N4L CEO John Hanna (L) congratulates Greg Woolley (R) on his Interim CEO appointment.
Following five years as inaugural Chief Executive Officer of Network for Learning (N4L), John Hanna is leaving the company.
The N4L Board has appointed technology veteran Greg Woolley, currently N4L’s Chief Product Officer, as Interim CEO effective 20 Oct, and have launched a search for a permanent replacement.
Mr Hanna was appointed as the Crown company’s second employee and founding CEO in November 2012. He was tasked with building a team to develop world-class networks and services, especially designed for schools, that leverage the government’s investment in UFB (Ultra-fast Broadband).
The result is N4L’s Managed Network, which was rolled out ahead of schedule and under budget, and is now being used by more than 810,000 students and teachers across 2400-plus schools.
N4L Chair Helen Robinson says: “John has done an outstanding job of delivering N4L’s mandate to make sure every student in New Zealand has equitable access to the digital world of learning, while also building a company that has become highly respected by government and education sectors.
“This is no small feat and the Board and I thank him for his wonderful contribution, his tireless commitment to achieving our progressive goals, and for his passion to make a difference for our young people”.
Mr Hanna says that after five years at the helm, he felt the time was right to hand over the leadership to a fresh face: “It has been a remarkable journey. I am incredibly proud of what my team have achieved and the difference we are making in the sector.
“The Managed Network is helping schools better leverage technology with safe ultrafast broadband access for every learner and every school. Today, we can see schools embracing their fast, uncapped internet connections, with the data consumed across the Managed Network increasing exponentially every month”.
Ms Robinson says that as technology use becomes more ‘the norm’ within schools, and as schools continue to introduce more connected devices onto the network, that under Mr Woolley’s leadership the company will remain focussed on extending the capabilities of the N4L Managed Network, while developing new platforms and services to help enhance education for all New Zealand learners: “I am pleased to appoint Greg to the role of Interim CEO. He is a highly experienced business leader and engineer who has been a key member of N4L’s leadership team for the past year and the board feels confident he will step up to the challenge of leading the company”.
Mr Woolley has co-founded a number of software companies in the insurance, employee benefits, corporate wellness, and software service sectors, the most notable being Certus Solutions, which has been named the leading business partner for IBM in Australia and NZ.
Mr Hanna will be spending time with his family overseas in November before pursuing other interests.
About N4L’s Managed Network
The Managed Network provides fast, reliable and safe and uncapped internet as well as web security services for learning. In August 2017, a record-breaking 2.4 petabytes of data passed through N4L’s web filtering service, which in the same month blocked more than 1.1billion inappropriate websites and stopped more than 88 million security threats reaching school networks. (See graph below)
ENDS
For more information, please contact:
Julie Landry, Communications
Network for Learning
021 895 098