OUR TEAM
Our unique, multi-skilled teams have expertise across the disciplines of surveying, hydraulics, electronics, GIS and IT to give you the best advice and support for your project. As the exclusive national distributor for one of the world’s largest manufacturers of positioning and machine control systems, our sales and support teams are tapped into the very latest, state-of-the art developments.
Position Partners’ senior management has more than 200 years of combined industry expertise, with contributions to various associations and Australian Spatial Industry initiatives.
NEW ZEALAND BOARD
Ian Petherbridge
Chairman
Having started his career as a surveyor, and then co-founder of a national IT company, Ian has an excellent technical background and understanding of business. Ian has more than 30 years of senior executive experience and is skilled in growing businesses from small beginnings into highly successful national and international operations. An experienced Chairman with a comprehensive understanding of business management and sound governance practices, Ian works as Chairman for the Position Partners group.
Martin Nix
Chief Executive Officer
Martin Nix is the CEO and Managing Director of Position Partners, a company that distributes and services systems for positioning, construction machine control and geospatial data management in Australia, New Zealand and South East Asia. He practiced as a surveyor until 1984 and then joined Leica Geosystems where he held a number of management roles in Australia, Switzerland and USA until 2009. The roles included President Americas Sales and Service, Business Area Manager Mining and Agriculture Systems and Corporate Officer while Leica Geosystems was listed on the Swiss Stock Exchange. Martin has a Masters of Surveying (GIS) (’90) from UNSW and is a Member of the Institute of Company Directors. He is a director of three companies, and has Board advisory roles including School of Surveying UNSW. He has participated in Working Groups to develop Australia’ space policy and National Positioning Infrastructure and is Co-chair of the Attorney General’s Space Community of Interest, which supports risk management of critical infrastructure.
Garry MacPhail
Geospatial Business Executive & Western Australia
Garry is a qualified engineering surveyor and began his career with Hinco Engineering in 1984. Hinco were distribution agents for Topcon Libero fuga facilis vel consectetur quos sapiente deleniti eveniet dolores tequipment in Western Australia. In 1989, Topcon established a direct sales office and Garry was appointed the State Manager for Western Australia. In 2000, he founded Stadia Instruments with Bernard Cecchele taking over the distribution of Topcon in WA. Garry was Company Director for eight years until Stadia Instruments combined with ABC laser, Laser Quip, Laser Beams and Ross Instruments to form Position Partners. Garry managed the Western Australia branch since Position Partners formed in 2008, he now manages the Geospatial business, is a member of the Executive Steering Team and is an Executive Director of the board.
Alex Felgate
Managing Director – Position Partners New Zealand
Alex has managed the New Zealand business since 2016, when his company Optical Services joined the Position Partners group. Having worked as a service technician for Sokkisha New Zealand since 1990, Alex and his wife Vicky established Optical Services in 2000. In his 30 years of experience with Sokkia survey instruments, Alex and his team are well placed to support New Zealand customers with a wide range of geospatial and machine solutions.
Executive Steering Team
Bernadette Taoro Ashin
Strategic Head of People and Culture
Bernadette is an experienced Human Resources professional with extensive experience across both private and public sectors. In her previous role, Bernadette was an Executive team member and the Leader of Human Resources for St Vincent’s Private Hospital and Mater Hospital Sydney. Prior to this, Bernadette was the National Human Resource Manager for Asciano, an ASX-listed Australian freight logistics company. In her role as Strategic Head of People and Culture, Bernadette is responsible for a wide range of programs including talent management, learning and development and recruitment to position the company as an Employer of Choice in the industries we serve.
Harry Katsanevas
Strategic Business Development & Queensland Manager
Harry has been directly involved in the Laser and Machine Control business for 20 years commencing in the service area.He has received extensive training in Denmark, Sweden USA and Australia. Harry is recognized world-wide as a professional in terms of the best utilization of Machine Automation Equipment in Construction. Harry commenced his employment within this industry in the workshop managing maintenance and repairs. Based in Queensland, he is the Executive Manager for Business Development including emerging technology for construction site solutions and Tokara telematics remote asset control technology.
