The Majitek Team
Background
Many of our current team were founding members of Sausage Software, which, in 1996, was the first Internet company to go public in Australia.
At its peak, Sausage Software had 1200 employees and a market capitalization of $1.7 billion. Its leading product, HotDog, had more than 3 million users in over 200 countries, and was distributed with Intel, Netscape, and Hewlett-Packard products.
Between 1996 and 2000, team members led the Sausage R&D group that completed a range of world-first technology achievements using the Java software language, including the development of the first commercial Java Applet to be sold via the Internet, the first commercial Java based eCommerce server and one of the first commercial Java based micro-payment systems.
Since early 2000, the Majitek team has steadily expanded to include world-leading expertise in cryptography, security, digital rights management, and embedded and distributed systems. The profile and success of team members, both locally and internationally, define them as the cream of Australia's Java development community.
Majitek's corporate leadership team is a unique group of telecommunications and IT industry practitioners. Their expertise covers corporate strategy, business administration, business development, research and development, technology, operations, and sales and marketing.
Leadership Team
| Board of Directors
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Executive Biographies
Arthur Petronzio - Chief Operating Officer (COO)
B.Engineering (Industrial & Computing - Hons) Monash University
Arthur is an accomplished manager with more than 12 years experience in business / IT systems development and implementation, managing project teams and multi-million dollar budgets. Starting his career in Coles Myer he managed projects, including labour scheduling systems, a new generation EFTPOS and Point of Sale system for over 600 stores. Then as Operations and Development Manager was responsible for setting up and running Coles Online.
Arthur also managed the set up of BHP’s online diamond sales business and led the development and implementation of the Australian Wheat Board’s web site and portal for growers to access their financial information on-line.
Since joining Majitek in September 2002, Arthur has managed many of the commercial projects and day to day operations of the business, developing strong relationships with clients and furthering our reputation for successful completion of complex solutions in a wide range of industries.
Phil Blythe - Chief Technology Officer (CTO)
B.Eng. (Aero, Hons) RMIT, Ph.D. University of Sydney
Beginning his career as an aerospace engineer, Phil worked in high-performance computing with Aerospace Technologies Australia and Boeing Aircraft in St Louis, USA, Returning to study autonomous adaptive computing at the University of Sydney, he spent the next several years in computing science research in decision and control systems in Sydney, and with Max Planck Institutes in both Munich and Berlin. During that time, he developed decision systems for visual behaviour recognition and behavioural economics, published several book chapters and journal articles, and spoke at many international conferences in the US and Europe.
Upon moving to London in 1999, Phil moved into the internet sector working for a short time for Boo.com, and soon after as the lead architect for Risk2Risk insurance exchange for Lloyds of London syndicates, which in 2000, was the first production grade Jini/JavaSpaces based financial trading exchange. Since that time, Phil has become a world leading expert in these and other Java based distributed computing technologies. As the CTO for itv|world in Sydney, he further developed technologies and products in digital rights management and distributed security prior to their acquisition by Majitek in 2003. Since that time, as CTO, Phil has led the further development and commercialization of the Majitek product suite and several patent pending technologies.
Fionn O'Keeffe - Chief Financial Officer (CFO)
BA. Deakin University, CPA
Fionn’s career started in chartered accounting with KPMG (1992 – 1997) specialising in audit. He subsequently accepted a senior financial role with Anscan International Ltd (1997 – 2001), a company based in Malaysia with operations in Lao PDR and Thailand. In this role he was responsible for the establishment and operation of an international finance and accounting team whilst heavily involved in the corporate finance functions. Upon his return to Australia Fionn established his own consultancy and worked with Brandon Commercial Catering Equipment P/L (2003 – 2005).
In 2005, Fionn was appointed as Chief Finance Officer of the Remunerator Australia Group of Companies (2005-2008), with Salary Packaging administration, financial planning and leasing businesses. His responsibilities extended to include management of the HR and IT departments.
In July 2008 Fionn commenced his role as CFO of Majitek and also assumed full responsibility for the financial management of the Majitek Group.
