Roger Fulton - Managing Director
Roger and his brother Greg have owned TradeTech since 2001, when they bought the business from Grant and Janet Holmes.
Roger's first job on graduating from Auckland University was with Fisher and Paykel in 1974 as an engineer, working on a revolutionary washing machine with no gearbox and developing a humidifier in a newly formed medical division, now Fisher and Paykel Healthcare. Roger then moved into consulting engineering and specialized in hydro-electric engineering, carrying out mechanical and electrical design, refurbishment, commissioning new power stations, expert due diligence reports and feasibility studies in many areas of the world. Roger was managing director of a consulting practice in Auckland.
The 1980's saw this life-change junkie married and living on a 600 acre farm in the magnificent west-coast country south of Port Waikato. Roger and his wife, Wendy, spent the next 15 years farming sheep, beef and deer and raising their two children. During these years he learned a lot about getting things done, working in a community, and the total responsibility of a sole operator.
In 1990 he returned to engineering as a hydro-electric consulting engineer - initially as a junior engineer then as co-owner and director of the company.
During this time, among other things, he was responsible for the engineering due diligence process for the sale of Contact Energy.
Roger takes great pride in the way TradeTech has grown and is totally focussed on ensuring that customer service is the number one priority for the company.
"The last tenyears have probably been the most challenging of my career but it is a privilege to be able to work hard in your own company and watch it expand and develop. We have a great team here at TradeTech, all committed to making the company the ultimate resource for electronics".
Roger has been a sailor all his life and his smile is never wider than when he is out on the high seas with a tiller in his hand. He has competed in multi-sport events - Coast to Coast and Head to Head and the Round Taupo cycle race. He spends many hours dodging the Auckland traffic on his bright yellow Scott road bike. He and Wendy, who is also working in the company, have two grown children who are now both living in Auckland after time spent on their various OE adventures.
Greg Fulton - Director
When Greg and Roger bought TradeTech as a going concern in 2001, Greg, who maintains a 50/50 partnership in the company, immediately recognised the opportunity for TradeTech’s growth and also the operational synergy with his then appliance parts company, Prime Distributors Limited.
Greg has since sold Prime Distributors to Fisher and Paykel and is now Managing Director of Wire Solutions, a sister company to TradeTech - jointly owned by Greg, Roger and Grant Holmes. Wire Solutions was established in response to industry demand for power cables, looms and wire harnesses. The company has also developed as a specialist in automated precision crimping and termination machinery. TradeTech and Wire Solutions have many customers in common and staff from each company meet regularly to discuss how the synergies between the companies can best benefit the customer.
"Wire Solutions is an exciting company establishing itself as a supplier of cords, wire sets and harnesses to the manufacturing sector," says Greg.
Greg has a background in farming (dairy and kiwifruit) and like his brother, salt water running through his veins. Unlike Roger who prefers a tiller, Greg is most happy with a wheel in his hand and most summer weekends he and wife Vicki can be found cruising the gulf in their launch, Temptress. They have two children - their son Nick has also joined the family business working in Wire Solutions.
Sam Fulton - Operations Manager
Sam (yes he is the son of Roger and Wendy) joined the family company after many years in the mountain-tourism industry in the South Island. His experience as operations manager at Franz Josef Glacier Guides and Treble Cone Mountain and a stint running a cleaning business in London has given him a good understanding of the processes involved in running a successful business. He is passionate about providing customers with an outstanding experience and has high expectations for the service TradeTech can deliver.
Sam is Operations Manager at TradeTech and manager of the AV and OEM sales teams. He is driving many of the new initiatives at TradeTech and is an integral part in the growth of the company.
While Sam was working in the South Island his "office" in the mountains enabled him to pursue his passion for skiing. Now he looks forward to escaping from his city office for holidays in Wanaka where he and four friends have recently finished building a lodge.
Julie Reilly - Purchasing Manager
Julie has been with TradeTech since 2006 and has taken our purchasing department to new levels. Julie has worked in the electronics industry in New Zealand for 13 years, with such companies as Philips, Navman, and Soanar. Her background is in purchasing and customer service management. Prior to this Julie worked in the electronics industry in China. She has a Bachelor of Engineering Degree majoring in semi-conductors. Her specialist areas are procurement, inventory management, logistics, MRP systems, customer and supplier relations.
