Janet Mazenier

I am intimately acquainted with the current telecommunications environment and the challenges New Zealand faces as it creates a vision for our social, community and economic future enabled by fast and affordable broadband. 

My experience is very current and ranges from a policy, architectural and implementation perspective, having led the Voco team responsible for the assessment of the Digital Strategy’s Broadband Challenge fund applications.  

Prior to joining i-solutions (now known as Voco) in October 2005, I was responsible for managing Telecom's delivery of Project PROBE - a project which gave me insight to working within an incumbent telecommunications supplier, while delivering a project which challenged the corporate 'norm'.  I was continually exposed to the commercial realities of the challenges of delivering high speed internet to New Zealanders, and to the broadband-related needs and demands of communities for social, community and economic growth.

Changes within the global telecommunications and computing industry are transforming the opportunities for a digital, knowledge based economy before our eyes.  We’ve seen it here with recent changes to the New Zealand regulatory environment, the unbundling of the local loop and government investment in broadband uptake – all of which are designed to allow our constituents and organisations to participate in this digital economy.

The question New Zealanders are now asking is what benefits can they obtain from these changes and how will the internet transform their lives and businesses to achieve them.  High speed (broadband) access to content such as rich media, the ability to utilize services such as video and voice calls over the internet and transfer graphical information still seem light-years away – InternetNZ plays a major part in driving hard towards these aspirations for all New Zealanders.

I bring to the role of Councillor over 17 years experience as a Project Director, Business Development Manager and Consultant. As well as working in the telecommunications industry I have worked for companies such as IBM, Lucent Technologies, Unisys and the Education Review Office.

I have been lucky enough to experience first-hand how InternetNZ plays a significant role in continuing to inform and shape the New Zealand landscape including politicians, policy-makers, internet users and suppliers. 

I was elected to a Council position via a bi-election in January 2006 and hold an extremely strong desire to continue as a Councillor – I have only had time to scratch the surface of what Council involves itself in, and the potential value InternetNZ can bring to New Zealand.  In this short time I have participated as a member of the public policy committee and on the Structural Review Taskforce Group.

Recently, Margot McCutcheon and myself realized that our passion for determining our own destinies collided (having worked together 13 years ago at NZ Rail).  We have formed Fuse Communications Ltd – a company which focuses on delivering project management and business capability to people and organizations throughout NZ utilizing a “constellation” of associates and consultants.  We are excited about this and the potential for Fuse’s clients.  We sincerely hope that working in the same organization doesn’t preclude us from being elected to Council as we believe we individually have a huge amount of knowledge and experience to contribute.

I live in Eastbourne, Wellington and have two daughters and three step-children.  I am married to John and we both share a passion for travel, our family and friends, dog ownership and competition, fitness, wine and food.