Meet our team

Abbie's daily to-do list is a long one. She takes care of our valuable clients, organises everything and everyone, and puts the “help” in Help Desk. A former journalist, you'll find her fingerprints on all things written, from client advertisements and web pages to our social media accounts. Need something done in a hurry? Abbie is receptive to bribes including, but not limited to, wine, blue cheese and green tea. When not at the office she's up in the Port Hills with her dog, Kevin or teaching a boxing bag some lessons.

With a background in corporate and commercial law, Abigail delights in dotted i's and crossed t's to an extent the rest of us reserve for smooth deployments and long weekends. With her recent shift to take on the GM responsibilities, Abi's role is still making all those things that need to "just happen" happen but on a larger scale. Abi gets her kicks out of all things people, culture and curiosity and seeing the MS team growing and doing work they can be proud of.

Adi is the calm, utterly professional backbone of partner support. However, still waters run deep. Behind the scenes this experienced administrator is a real creative whizz. From painting and making jewellery, to studying Kathak (a classical form of Indian dance) and hosting her own YouTube channel, Adi always has something she's working on. She also loves to travel, but since moving from Qatar, Adi has calmed her restless feet by embracing the lifestyle balance offered by living in Christchurch.

If you're after a football-mad dog person who can speak Dutch and loves electronica, Alex is your guy. He's also a specialist in some useful things - like business analytics and data science, stakeholder relations and User Experience. Alex's background is in industrial psychology, which sparked his interest in all things data. When he's not neck-deep in detail, he's all about finding that perfect flat white, frequenting the local surf breaks, or producing some drum and bass tunes.

Andrew has a body of work to his name which most can only aspire to. He has the rare knack of being able to take an idea and distil it down to its raw ingredients, thus providing the basis for a thoughtful design. Andrew inspires our teams to constantly try new things and to evolve. He's always inside the mind of the user, and ensures User Experience is at the core of everything we do. Andrew moonlights as the office DIY advisor, and when he's not tinkling the ivories on his home piano he's eyeing up his next home improvement project.

Callum is an expert at picking up the ball and running with it. Both literally and metaphorically. In fact, thanks to his seven year's experience as a Rugby Performance Analyst and Coach, Callum brings a lot of complementary skills to his role at Media Suite. He's into learning new tech and building cool stuff in environments that put the end user first, but when he's not in the office you'll often find him hiking with his dog Theo.

If you combine the extreme attention to detail of a trained pharmacist and a passion for UI you get Catherine. A Javascript specialist with React experience, Catherine applies her unique background to great effect doing what she loves best - building great things with great people. She's also a big fan of true crime documentaries, which makes complete sense when you think about it.

On paper, the guy who carves spoons, paraglides and loves all things Hobbits, may not seem like a natural financial whiz. Chris is here to break such stereotyping and prove that process improvement, financial storytelling, analysis and business modelling can pair pretty darn well with dress ups, making velvet waistcoats and forest hiking. Chris loves a good rabbit (read: hobbit) hole and dives right into the detail to find out how things tick, and how we can make them leaner, faster and stronger. He's got a head for figures, a heart for community and a hands on attitude.

The appeal of the great outdoors and a culture based on building the right thing brought Craig to Media Suite. He's passionate about people and extremely adept at analysing designs to steer partners right. It's all part and parcel of a career in operations management and digital project management. When he's not on the clock you'll find Craig and his young family in the hills or on the water - hiking, camping, and kayaking whenever they can.

Dominic went to University of Canterbury intending to be a Civil Engineer. Somewhere along the way he fell in love with software development. He did a graduate stint in development for customer relationship management systems, and is all about the JavaScript these days. A bit of a whiz in the kitchen, he's promised a steady supply of banana loaf for the team and swears he will bike to work in summer.

Eila's superpower is thinking about a problem in one language and communicating it in another. Which is perhaps why she's so darned good at helping our partners find creative solutions to complex problems. She's also a passionate environmental advocate with extensive government experience, making her a real asset to our CoLabs team. Her family have called Canterbury home for over a decade, where they take full advantage of living so close to the mountains and the sea.

