Spark New Zealand has announced a new CEO for Spark Ventures, Ed Hyde, who originally joined Spark back in 2006.
Hyde will be replacing Rod Snodgrass, who is ‘leaving Spark later in the year to concentrate on driving corporate innovation and growth across a select range of New Zealand businesses, as Spark announced back in April.
The news comes a couple of months after iTWire reported Spark putting ‘on the gloves’ over the $3.4 billion Sky TV and Vodafone NZ merger back in June.
At the time, Spark NZ MD, Simon Moutter said of the announcement of “a proposed merger between Sky TV and Vodafone NZ is significant industry news, but it doesn’t change Spark’s business focus or our ambition to help New Zealanders make the most of the power of technology to unleash their potential.”
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Of Ed Hyde’s appointment, Moutter said: “I’m very pleased to have Ed join my Leadership Team. Ed has been instrumental in the success of Spark Ventures to date, helping Rod build the Venture portfolio via a number of key roles, most recently as CEO of Qrious, our fast-growing data analytics business.
“Spark Ventures has played an important innovation role in our transformation to date and, as we shift to “Ventures 2.0”, it will continue to be influential in setting the company’s forward-looking agenda.
“I’m confident Ed will take Ventures to the next level of its evolution. His move into the CEO Spark Ventures role will understandably have an impact on leadership in Qrious, which we will finalise and announce shortly.
“I am also especially proud that this is yet another appointment from within, reflecting both a commitment to building capabilities for future growth, recognition of our rising talent and sound succession planning.”
Spark NZ notes that ‘Hyde joined Spark in 2006 and is currently CEO of Qrious, a Big Data and Analytics business which launched in March 2014 tasked with delivering value to customers through the better use of data.’
Prior to this, Hyde was ‘responsible for the development of a number of start-ups in the data and mobile domain in both the UK and NZ and spent a number of years as GM of Mobile for Spark.’
The company explains that Hyde has ‘a passion for digital, transformational technologies and disruptive business models,’ and will take up his new position from 1 October, 2016.
