Management Team
Leadership Team
Nerida Caesar
Chief Executive Officer
Nerida Caesar joined Veda Group in February 2011. Nerida has over 20 years experience in sales, marketing and business management. Prior to joining Veda, Nerida was Group Managing Director, Telstra Enterprise and Government where since May 2009 she was responsible for Telstra's corporate, government and large business customers in Australia as well as the international sales division.
Nerida also worked as Group Managing Director, Telstra Wholesale and prior to that held the position of Executive Director National Sales where she was responsible for managing products, services and customer relationships throughout Australia. Nerida joined Telstra Enterprise and Government in August 2006.
Before joining Telstra Nerida was Vice President of IBM's Intel Server Division for the Asia Pacific region and previously held several senior management and sales positions with IBM over a 20 year career, both within Australia and internationally.
Nerida is a member of the University of Technology (UTS) Vice Chancellors Industry Advisory board and holds a Commerce degree with a major in Marketing and a MBA from the Melbourne Business School.
James Orlando
Chief Financial Officer
James joined Veda as Chief Financial Officer in May 2013. James has more than 20 years experience leading teams across finance and accounting, pricing, legal and financial operations.
Prior to Veda, James was the CFO of AAPT, where he focused on improving the company’s earnings as well as divesting its consumer business. From 2004 to 2007, James was the CFO of PowerTel Ltd, an ASX listed telecommunications service provider, where he played an instrumental role in achieving the company’s first profit as well as the eventual sale of the business to Telecom New Zealand. James was also CFO of Santera Systems Inc., a Dallas, Texas based start-up company that was sold to a US listed technology company in 2003. James spent 10 years in Hong Kong leading the international finance and treasury group at Lucent Technologies returning to the US in 1998 as Assistant Treasurer, International and Project Finance.
James holds a Masters of Business Administration from the Wharton School of Finance and a Bachelor of Science from Cornell University.
Simon Bligh
Chief Data Officer
Simon joined Veda Group in November 2010. His career spans 20 years in a wide range of financial roles in Europe and Australia. Simon has extensive treasury, risk management, vendor management and commercial expertise.
He was previously the Chief Financial Officer of Sydney Airport where amongst other responsibilities he led major re-financing of the business and was responsible for all commercial matters with airlines including airline acquisition. Prior to Sydney Airport Simon spent 13 years in telecommunications businesses in Australia, France, Ukraine and the UK. Simon spent four years in Paris as AT&T European CFO responsible for over 300 staff located in 13 countries.
Simon qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Coopers & Lybrand and holds a degree in English Literature from the University of Oxford.
Julie Cockerill
Executive General Manager, People & Performance
Julie joined the Veda Group in April 2008 as Head of Human Resources. Julie brings over 17 years experience to the Group gained from working with dynamic companies across a range of industries including technology services, management consulting, retail, hospitality and financial services.
She has spent time working in the United Kingdom and Europe as well as Australia and New Zealand. The People & Performance function is fundamental to developing and sustaining a high performance culture at Veda and as such is considered a strategic business partner.
Julie holds post graduate qualifications in Human Resources, Change Management and Executive Coaching.
Tim Courtright
Executive General Manager, Sales
Tim Courtright joined Veda in July 2011. He has over 30 years global experience in Sales, Operations, Products, Service and Solutions. His career spans roles in IT outsourcing, oilfield services, telecommunications and professional services working in Africa, Europe, US, the Middle East and Australasia.
Prior to joining Veda, Tim was Telstra's General Manager Westpac Account and was the Director of Strategy, Business Development and Investor Relations for Telstra Enterprise and Government. Tim moved to Australia in 1996 as Vice President Outsourcing ASPAC with Wang Global and has worked for Ericsson Australia where he was the Managing Director of Inflection Technologies.
Tim has a degree in Engineering Management from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, and attended Stanford Graduate School of Business' Executive Education program.
David Grafton
Executive General Manager, Credit & Marketing Solutions
David Grafton joined Veda Group in May 2012. David has held senior executive positions across the banking and credit industries in Australia, the UK, USA and Europe for more than 24 years.
Prior to joining Veda, David was the Chief Risk Officer for the Commonwealth Bank of Australia's Retail Bank, responsible for all aspects of credit and operational risk management and compliance.