Elliot is a bit of a dark horse, pulling off a degree in Software Engineering while simultaneously serving as a "grunt" in the New Zealand Defence Force Army Reserve. He has a true love of app development (experience in both native and cross-platform) and User Experience design. In his role as a Support Developer, he helps our partners get the best from their bespoke software. A passion for all things code means you'll also spot him digging into some of our JS-based projects.

Emma is an expert relationship-builder and problem solver who honed her skills at AI/data technology start-ups and early stage businesses. That means she has a zeal for applying new technology to create positive societal change, but comes with the entrepreneurial know-how for getting that done. Outside of work, Emma loves nothing better than trying out new culinary experiments with her young family, diving into books on quantum physics, and dreaming about recreating the farm she used to live on in Wales.

Kite Surfer, Glider Pilot, Yachtsman. George wears many hats but when he's not playing wind sports (or wearing hats) you'll find him pulling strings, peddling our wares and generally keeping the Media Suite's wheels spinning. While he has spent almost 20 weeks on crutches this year it has hardly slowed him down.

Glenda has an equally intuitive understanding of people and numbers, often helping the former turn the latter into meaningful action. It's what makes her excel as Media Suite's CFO, but it also speaks to her great experience in people coaching, strategy, and leadership. Glenda loves nothing better than demystifying complex numbers for wider audiences, that is, of course, when she's not windsurfing, biking, or just enjoying life with her young family.

Building open source education platforms requires a fierce mix of diligence and vision. You have to sweat the details while not losing sight of the big picture. But that's the exact mix of qualities that helped Jack charge ahead in that field for over 10 years as a senior software engineer. Jack's other passions include Python, UX, and internationalising/localising software. In his spare time, he loves listening to music, gardening, cooking, board games, and spending time with his young family.

We're always happy to have Jacquie in the room because she's fantastic at giving voice to those who are not. Her deep passion for human-centred design and a wealth of experience working in the New Zealand and Australian public sectors give her an unerring focus on the needs of end users. And we love that! Away from work, Jacquie soaks up as much culture as her native Christchurch can provide while enjoying downtime with her partner and a retired racing greyhound called Kalani.

A fanatical rock climber and drum and bass head, James says things like “super duper rad”, owns five named chickens and counts an avocado tree among his prized possessions. He's relationship and people focused, ensuring we are delivering value in our partnerships. James is most at home in the complex, dynamic and nuanced problem spaces we specialise in and is always finding ways digital practices can transform and improve our future. He has more than 15 years experience in projects and roles spanning geospatial, product development, data analytics, change management and process improvement.

Jamie is all about coding with cool people and windsurfing. Which is lucky for us as we're fairly affable and work in an office overlooking the Ferrymead estuary (otherwise known as windsurfing central). As our graduate developer, Jamie is getting stuck in learning new skills and techniques that will add to his already formidable software skills. Away from the office/windsurfing central, Jamie loves climbing and spending time in the great outdoors.

Jess is active with a capital A. In the Media Suite office, she has an unrelenting curiosity for all things Silverstripe and loves nothing more than finding multiple solutions to the complex challenges posed by content management systems. Outside the office she's just as energetic, enjoying a packed schedule of winter netball, summer touch rugby, and frequent visits to the gym.

Two dogs, a cat, and a classic Datsun B310 keep Joseph occupied when he's not experiencing the great outdoors or developing awesome software. A former mechanic hailing from Nelson, Joe has 10 years of full stack experience across multiple tech stacks and has worked on everything from mobile apps to e-commerce solutions. He relishes a challenge and any chance to learn something new, which makes him a perfect fit at Media Suite.

A keen problem solver with an eye for detail, Jordan never stops learning - whether it's new tech stacks or Jiu Jitsu. Jordan comes to Media Suite with 5 years experience supporting Microsoft Data Centres in Japan. He's all about diagnosing problems and working through them methodically. Jordan is also fluent in Japanese and when he's not motorbike trail riding you might find him in front of the TV enjoying the odd Japanese game show.