Reece Kline
Chief Financial Officer
Reece started his career with William Buck Chartered Accountants. He has since held Chief Financial Officer, Company Secretarial and General Management roles in the pharmaceutical and waste industries for both private and publically listed companies. He holds a degree in Business and is a member of CPA Australia and the Financial Services Institute of Australasia. Reece has held the role of Chief Financial Officer since 2012. In addition to this Reece is also the Company Secretary.
Gina Velde
Executive Marketing Manager
Gina began her career as a journalist in the UK, working for an online newswire at a London-based publishing company. In 2007 she moved to Australia, where she worked at Leica Geosystems’ Brisbane office and specialised in marketing communications for the Precision Agriculture business unit. Gina joined Position Partners in 2010 as Marketing Communications Manager, successfully building and managing both company and supplier brands throughout Australia, South East Asia and New Zealand. With a passion for communication, Gina leads the strategic marketing direction across all business areas and product lines to ensure that Position Partners is front of mind when customers are looking for intelligent positioning solutions.
Jason Curtis
National Service Centre and New South Wales Manager
Jason began working for Laserquip – one of the five companies that merged to form Position Partners – in 1995 as an electronics technician. In his 24 years working for Laserquip and later Position Partners, Jason has gained extensive experience across our field service, support, workshop and operations departments as well as management positions for the NSW service department and branch manager for the Newcastle office. Jason was the NSW/ACT Operations Manager for eight years, before becoming the Executive Manager for Professional Services. In his current role, Jason manages the logistics, support and subscriptions services as well as leading the regional professional services teams throughout Australia.
Greg Macklin
General Manager – Australia & New Zealand
Greg has built his career in both the construction materials and equipment rental industries and holds a degree in Business and Marketing. He has held a number of senior sales management positions in Victoria and South Australia, specialising in strategy and business development. He brings to Position Partners a passion for continuous improvement, team culture, customer growth and outstanding customer service.
Daniel Shibata
Executive Manager – Business Development & Planning
Daniel Shibata joined Mitsui & Co. in 1999 working for the retail business in the fashion industry. In this role he gained extensive experience in importation, licensing and supply chain management, whilst simultaneously completing business studies at Luiss university in Italy.Daniel has worked in the global construction and mining industry for more than 10 years. He was the Executive Vice President at Komatsu’s mining distributor in Mexico before returning to Japan and working as the project manager for Mitsui’s investment in Position Partners. Daniel joined Position Partners in 2019 as a member of the executive team. He has a commerce degree from Waseda university and speaks Japanese, English, Spanish and Italian.
Mathew Connelly
Regional Manager – South East Asia
Mat is a qualified surveyor with extensive experience across a wide cross section of technologies including machine control, paving solutions, survey and GNSS equipment.Having joined Position Partners in 2012, Mat has worked as a field service technician, managed our Darwin branch and now leads our South East Asia team. With a passion for working collaboratively with customers to deeply understand their project needs, Mat is able to offer comprehensive project management and technical advice.
Andrew Granger
Mining Business Manager
Andrew manages Position Partners’ mining, solar and landfill business across Australia, South East Asia and New Zealand. With extensive expertise in Fleet Management Systems and High Precision Machine Guidance, Andrew is passionate about deeply understanding customer’s project and site needs to deliver supported solutions.
FOUNDERS
Our founders with senior management roles include: Garry MacPhail (Western Australia), Craig Fleming (South Australia), Mike Forrest (South East Asia, recipient of the Topcon Spirit of Excellence Award), Harry Katsanevas (Queensland), and Bernard Cecchele (Western Australia).
Our retired founders include: Anne Forrest (Queensland), Garry Fleming (New South Wales), Janine Arnold and Robert Bent (Victoria) and David Gow (South Australia).
Brian McLoughlin
Brian was a founder of Position Partners, who sadly passed away on 17th January 2016 after a battle with cancer. Brian commenced his sales career in 1975 with Banbury Engineering, then distributors for Kato excavators, and sold his first laser in 1976. He moved to Laser Alignment in 1980 and was one of the early pioneers of the use of dual grade lasers and machine control. Together with business partner Garry Fleming, he started Laserquip in Sydney in 1987, where they introduced the concept of 2D control for graders in 1990. Brian managed the NSW and ACT operation of Position Partners. Click here to read more.
