2024 Annual Report
Covering the year from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024
In September, we welcomed new board members at our Annual General Meeting: Zoe Udy, Jenna Woolley, and Matthew Harrison (all re-elected), along with Sid Kumar and Annaliese Atina as new board members. I was also thrilled to be re-elected to the Board and re-appointed as the Chair for another year.
The new board members join existing members Caitlin Metz, Vaughan Baker, Andy Edwards, and Kaity Mitchell. We extended our thanks to outgoing board members Maxine Elliott and Wendy McGowan.
A big thank you to all our board members for their continued commitment and leadership. We continue to be well supported by Alysha Upton, Operations Manager for TUANZ.
You can read the 2024 Annual Report here.
It was a pleasure to return to a regular rhythm for our flagship events after the disruptions of previous years. The Rural Connectivity Symposium was the largest ever held in this new period, and the Tech Users Summit has now found its place in the conference calendar. We also continued to host a series of After5s, while the FLINT teams hosted their own events in their respective cities.
We maintained our support agreement with the valuable Digital Boost initiative, which TUANZ supports through the Digital Boost Alliance. With the change in government, we have recognised the risk to the continuation of this project and are working with Alliance members and stakeholders on the future direction of the programme and TUANZ’s involvement.
TUANZ was proud to once again be the named sponsor of the People’s Choice Award – Broadband 2023 at the NZ Compare Awards. This award recognises the best overall service provider in New Zealand, as voted by the public. This is likely to be the last year that TUANZ will be involved in these awards to this extent, as our Board is committed to relaunching the TUANZ Member Awards in 2024.
Throughout the year, TUANZ continued its active engagement with government and industry to help shape the regulatory and policy environment, ensuring that all users of technology receive the best service at the most competitive price, regardless of who they are or where they live. This effort is a vital component of our annual work program and was even more crucial in an election year.
The Board developed a series of position statements addressing key issues in the digital technology space from a user’s perspective, which were shared with politicians and decision-makers leading up to the national election. These statements are available on our website and will continue to guide our advocacy and community work through to 2024/25.
Looking ahead, TUANZ will continue to advocate on behalf of our members and all technology users in New Zealand. We have an active and evolving program focused on how current and emerging technology trends will impact users and our members. We remain committed to enhancing opportunities and encouraging new and diverse talent to join the digital workforce. This is an incredibly exciting time to be in the technology industry, with TUANZ playing a crucial role for all our members and technology users in New Zealand.
I would like to extend the Board’s thanks to all our members for their continued support and to recognise our many strategic partners and friends who support the work we do.
Ngā mihi,
Tristan Ilich
Chair, TUANZ