Joshua has been a director and shareholder in Media Suite since 2004. His passion for social change and giving back led him to found Enspiral, a social innovations company, and Dev Academy, a 12 week program training web developers. Joshua provides strategic direction and mentoring to the development teams at Media Suite.

Julia is the ultimate relationship counsellor, deftly ensuring design, UX and development play nice in all our projects. A CSS whiz, she's focused on consistency and has a keen eye for detail, bringing practicality and flare to her work. Give her a problem, she's sure to come up with the best fix! If she's not eating, drinking or cooing over animal memes, she's lounging in the sun with her dog, Spyro, or lounging on the couch binge watching Netflix with her dog, Spyro.

In the Venn diagram between master list-maker and professional sourdough baker sits Kat, our multi-talented office manager. Kat sports a career that has taken in everything from planning marketing campaigns to creating professional baked goods. Fortunately she gave up the 4am starts to join Media Suite, where she applies her organisational skills to help us deliver more for our partners. Outside of work, Kat enjoys mountain biking, skiing, sewing, and good food (not necessarily sourdough).

Kirsty wears a lot of hats, and she wears them well. From project manager to awesome administrator, she's spinning plates, wrangling cats and herding zebras - and all with a seemingly unstoppably positive attitude. Kirsty is your go-to for getting stuff done, smoothing the road ahead and ensuring our team and partners are enjoying the ride. She brings a huge breadth of experience, a love of 1950s floofy skirts and a passion for all things David Bowie. Despite her self-described “breakable” age, she also owns a pair of proper roller skates.

Lee describes himself as a good asker of questions. Which is certainly an understatement considering his 28 years of experience straddling software development, architecture and strategy in sectors as diverse as banking and health. However, he's never lost his passion for engineering. Lee loves nothing better than getting into the weeds of a problem, whether he's working out a proof of concept for Media Suite or following his passion for music production or repairing vintage computers.

Rembrandt and van Gogh have nothing on Media Suite's very own Dutch master - at least when it comes to user interface and user experience design. Mar hails from Alkmaar in the Netherlands, where she developed a love of cycling, art house movies, and digital design. Creating smooth, intuitive user experiences is Mar's MO, especially when it's for projects with real world impact.

Mark plays the role of tech lead with skill and is an Agile master with a love of Javascript-based technologies. He's a dab hand in web, server and mobile development and can wrangle a group of devs like nobody's business. Calm under pressure, Mark's your man for project leadership, pipeline planning and Agile ceremonies. He's all about living the Kiwi DIY dream, tinkering with his car, and hitting the outdoors with his family.

Environmental educator turned climate coder, Matt loves working on platforms that bring together people and the planet, creating practical applications that have a real world impact. He's most at home with React and Node.js, boiling down complex systems and concepts into smart solutions - particularly those that measure our impact on the natural world. Matt's been suffering from ‘puppy fever' and his Christchurch home doubles as an orphanage for foster dogs until they find their forever homes.

Max is an experienced organiser/plate spinner/cat herder with an eye for detail and a perceptive mind, linking the goal and process to the solution. He brings his experience as a developer to his analysis work, making him the ideal link between the technical and the business or user. Max has a lot of plates spinning outside of work too, directing the Christchurch Youth Choir, adventuring with husband Nic and their mini labradoodle Luna, and enjoying all of the work-life balance Canterbury has to offer.

Niall sees plenty of Canterbury sunrises at the weekend - not because he parents a toddler, but because he's a dedicated Formula 1 groupie trying to live on European time. When he's not watching the racing, he's all about working with Linux and Docker and coding in Python, figuring out how to solve the next complex problem. He's passionate about using new tools to build bigger, better and smarter things, giving computers tasks that free up the user to focus on their best work.