Julie's favourite pastime is shopping and if her extensive wardrobe is any indication she is obviously a mainstay of the retail sector in Auckland.
Melanie Kam - Assistant to Purchasing Manager
At the age of 16 Melanie and her family immigrated to New Zealand from Hong Kong. After graduating from Auckland University with a BCom/BA, Melanie returned to her home country for two years to work for a medical equipment company. She enjoyed her time in Hong Kong but is disappointed now that she didn’t make the most of that city’s famous shopping opportunities! “Next time” she says.
Melanie joined TradeTech as an assistant to our Purchasing Manager and has adapted very quickly to the requirements for fast and accurate work, sourcing spare parts and components from our worldwide list of suppliers.
Melanie has recently begun playing the accordion and is pleased to find that she has not lost the techniques she learnt as a ten year old. She has promised us a lunchtime recital!
Wendy Fulton - Special Projects and Marketing
Wendy’s experience in social marketing as Health Promotion Manager at the Auckland Cancer Society gave her the knowledge she needed to move into a marketing role at TradeTech. She is enjoying working in a commercial environment after being in the health sector but admits to struggling with the language of electronics!
Wendy is also enjoying the opportunity to work alongside husband Roger to build TradeTech into a solutions focussed company serving electronic spare parts, audio/video and the manufacturing sectors. She has been developing a new customer base and exploring opportunities for TradeTech in the manufacturing sector. She is blown away by the number, size and variety of companies in New Zealand manufacturing everything from beverage dispensing machines to windmills.
A keen sportswoman, Wendy has competed in the Coast to Coast, Head to Head, the Round Taupo cycle race and several triathlons.
Marita Bezzina - Accounts Manager
Marita joined TradeTech in 2000 and is responsible for the general accounting functions in the company. She has responsibility for overseas suppliers, freight, payroll and keeping an eye on foreign currency transactions. Marita has a wealth of general experience in the company.
Margaret Bennett - Accounts Administrator
Margaret has worked at TradeTech for six years and is responsible for Accounts Receivable and Payables for all our NZ Debtors and Creditors. Born and bred a Kiwi and she has spent most of her working life in the accounts field. Like most Kiwis she had a year off in her early twenties to do her big OE and still has many happy memories of those carefree times.
Margaret also spent seven years as a stay at home Mum to her two children before returning to the paid workforce. Margarets loves travelling and recently spent time exploring China which she found fascinating. She has the common Kiwi fantasy that next Saturday her numbers will come up and she'll be off. In the meantime she makes a significant contribution to TradeTech and keeps us all on our toes.
Alex Buwert - A/V Account Manager
Alex came to TradeTech in October 2006 from a background in sound engineering, specialising in home-audio customised solutions. He is our resident specialist for all audio video solutions. He loves all things electronics so (most days) he really enjoys working at TradeTech - finding solutions for a wide variety of customers in different settings.
Alex satisfies his two passions for music and cars with an impressive sound system in his home and a BMW 740 for those weekend drives. He has a love/hate relationship with jogging but pounds the streets to maintain his fitness.
David Smithson - A/V Account Manager
David has joined the TradeTech team with over 8 years experience in the retail and commercial appliance and AV industries and also several years in the hospitality Industry in London and Auckland.
David enjoys the challenges and the rapid rate of change that comes with technology in the A/V sector. He is looking forward to building effective relationships with current and new customers and to growing his knowledge of the A/V industry.
Married with 3 lovely kids, David enjoys all sports with a love of rugby and squash his current passions. He also enjoys spending time with the family and being involved in their hobbies and interests.
Barry Everett - A/V Sales and Marketing
Barry rejoined Trade Tech in early 2007 after Roger convinced him he was too young to retire! Barry has a background in telecommunications engineering, technical sales and marketing. He is keen to continue the development of systems and processes to ensure TradeTech’s customers receive the very best service and support from the Sales Team.
“It’s not just about selling electronic components. Customers are putting higher value on a consultative approach and our sales staff are becoming more and more involved in the buying decision - especially in complex manufacturing or equipment servicing situations”.
