Former NTT boss Simon Gillespie to head up NZ Kyndryl arm

He will be based in Auckland and responsible for expanding the NZ market.

Former NTT CEO Simon Gillespie has been appointed the new country leader for Kyndryl’s New Zealand arm.

In his new role, Gillespie will be responsible for the company’s growth and expansion within the region. Plus, he will be deepening customer and partner engagement and leading the company’s response to rising local demand for cloud, AI, and cybersecurity.

GIllespie told CRN Australia he will strengthen Kyndryl’s NZ presence by forging new customer relationships and expanding their footprint with existing clients in new areas.

“A key part of this effort is raising awareness of the breadth and depth of technology services Kyndryl offers,” he said.

“Globally Kyndryl is innovating rapidly in areas such as cybersecurity and resiliency, cloud, AI, and mainframe – which continues to be central to many organisations’ IT strategies.”

“With a presence in over 60 markets, I am keen to bring Kyndryl’s global capabilities and proven use cases to local organisations to help them better achieve their business outcomes,” he added.

Apart from heading up NTT NZ, Gillespie was the sales manager at Fujitsu for New Zealand, and has also held senior leadership roles at Spark Digital and Dimension Data NZ.

Speaking to CRN Australia, he noted several opportunities that he has identified in the Australian market.

“Organisations in New Zealand, particularly those in the public sector and financial services are focused on how they can transform while simultaneously achieving greater cost efficiencies,” he said.

“This requires them to look at the legacy technology they have that is holding them back from modernising and what business processes they need to optimise, while also thinking about how to be competitive by integrating AI and automation into their businesses.”

Gillespie said he sees a “real opportunity” for Kyndryl to be the trusted partner that enables organisations across New Zealand to maximise their technology investments to achieve these objectives.

He said his leadership approach has always been centred on people.

“It’s critical to build optimism, set a high standard and lead by example by way of being customer-focused and outcome-driven. These are the qualities I will champion as we focus on growing Kyndryl’s presence in New Zealand,” Gillespie explained.

Talking about his new role, Gillespie said he is excited to bring Kyndryl’s “rich global capabilities” to market in a more visible and impactful way.

“For the benefit of our people, our customers, and New Zealand more broadly,” he said.

“It’s compelling to join an organisation that helps its customers run the systems that power everyday services for New Zealanders – banking transactions being a prime example of this.

“I’m looking forward to demonstrating how Kyndryl can make a real difference not only for our customers, but also for the customers they serve,” he ended.

Earlier this month, Kyndryl appointed Graeme Beardsell as its new Australia country manager.