A polish lad with a fondness for Scotland and industrial cities, Przemek's love of code includes everything from debugging and user interaction right through to databases and middleware. Whether it's learning new programming languages or working on slick new web apps, his happy place is nutting out problems and automating processes. Przemek is a man who loves to walk, climb and stare at mountains. He'll also get pretty excited about the right coastline. Canterbury has both in spades and he's gearing up to see them all.

The first thing you should know about Rae? She loves the colour purple, big time. The next most important things include her keen eye for lightweight, efficient processes and an instinct for people, communication and effective working relationships. She's spent two decades focusing on building robust, reliable and secure software. A cricket buff, keen skier and recently returned expat, she's all about the NZ weather and raving about having a lawn she can mow.

Bio coming soon!

Sharmaine lists her specialties as spreadsheets, nagging, timesheet tracking and ordering the weekly Learning Lunch eats. While these are incredibly valuable skills in our team (probably among the most valuable, if we're honest), what Sharmaine really brings to the team is a superb eye for detail, an ability to juggle a To Do list as long as her arm and her knack for ensuring we're always improving our efficiency and working smarter. In her down time she's out exploring Canterbury and binge-watching murder mystery shows.

Deep diving the detail gets Shelly out of bed in the morning. That, and walking her horse-sized rescue dog Loki. With a history in the analysis, support and testing spaces, she brings a diverse range of skills to the Media Suite team. She has a passion for change management, and the desire to improve lives using clever technology. In her spare time, you'll find her cycling, pounding the pavement, at the gym - or just 'refuelling' from all that exercise.

What do you get when you combine 20 years of DevOps and SysOps experience with a head full of obscure knowledge, a red speedo and a passion for DIY, and craft beer? Well, you get Steve - the Sumner-based British expat keeping the Media Suite lights on (and shining at premium brightness). Steve specialises in fault finding, optimising systems and processes and ensuring our projects get the love and care they deserve long after they venture out into the real world. Ask him about his free range backyard rabbits…

Steve heads up our Operations Team, runs the Support Crew, and ensures everything is hunky dory. He's our testing whiz and plays a committed role in the development of the Media Suite company culture. If something's broken, Steve makes sure it gets fixed. He's a keen collector of Apple gadgets and keeps the office stocked with sugary goodness. You'll find him out and about with his dog, Alfie, buying stuff for Alfie, or posting photos of Alfie. Steve loves Alfie.

Stu has decades of experience as a Software Engineer, Technical Architect and Software Development Manager in the financial, natural resources, and government sectors. He has always taken on jobs where he could spend at least half of his time cutting code. Stu lives in Queenstown with his wife and small posse of very demanding cats. His current location means he can hit the ski slopes regularly, chop all the firewood he could ever need, and continue his diatribe on the state of society from the safety of his lifestyle block.

If there's a dog around, Subhra will find it and pat it. That's a fact. Second to dogs is coding. Subhra brings some serious passion and a love of learning to his craft as a Media Suite full stack dev. Coding is his jam, and he's up for any language or framework on offer. Despite having lived in Canterbury only three years, he's just as passionate about his new home, and captures some stunning shots on his regular photographic adventures.

Tim has been working with subject matter experts to demystify challenging topics for almost 20 years - as a motoring journalist, content developer, technical writer, and marketer. He hasn't got the usual CV, but he has a breadth of experience championing end users that runs through all his work. Hailing from the UK, Tim is an avid follower of Formula One and a big fan of English bitter served at room temperature.

Tim's head is in the cloud, but we wouldn't have it any other way. Tim is a Full Stack Engineer with more than 20 years' experience across generations of content management platforms and software development languages. Keeping pace with the ever evolving discipline of building cloud platforms is his enduring pursuit. In other words, he's a real problem solver - whether he's delving into software archaeology or planning a weekend excursion.

Tineke says she can tolerate mess, as long as it's not in the code. Which is fantastic because, with more than 25 years of experience under her belt, Tineke really helps set the bar at Media Suite as one of our senior software engineers. As you might guess, she is a big fan of creating elegant software solutions and great user experiences. But Tineke is also passionate about the environment, knitting, LGBTQIA+ rights, long hikes and wild swimming.