John Joyce

Executive Chairman

John is a global technology investment veteran. He is known for his financial leadership, with a long career as CFO of IBM, and Managing Director of SilverLake Partners.

John served as the President of IBM Asia Pacific, responsible for providing business direction and strategy for IBM’s 19 country operations across the Asia/Pacific region, including China and India. He served as a Vice President and Controller of IBM’s global operations, and was part of the team responsible for the successful reengineering of IBM in the mid-1990s. His merger and acquisition activity at the company included the sale of IBM’s PC business to Lenovo, it’s HDD business to Hitachi, and its purchase of PWC Consulting. This activity paved the way for IBM’s transformation from box maker to technology consulting powerhouse.

John’s final role at IBM was running Global Services, responsible for $60bn of revenue and 178,000 employees.

In 2005 he joined SilverLake Partners. SilverLake is the world’s largest technology focused PE fund, responsible for early investments in many of the biggest technology company successes of the last 15 years. As Managing Director, John was a member of the investment committee, and a leader of SilverLakes value creation team. After SilverLake, he took Silver Spring Networks public serving as Vice Chairman and CFO.

John has been on the boards of Hewlett Packard, Avago (Broadcom), Bertelsmann AG, Intelsat, Gartner and Sabre.

John’s direct tech investing credentials include seed investments leading to major follow-ons. His portfolio includes a company which achieved a Series D investment from Softbank.

John’s decades at the top of international technology finance brings to NetX vast networks and relationships, and direct access to the US market for our successful global ventures.

Aaron McDonald

Managing Director

Aaron is a cofounder, board member, and director of Centrality, one of NZ’s fastest growing technology companies.

In 2019, Aaron was named Ernst & Young EY Technology Entrepreneur of the Year.

Prior to Centrality, his career includes 20 years in technology as an engineer, product developer, and business leader with portfolios worth over $1b. He is notable for his time at Vodafone, implementing critical technology programs for the NZ arm of the global telecoms giant.

Aaron has deep experience in startup technology. He is a board member or founder of more than a dozen high growth tech companies. This diverse portfolio offers him a unique perspective on the opportunities and challenges in global tech, and he speaks frequently on the keynote circuit about tech futures.

Matteo Dante Perrucio

General Partner, Europe and Middle East

Matteo has served over three decades in the investment management industry and is presently Shareholder & President International of Wave Financial Group.

He is a longstanding investor and senior advisor to numerous successful start-up businesses in fintech, blockchain, digital assets and media & entertainment.

In his extensive career at American Express Bank, Matteo held various roles including Executive Director, Head of Personal Financial Services EMEA.

In 2008 he founded and served as CEO to Hermes BPK Partners LLP securing $2 billion from the British Telecom Pension, the largest seeding in the history of the Fund of Hedge Fund industry. Hermes BPK was an award winning $3 billion boutique provider of bespoke alternative solutions to institutional investors, and an advisor to the BT Pension Scheme.

In addition to serving 8 years as a Non Executive Director on the board of Jupiter Asset Management, a FTSE 200 company, he subsequently held the position of Global Head of Strategic Partnerships at Jupiter Fund Management.

He also served as CEO International, and Global Board Member for Pioneer Global Asset Management $300billion AUM), as well as CEO Pioneer Investment Management SGR ($100 billion AUM)

Other notable positions Matteo has held include:

• Chairman of Secofind SIM SpA Multi Family Office, Milan
• CEO of Olympia Capital Management, a $5 billion Fund of Hedge Funds in Paris.
• Co-founder and CEO of REBA Capital, an alternative energy and sustainable agriculture Investment Manager

Matteo’s alma mater is the University of Notre Dame. He holds an MA from American University School of International Service in Washington, DC.

Matteo has an extraordinary breadth of fund management experience and is exceptionally well connected throughout Europe.

He has helped author NetX’s global approach based upon what he sees among many promising startups in Italy and across continental Europe who require capital and access to larger geographic markets.

Daniel Gillespie

General Partner, Asia Pacific

Daniel is Chief Strategy Officer and a Board Member of Centrality, with 17 years of international banking and private equity experience.

At the Dubai World Sovereign Wealth Fund, Daniel managed a portfolio of global investments across Middle East, Europe, America’s and Asia Pacific.

Dan is a notable contributor to NetX’s connected approach, based on his hands-on experience as an investor representative, joining management teams to facilitate large scale turn-around and restructuring of investee companies.

Dan is an Investment Manager for 20+ portfolio investments in high tech companies across retail tech, fintech and travel tech, and serves as a Director on investee company boards taking an active role as a shareholder assisting companies with fundraising and M&A.

Daniel holds a Masters in Applied Finance from the Kaplan Institute.

Phil Williams

Strategic Analyst

Phil is a strategist and analyst with deep and diverse experience across technology industries.

His career has included roles in Product Direction (SaaS), Technology Investment Analysis (Corporate Acquisition and VC), Strategic Business Development (Tech), Human Centered Design & Product Development, and Innovation Programme Leadership. He has worked at publicly listed technology companies, global digital agencies, and founded his own startups.

Phil’s track record includes:

Leading a team of product managers, designing and delivering software products on mobile and desktop platforms, to APAC, US, Canadian and European markets
Working on Asia-Pacific digital strategy for several of the world’s largest FMCG brands
Evaluating tech startup companies for acquisition, on behalf of public companies
Selling emerging startup technologies into international government environments (ANZ, EU & US)
• Growing a digital agency entirely on cash-flow, merging it, and achieving a successful exit to a large agency network
• Leading customer-centred innovation projects for global financial services organisations
Developing a national digital strategy for a major sporting code
Writing advice to the NZ government for effective classification and regulation of token-based Blockchain technologies

Phil has deep knowledge in industry verticals including Health, Transportation, Blockchain and Banking (consumer and SME), as well as wide knowledge across the B-to-C and B-to-B SaaS spectrum.

Phil holds a degree in Industrial Design from the Victoria University of Wellington. He is the New Zealand convenor of PechaKucha, part of the world’s largest global network of creative events for designers, architects, artists and more.

Marco Brondan

Technical Analyst

Marco has more than two decades of experience in technology and information security. He is at the forefront of new technology, continuously exploring and analyzing what the ever-changing information technology  landscape will mean for the businesses, their products, and their users.

Over the years, he has acted as a white hat (ethical) hacker, using his deep knowledge in the information security space to exploit computer systems and networks, identify security flaws and make improvement recommendations.  He has collaborated with numerous well-known national and international security agencies and private companies on investigations involving identity theft, fraud and anti-cyber-terrorism.
 
Additionally, Marco is an inventor with several registered patents in his name. He has implemented an algorithm and proof of concept to improve the processing of programming language embedded in texts written in natural language.
 
In addition to being Technology Analyst for NetX, he is also Chief Information Security Officer of the Centrality Group.