Jade is excited to announce that Guy Horrocks and Anna Curzon have been appointed as Non-Executive Directors to the Jade Board effective from April 2024. Guy and Anna join as Jade embarks upon a new chapter of ambitious growth under the leadership of CEO Justin Mercer.
Guy Horrocks is a New Zealand technology entrepreneur who has spent the last 20 years founding and supporting software startups, in both New Zealand and New York. Guy established himself as an early pioneer of the mobile app industry co-founding the world's first commercial iPhone app company in 2007, Polar Bear Farm. He then founded one of the world's leading mobile agencies, Carnival Labs, building over 100 mobile apps for companies such as CNN, HBO, Estee Lauder, and DreamWorks. He continues to work with leading New Zealand tech companies and is an MBA mentor at the University of Canterbury.
Guy Horrocks also launched SOLVE, a new real-time data warehouse and has advised other Kiwi startups such as Tracksuit and Halter. He sits on the Board of New Zealand's largest public news and media company, NZME, as well as precious metal company, New Zealand Mint.
"I'm extremely excited about joining the Jade Board where I started my career in 2006 while at the University of Canterbury being mentored by then Jade CEO, Rod Carr. It's a remarkable opportunity to work with both an iconic New Zealand software company, as well as Skipton, who has wide reaching influence and positive impact in the property services sector in the United Kingdom. Property-tech is an area I'm extremely passionate about as an entrepreneur, an angel investor, and in an advisory capacity to OneRoof.co.nz. I look forward to working with Justin, the Board and the talented wider team at Jade and Skipton."
Anna Curzon is the former global Chief Product Officer at Xero where over seven years she led the global product team, spearheading product management, development, design, product operations and product marketing, and prior to that was Managing Director for Xero New Zealand.
Anna has a wealth of experience in the financial services sector, with over 18 years across senior leadership roles at ASB in Internet Banking, Brand & Marketing, Innovation & Design and the Contact Centre. She was appointed to the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) by Dame Jacinda Ardern in 2021 (chairing the ABAC Economic Integration Working Group in 2023) and recently reappointed by Prime Minister Christopher Luxon. Anna served on the Prime Minister's Business Advisory Group from 2018-2020, and in 2017 the Global SaaS Report named Anna one of the Top 25 global women leaders in SaaS. Alongside Jade, Anna is a Board Director at Kiwibank and Atomic.io.
She advocates for diversity within the tech industry and is passionate about encouraging women and other underrepresented groups into STEM opportunities. When Anna made the pivot from executive to governance, she decided to focus her efforts on supporting other New Zealand tech companies with global ambitions.
"When I think about iconic kiwi tech companies, Jade is the first to come to mind, it is part of our heritage and its products are powering a number of New Zealand's biggest brands, along with significant brands in Australia and the United Kingdom. Jade has inspired and produced some of New Zealand's best tech talent over the years, the team are well positioned with the support of Skipton Group to move to the next level of growth. Having the UK's fourth largest building society in the Group along with the largest real estate agency and property services provider is an incredible opportunity for Jade. Skipton Group's confidence and conviction in Jade, matched with our ability to take a customer-centric approach to solving problems across their brands has the potential to be exceptionally rewarding. I am looking forward to working with fellow Board members, Justin and the Jade team to successfully navigate this phase of Jade's journey."
Jade Board Chair, Sue Suckling adds, “We are delighted to have both Guy Horrocks and Anna Curzon join us. The Board play a key strategic role in challenging thinking and supporting the Jade team as they execute their strategy. Guy and Anna have extensive technology and business experience that will greatly assist us as we continue to scale globally”.
About Jade
Jade powers and protects businesses globally. We deliver a range of products and services, including Jade Investigations Case Management (ICM), Jade Platform, Jade ThirdEye and a range of Digital Services solutions which help organisations succeed in a changing world.
Today, Jade is part of the Skipton Group, enabling us to have an even bigger global impact, while maintaining local expertise and support. The Group is made up of Skipton Building Society; Connells Group, the largest UK estate agency and property services provider; offshore finance capability through Skipton International; Skipton Business Finance and Jade Software Corporation (“Jade”).