Doing business with...

By CIO Staff | Thursday, March 06 2008

David Gandar, managing director, Delta Software

Name: David Gandar

Company: Delta Software

Position: Managing director

Age: 53

Where do you live? Auckland CBD

Married? Children? Formerly married, with four children.

Where are you from? Wellington

Where did you go to school? Wellington (Auckland for MBA)

How long have you been working in ICT? Twenty-five years


What are your interests outside work/ICT? Family, music, playing piano, reading non-fiction, cycling, fitness, some travel.

What’s the best thing about working with IT executives? They’re smart, well-educated, generally wide interests, interesting. They’re developing a business overview rather than a technical focus, as was common some years ago.

What is the worst? Smart, well-educated ... But seriously, talking shop a lot used to be a headache sometimes, I think less so today.

For customers, are you the technical authority on products or an approachable ‘big picture’ person? Big picture.

If you could invent any IT product for your customers, what would it be? Something that managed HR better, like a mood reader, motivation reader — some way of metering what makes people tick.

What is the stupidest question you’re asked by CIOs? I’ve never been asked a stupid question by one.

What is your favourite networking situation? A social event, where people relax, such as over dinner with some entertainment.

What are you passionate about? Doing a great job as a New Zealand IT business, we can foot it with the biggest here.

What are you afraid of? Having to slow down too much before I’ve had time to get everything done.
I’d like to offer you a bribe… what couldn’t you resist? That’s meant to be a secret — otherwise everyone will know. Probably an all-expenses trip to a resort, call it a conference as long as it’s on a beach.

What will you do when you retire? Move out of the city and find something to do that isn’t retirement.