Barry is a DIY’er, enjoys overseas travel and one day hopes to find time to improve his golf game!
Margaux Whittaker - AV Account Manager
Margaux came to TradeTech from a chemical and plastics company where her role was to look after winery customers. The samples were great!
She gained her early experience at TradeTech in a customer service role and has now moved on to be an essential part of the A/V team. She is a wonderful account manager and her sunny personality and excellent product knowledge makes her a hit with customers throughout the North Island.
Margaux is very family orientated and her weekends are spent with family and friends.
She loves to travel and experience other cultures and her favourite destination is StradeBroke Island, Brisbane.
Summer as per most of TradeTech staff is spent on the beach but come winter she loves to head south for some snowboarding.
Jess Thompson - A/V Account Manager & Support
Jess joined TradeTech in June 2011 to provide support to our expanding Audio Video division. Her previous jobs with courier companies, in sales support and telesales have provided her with good experience to understand TradeTech’s business and customers. Her current role is to provide back up to our A/V sales team as well as dealing directly with customers.
As with many of us in the company, summer is one of Jess’s favourite times of the year. An opportunity to hang out with family and friends at the beach. Winter is for shopping!
Dean Curtayne - Technical Support
Dean came to TradeTech in 1992. From a very young age electronics has been a passion for Dean. After leaving school this passion lead to him becoming a qualified service technician, working for New Zealand's top 2 service companies. During this time Dean gained huge exposure to many of the home and business appliances and equipment commonly used in New Zealand. Dean has over 14 years experience in this role. Dean joined TradeTech in 1992 in the role of technical support to customers and staff. Working alongside Julie Reilly in purchasing Dean also plays a key role in quality and specification issues with regard to procurement of parts. All of this experience coupled with a natural flair for desktop publishing has seen Dean broaden his knowledge in both technical expertise and product knowledge to cover the areas of Catalogue production, CD production, Website production, Newsletter preparation, REES Software, regular weekly training of staff and the ability to pitch in with all aspects of running the business.
Dean is married with two young children. Dean has lived on the North Shore for most of his life. He enjoys travelling with his family and makes a point of having a holiday in the sun (usually Bali) once a year during our winter. Dean's passion is the sport of rock climbing and he enjoys the personal challenges of "man against nature".
Faye Wong - Customer Services Supervisor
Faye is TradeTech's most recent appointment and we are excited to welcome her to Customer Services at TradeTech.
Faye comes to us from Agoge Recruitment where she was part of a small team and involved in all aspects of the company from business development to account management and customer service. Prior to that she worked at Syntec - a high end audio video company. This experience plus her great skills and sunny personality make her the ideal person to lead the TradeTech Customer Service Team.
And of course like many capable Kiwi woman her paid employment is only part of her busy life. Her three young children keep her busy especially in the winter when she manages her son's rugby team. On the odd occasion she does get some relaxation time ... she goes fishing.
Chris Vincent - Customer Services - Technical Support
Chris came to TradeTech in 2005 from Philips. He established Philips as an agency within TradeTech and is supervisor for customer services. Chris is also one of the key social movers in the company and is responsible for developing the pub atmosphere in the staffroom. We now have a fridge, pool table and dart board to provide some entertainment on Friday night when everybody relaxes after a busy week.
Chris is married with two young children. Chris is a North Shore boy through and through having lived here all his life. He is a sports nut and loves rugby league, touch rugby and skiing. He supports the Warriors through the good and bad. He has been involved in multi-sport events to raise money for Cure Kids and has had some exciting adventures sailing on the high seas.
Bev McAllister - Customer Service Representative
Bev has worked at TradeTech since October 1999. She finds the job interesting and enjoys the challenge of helping to solve problems and find parts for customers. She has a loyal customer base and enjoys the contact she has with service repairmen throughout the country. Bev has seen a lot of changes in her 10 plus years at TradeTech - change in ownership and the addition of several new distributorships. "With TradeTech parts, Sony, Philips and now The Warehouse it is like having four jobs but we pride ourselves on getting the right part to the right place in the right time."