David is a director and former chairman of the Australasian Retail Credit Association and has for many years been an industry leader in advocating the move to comprehensive credit reporting.
Prior to his role as Retail CRO, David was CEO and Director of Data Advantage/Baycorp and also has considerable international credit bureau, analytics and software experience in previous roles with Experian and Equifax in the UK, USA and Europe.
Tony Kesby
Chief Information Officer
Tony joined the Veda Group in August 2008. He is responsible for the strategic leadership and development of the Group's technology capabilities. Tony has over 25 years technology experience, primarily in the financial services industry where he has held a number of senior IT positions including CIO roles at FAI Life and Tower Australia.
Most recently he was responsible for all IT Infrastructure and Applications Development and support at MBF Australia, the largest non-government health insurer in Australia. Tony has also worked in the UK and USA and has a degree in Computer Science and an MBA.
John Roberts
Managing Director, New Zealand & International
John Roberts joined the Veda Group in February 2006 with a background spanning more than 25 years of business and leadership experience. John's career embraces the communications and marketing sectors, and most recently, the financial industry in New Zealand and internationally.
John was a founding partner and Chairman of Rialto Advertising Limited, which during the 1990's, was one of New Zealand's most successful integrated communication companies. He then held CEO roles with Saatchi & Saatchi in New Zealand, and was CEO/Regional Director for Saatchi & Saatchi Asia Pacific, based in Singapore for a number of years. Most recently, John was MasterCard International's Vice President for International Card Services Limited, managing and developing MasterCard's relationships with major financial organisations in New Zealand. John is also Chairman for The Centre for Applied Cross Cultural Research, a division of Victoria University.
John Wilson
Executive General Manager, Product and Market Development
John joined the Veda Group in February 2010. His career spans more than 20 years' in information technology, management, sales and marketing, treasury and financial risk management.
He has extensive vendor and professional services experience, and has held finance and treasury management roles for major organisations. John has lived and worked in Australia and Asia and was previously Asia Pacific President for SunGard, where he was managing some 1,500 staff across 14 offices in 11 countries. He was responsible for all SunGard's business activities across the Asia Pacific region and grew the business successfully year upon year, including undertaking a number of strategic acquisitions for SunGard. He joined SunGard in 2000 from KPMG where he was a Partner. At KPMG, he had responsibility for the Treasury software and consulting practice.
John holds a Business Degree in Accountancy and has a Master of Applied Finance from Macquarie University.
Board of Directors
Anthony Kerwick
Managing Director, PEP
Anthony joined PEP in 1999 and became a Managing Director in 2004. Anthony currently serves on the board of Tegel Foods, Griffins Foods and Godfreys.
Prior to joining Anthony was a consultant at Bain and Company in the United States and Australia, where he advised clients in the financial services, telecommunications, airline, health care, retail, utilities and manufacturing industries on issues relating to strategy, mergers, acquisitions, operations improvement, industrial relations and e-commerce.
He received first class honours degrees (BCom and LLB) from the University of Qld.
Tony Duthie
Managing Director, PEP
Tony joined Pacific Equity Partners in 2006. Prior to joining PEP, Tony was a Partner of Bain & Company. He has over 12 years of consulting experience in Australia, Asia and Europe advising clients on issues relating to strategy, M&A and performance improvements.
Tony has also held various responsibilities within Bain & Company’s Australian and global organisation, including helping to establish Bain’s private equity group in London, and local practice leadership of private equity due diligence, retail and consumer products, and performance improvement. Tony received an MBA from INSEAD (Deans List) and a BComm from the University of New South Wales. Tony currently serves on the Board of Independent Liquor, Veda and Energy Developments.
Geoff Hutchinson
Director, PEP
Geoff joined Pacific Equity Partners in 2008. Prior to joining PEP, Geoff was a Manager at Bain & Company where he spent 10 years consulting to clients in Australia, UK and South Africa.
Geoff has advised clients across a broad variety of industries including FMCG, retail, industrial services, telecoms, airlines and mining, on business issues including strategy, performance improvement and organisational design. Additionally Geoff spent significant time in Bain & Company’s UK Private Equity team leading due diligence projects. Geoff received an MBA from INSEAD (Deans List) and a B.Comm and B.Sc from the University of Melbourne.
© 2012 Veda Advantage
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