A TALE OF FOUR CITIES - Unlimited Potential - UP Expat '08 with the Wellies
Channel: Jo Booth
Date: 2012-05-03

In conjunction with the Wellies, Unlimited Potential brings you a panel discussion. We put together people who have taken the leap to Wellington from the four corners of the world, and discussed the reasons they chose Wellington. We opened the floor for questions and opportunities to tell your stories, at a relaxed, traditional UP networking event.

One of our panelists, Adam Shand [AdamShand.net], was born in England but grew up moving back and forth between New Zealand and California. In 1993 he started Dunedin's first commercial ISP and then headed off to measure himself against the world. 
He spent three years in Alaska working for one of the largest ISPs in North America and another three years in Oregon where he built his first Linux cluster for a semiconductor design company. While he was in Oregon he founded Personal Telco, a non-profit which worked with local communities to provide free wireless internet access to the public. 
Five years ago he chose to move back to Wellington undertaking a mixture of management and technical work, as current digital operations manager for Weta Digital.

Professor Mark Ahn, PhD. is Professor and Chair, Science & Technology Entrepreneurship with a joint appointment from the faculties of Commerce & Administration and Science, Victoria University of Wellington. Dr Mark has teaching and research interests that include leadership and organizational learning, and social responsibility and venture philanthropy.

John Clegg, CEO of ProjectX Technology Limited, founder of Zoomin.co.nz, and the company behind Trade Me smaps. Previously to ProjectX, John held a number of positons at a number of online auction startups including CTO of Baazee.com (now Ebay India). John has a MBA and Bsc. from Victoria University. 
John was involved in Summer of Code initiative, and is passionate about fostering talent - in a ProjectX Press release: "We are totally committed to getting talented young people working in this city and we are dedicated to making this city a Mecca for technology graduates from all over New Zealand."{PDF}

Brian Calhoun has been with SilverStripe for over a year and has recently taken on the role of CEO. Brian brings over 18 years of software and web industry experience mostly in Silicon Valley and for the past three years, Brian's been a proud Wellingtonian.
Brian has contributed to and implemented open source CMS products here in New Zealand and in the U.S. He has led web projects and architected sites for over 10 years, including government and commercial sites in New Zealand.

We asked them the following:

Why Wellington? What were the key factors in your decision to move to Wellington?
What were your first impressions of Wellington and Wellingtonians and have they stuck - were they welcoming and accepting of you?  
Wellington v The World - How does the Wellington 'scene' compare with northern hemisphere "hubs"?  
Does Wellington and New Zealand have any attractive qualities that other northern hemisphere hubs don’t have?
What are your observations about what Wellington could do to attract more highly skilled ICT people?
Any comments on the immigration or job seeking process?
What advice would you give someone looking to move to NZ?
If you were advising Government on how to stop the brain drain - what would you recommend?