"We also deal more with the public than we used to and enjoy meeting our customers in our new showroom at 4 Rakino Way".
Her son and daughter have, between them, provided her with four beautiful grandchildren who keep her pretty busy during the weekends with those Mondays coming around all too quickly. Bev is a real petrolhead and likes nothing better than driving a good fast car.
John Mackie - Customer Service Representative
John has recently joined the TradeTech customer services team bringing with him many years of valuable experience in the electronic sector. During his time with Philips, Fisher and Paykel, Panasonic and Next, John worked in a variety of roles from technician through to management and customer services. He is now the “go to person” in TradeTech for those curly technical questions we like to be able to answer for our customers.
John lives on a lifestyle block in the delightful village of Clevedon and can often be found on the golf course working hard to reduce his handicap.
Jarrod Wong - Warehouse Manager
Jarrod joined TradeTech in 2010 just after we relocated, with our sister company Wire Solutions, to Mt Wellington. The larger scale operation required a Warehouse Manager with skills in logistics, distribution and inventory management. Jarrod has 15 years’ experience working with a variety of companies including The Ware house Ltd, manufacturers and a 3PL company where he won awards for his management of Telecom’s inventory.
In his short time with TradeTech, Jarrod has developed and implemented new systems which have improved the flow of goods through our warehouse ensuring customers receive the right goods in the right place at the right time. He is managing a team of six staff all dedicated to efficient and effective systems.
Although a staunch supporter of the Warriors (through good and bad) he is not one-eyed. As long as there is an oval ball involved he will be found hanging out with his two boys playing and coaching rugby, touch and league. He can also be found on the golf course, fishing and camping with family or composing music and playing gigs. A man of many talents.
Kevin Short - Inwards Goods
Kevin has spent most of his career in telecommunications as a technician and in planning and design. He also has experience in purchasing, quality assurance,
and recently in stores, specialising in electronic components. He has been with TradeTech for 4 years and enjoys working here. He manages the warehouse and keeps the stock systems well controlled - an extremely important task with so many different agencies choosing to have their parts distributed by TradeTech. He has a keen interest in electronics and in keeping up with the latest developments in technology.
Kevin is married, has a son, daughter-in-law and grandsons in Brisbane and a daughter in Auckland. Kevin and his wife really look forward to their annual holiday in sunny Brizzy. "I love the weather that lets you live an outdoor life although it’s too hot in summer. Not ready to shift there yet but maybe one day". His pride and joy spends its days in the carpark - a bright yellow Toyota Altezza.
Connie Torres - Dispatch
Connie came to New Zealand, from the Philippines, 15 years ago after she and her husband had considered several countries they thought might be good places to live. They brought with them their four children who have all grown up, been successful in their chosen careers and now provided Connie with four beautiful grandchildren. It is always a challenge to settle in a new country and Connie worked hard to help get the family established. In those early days she worked at several part-time jobs including food processing and nursing. But she eventually decided she would like to be employed fulltime and applied for a job with TradeTech over 10 years ago.
Connie has made a significant contribution to TradeTech. She has seen changes in ownership, premises and many new products added to the company’s inventory. Over the last 10 years she has developed a keen understanding of electronic parts and components and ensures that orders are picked and packed accurately and dispatched promptly.
Part of integrating into the Kiwi lifestyle was realising that her independence would be severely limited if she continued to be unable to drive. So with great courage Connie (then in her 40s) set herself the goal of getting her license. She went down the tried and true track of first having lessons with her husband, progressing to the driving instructor and finally getting up at 5.30 each morning to practise in the local supermarket carpark before work. Having that license in her hand gave Connie the independence she so badly needed in a city devoid of public transport. Now she could do the shopping, visit friends and take the children to their activities without depending on others.
Connie loves to swim and is a keen lunchtime walker but her first love in life is her family and she takes great pride in all their achievements.
Trent Masters - Storeman
Trent is a recent valuable addition to our warehouse team. He is learning the intricacies of stock management and movement and is part of the team that constantly reviews our processes to ensure customers receive their goods in full and on time.
Trent is a passionate sportsman, plays rugby league and touch and closely follows the St George Illawarra Dragons.
