Staff grows more than 15 percent, spurred by Technology Development Grant
Mako Networks has hired five additional employees to further bolster its research and development programme and customer support. The hires follow a $4.3 million Technology Development Grant from the Ministry of Science and Innovation awarded earlier this year to accelerate Mako’s R&D programme.
The new hires include:
- Tina Bartels, User Experience Manager
- Robert James, Junior Software Developer
- Alan Yang, Junior Software Developer
- Andrew Wood, Testing Manager
- Bobby Sadaram, Customer Support Specialist
Mako Networks has hired Tina Bartels in a new position as User Experience Manager, tasked to streamline Mako’s Central Management System user interface, and further the company’s user-focused design philosophy. In addition, Bartels will be responsible for Mako Networks’ website design and maintaining consistency across the two platforms.
Tina joins Mako after a period working as an independent user experience consultant. In prior roles, she worked for Localist and the North Shore City Council, where as Digital Channel Manager she led her team to five awards in the 2010 Association of Local Government Information Management (ALGIM) Web Awards, including Best Redeveloped Website and Best New Feature Website.
Robert James joins Mako as a Junior Software Developer after graduating from the University of Auckland with a Bachelor of Engineering honours degree.
He recently completed an internship at Compac Sorting Equipment, developing a software application to mine data from system software backups. The position with Mako will be his first full-time professional role.
Joining Robert as a Junior Software Developer is Alan Yang, another recent graduate of the University of Auckland. With a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science and Information Systems, Yang’s other achievements include a summer research scholarship awarded by the university in 2009.
With 15 years of industry experience, Andrew Wood will take a new position with Mako Networks as Testing Manager. He most recently worked at Renaissance as an Innovation Manager, representing Palo Alto Networks and Allot Communications.
In prior roles, Andrew was a Product Program Manager with Endace, and contracted technical services to Alcatel-Lucent.
He holds two degrees from the University of Canterbury: a Bachelor of Science degree in physics, and a Bachelor of Engineering (Electrical and Electronic).
Rounding out the new hires is Bobby Sadaram, hired as a Customer Support Specialist. In New Zealand he has worked for CyberCom, while in India he was a Junior Systems Administrator for Inex Soft, which provides IT-based process control solutions for industrial applications.
Mako Networks Research and Development Director Murray Knox says:
“These new team members add significant depth to our R&D efforts, bringing a mix of deep industry experience and bright, new potential. This is a marked expansion for our company, and thanks to the Technology Development Grant, we believe it will yield a competitive advantage as we take on the global marketplace. We are actively seeking to further expand our team with additional hires in the year ahead.”