Michael Geisler - Head of Business Development
M.Tech (Information Technology) RMIT, Grad Dip (Software Development) RMIT
Michael has more than 19 Years experience across consulting, financial services and telecommunications industries. Prior to joining Majitek he spent 10 years at Sun Microsystems in senior sales and sales management positions across the US, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa regions. In his most recent role at Sun he managed Sun's software business across 22 countries and developed a channel of more than 50 VAR's and Systems Integrators. He created and delivered a business strategy that tripled Sun's software business in the MENA region within two years.
He was a key member of the sales team that developed a product and business strategy that was instrumental in closing Sun's (then) largest software deal globally with Telstra. This ultimately became the commercial model for Sun's global software strategy. Michael was also responsible for developing mobile Java and content delivery business models with numerous operators across the Asia Pacific region.
Prior to joining Sun, Michael led AXA Australia's Internet strategy Michael is a former Vice President of the Australian Java Users Group (AJUG) and was a member of the industry advisory board for Monash University's IT Faculty for over 6 years.
Since joining Majitek, Michael has built a highly experienced enterprise sales team and greatly expanded Majitek's ISV and channel partner program
Rob Cumming - Director Strategy & Marketing (Founder)
B.Arch (Hons) Melbourne University
Rob began his IT career at Sausage Software in early 1996. An architect by training, he was hired as a graphic designer, but subsequently took on the roles of Product Manager, Director of Development and General Manager of Advanced Research. During his five years at Sausage, Rob led the R & D effort for versions 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 of the world famous HotDog web authoring tool. With the success of this and other products, he saw the user base increase from three thousand to three million, and his development team from 7 to more than 200.
After Sausage's acquisition in 2001 Rob completed an MBO of his Advanced Research division and in conjunction with Sausage Founder Steve Outtrim formed the specialist technology development company Myretsu and founded the Majitek Enterprise. Along with commercialization of a wide range of leading edge solutions for third-party customers, through 2002 - 2005 Rob led the team that incubated and productized the various technologies into the Majitek Product Suite. Rob continues to manage on-going product strategy, marketing and strategic sales process for Majitek.
Russell Bate - Chairman
With more than 35 years in the IT industry Russell has held senior management positions in both hardware and software companies, retiring from full time employment in 2002 as Vice President Product Sales Operations -- Asia Pacific for the US multi-national Sun Microsystems. In that role he was responsible for direct sales operations in the Sun's Asia Pacific Region, an area that included the ASEAN countries, Australasia, China, the Indian sub-continent, Japan and Korea.
Russell joined Sun in 1992 and was appointed Australasian Managing Director in 1994 and managed the Australasian operation through five years of record growth. In 2000 Russell was awarded Sun's prestigious Leadership Award and was elected to Sun's Leadership Council. In that same year he was promoted to the position of Vice President -Product Sales Operations for Asia Pacific and became the first Australian to be made a Vice President at Sun.
Since his retirement Russell has retained a close association with the IT industry and is also currently Chairman of Australian Distributed Incubator. He is also Chairman of Musica Viva Australia and Field and Game Australia.
Steve Outtrim - Director (Founder)
Steve Outtrim founded Sausage Software in his bedroom in 1995, when he was 22. The company's IPO a year later made Steve the youngest person to be CEO of a public company in Australia. He sold most of his stake in the company in early 2000, and turned his focus to the next wave of IT Evolution - Pervasive Computing. In 2001 he founded the Majitek Enterprise and along with fellow director Rob Cumming began the commercialization of various cutting-edge R&D technology projects into the current Majitek Suite of products.
David Cronin - Director
David Cronin is responsible for the management and execution of corporate strategy. Amongst Mr Cronin's other directorships, he is a Director of the Investment & Advisory Firm Pierce & Pierce and is responsible for its Technology Investment Division. David has worked in corporate finance in London, New York, Australia, and Singapore. He has a successful track record of providing mergers and acquisitions, investment, and corporate development advice to the boards and management of both publicly listed and privately held companies.