals including Fletcher Building, Emery Wordwide (now part of UPS), and Northland Cooperative Dairy Company (now part of Fonterra). In his most recent role working for a division of Macquarie Bank, Craig was General Manager for a childcare service provider with annual sales of USD$25 million and 650 staff.
* Barfoot & Thompson has welcomed Bruce Davis-Goff as the company's web manager. He has previously led major web redevelopment projects both within real estate and for other organisations such as Air New Zealand and Vodafone.
* Insurer AIG Life (formerly AIA New Zealand) has appointed Claire Douglass to the role of marketing executive. Douglass joins AIG Life from three years with Telecom, including a role as sales support coordinator.
