Who got that job?

Were you one of the 115 people who applied for this job and wondered who got it?

Job title: Divisional general manager, Security Plastics.

Tim Burrill takes his background in printing and packaging in a new direction with his appointment to Security Plastics, a major manufacturer of credit, bank, swipe and smart cards and a relative of New Zealand Herald publisher Wilson and Horton.

It is, he says, very big business. The "blind" ad that pitched the job - blind because the company was not named - referred to a combined $35 million turnover and the necessity to manage offshore development and assist research into new technology.

The scope of the business - "it's high-tech and high-security" - excites Burrill. "It's an industry that's developing and there's scope for further expansion," he says.

The company is in empire-building mode, and last year acquired Australia's third-largest card manufacturer, Cardcorp, in a multimillion-dollar deal.

Burrill is another Australian acquisition, a brain gain for New Zealand.

Born in Melbourne but the globe-trotting son of a diplomat, he moved with his wife and two children to New Zealand in the middle of last year to work for a European packaging company.

He has "nomadic ways" honed by a childhood spent in places like Indonesia, Thailand and Taiwan, and seems quite happy outside standard comfort zones.

He spent four years in China from 1997 working for an Australian printing firm.

Burrill, 42, has a bachelor of science in chemistry and a masters in corporate finance.

Recruiter John Williams says 115 people applied for the post.