SAP New Zealand grows Public Sector team with ex-NZDF hires

Line of Defence Magazine - Update

Tim Ellis
New SAP Public Sector team recruit Tim Ellis. Image supplied.

SAP New Zealand has made two new senior hires to its Wellington-based Public Sector team: Nick Olney as Senior Industry Advisor, and Tim Ellis as Senior Account Executive.

Nick Olney joins SAP following a 30-year career with the New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF). As Senior Industry Advisor at SAP New Zealand, Olney brings his strategic leadership experience and knowledge of NZDF and the wider public sector.

Nick was most recently Commander of the NZDF Deployable Joint Inter Agency Task Force (DJIATF). He led and commanded the New Zealand military response to evacuate citizens from Afghanistan following the Taliban takeover of Kabul in August 2019. He later led the military response to Tonga following the volcanic eruption in January 2022.

Senior Account Executive Tim Ellis will be focused on customers in the defence and security sector. He brings extensive knowledge of the technology sector, experience in leadership roles and a solid understanding of the New Zealand public sector. He was previously Program Director at AI-enabled data-to-knowledge company Babel Street, where he collaborated with defence, intelligence, law enforcement, and elite sport organisations. 

“As Aotearoa’s public sector seeks to run smarter, faster and more sustainably, we are thrilled to have these high-calibre hires join our team to help accelerate the digitisation of government agencies across the country,” said Nick Quin, Director, Public Sector, SAP New Zealand.

“Both Nick and Tim bring a wealth of leadership and management experience across high performing teams, technical expertise, as well as deep relationships across the public sector. We’re confident our public sector customers will reap the benefits, with our broadened team and aligned approach helping them become truly intelligent enterprises and build for a better future”.   

“We have bold ambitions for the year ahead, coming off a highly successful 2021.,” said Adrian Griffin, Managing Director, SAP New Zealand, “… and it is exciting to bring two new highly experienced resources into market to assist our customers”.

RiskNZ