Ecospiral Team Members
Ecospiral's senior management team consists of:
Dr Chris Mardon, BE(Hons), PhD - Founder and Managing Director
Dr Chris Mardon was one of New Zealand's leading young manufacturing executives prior to co-founding Energy Mad in early 2004.
Following his graduate and doctorate degrees in Mechanical Engineering, Chris was rapidly promoted through senior manufacturing management roles in paper tissue, automotive and plastic film manufacturing facilities. His most recent position involved responsibility for 130 manufacturing, planning, engineering, distribution and customer services staff for a large plastic film manufacturer.
Chris made his name during the formation of a new Hygenex paper tissue site. His leadership resulted in world class performance being achieved by several of the large production lines. This resulted in Chris being awarded the prestigious New Zealand Institution of Professional Engineers Young Engineer of the Year award in 2002. His outstanding results continued in successive roles which saw large increases in plant productivity, faster delivery times, significant cost savings, and considerable reductions in health, safety and quality issues.
Chris has been responsible for setting the strategic direction of Energy Mad as it has grown over the last three years. This has included the successful marketing of the innovative Ecobulb® projects to the electricity utilities and supermarket chains, including negotiations to secure these agreements. During this time Chris has established a growing Energy Mad team of specialist managers and highly motivated staff.
A keen runner and tennis player, Chris was 1995 New Zealand Marathon Champion in his only attempt at the distance.
Tom Mackenzie, BE(Hons), MSc - Founder and Technical Director
Tom Mackenzie has a background in project management, which involved the implementation of energy saving designs in large international buildings. His formal education includes a graduate degree in Mechanical Engineering, and a Masterate in Advanced Environmental and Energy Studies.
Tom's project management experience includes the heating and ventilation systems and energy saving systems for the £1.2 billion Wyeth building in Dublin, and the £600 million Madrid airport.
However, Tom's key strengths are as an entrepreneur and an innovator. As co-founder of Energy Mad, Tom has been responsible for the technical development and evolution of the Ecobulb®. He has managed the operations that have ensured the successful delivery of the Ecobulb® projects. This has included the manufacturing of the Ecobulb® lamps, the supermarket distribution of the Ecobulb® lamps and the operational details behind implementing the promotional campaigns. Tom also manages the financial systems underpinning Energy Mad.
Peter Roborgh, BSc, MSc(Hons) - Chief Operating Officer
Peter Roborgh has a Bachelor and Masters Degree in industrial psychology and human resource management. Peter is a vastly experienced executive in the electricity utility and telecom sectors.
His previous roles included being Managing Director of CallSouth, a new telecommunication provider that he brought, grew to 19,000 customers and then sold to an electricity utility. He was also CEO of Pulse Business Solutions, a customer contact management, billing and payment collection and management company that he also grew and sold. Prior to that Peter had General Management and Commercial Management roles at Tasman Energy.
Peter has recently joined Energy Mad to drive performance and growth.
Paul Ravlich, CA, MBA - Chief Financial Officer
Paul has recently joined Energy Mad to develop and implement strong financial controls to assist Energy Mad’s ongoing growth. In his role of Chief Financial Officer, Paul is responsible for maintaining the financial management and administration of the Group.
Prior to joining Energy Mad, Paul worked in senior finance positions in the IT, direct mail, media, health and hospitality sectors. His previous roles included being CFO of The Radio Network, and Finance Director for Carat. Paul holds a CA qualification from the New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants and an MBA from Massey University.
David Cunniffe - General Manager Lighting – Retail and Distribution
David Cunniffe has extensive experience in production planning, product distribution and logistics roles. This includes import management and logistics management roles with two of New Zealand's largest plastic film manufacturers. Prior to this he spent several years at Toyota New Zealand in a supply expedition role.
During his time at Energy Mad, David has streamlined the product ordering and warehousing systems. He has also managed the distribution and warehousing of Ecobulbs for the New Zealand Ecobulb projects. More recently he has generated significant Ecobulb sales in New Zealand, Australia, Spain and Ireland.
Sara Fenn, Customer Service & Quality Assurance Manager
Sara joined Energy Mad in July 2008, initially on a three week contract. However, knowledge of her background in quality, soon saw her being offered a permanent position as Administration Manager and then the position she currently holds.
Sara's working background has been mainly in administration, customer service, accounting and quality, but her passion is definitely with Quality Assurance.
Sara runs the Quality Management System utilized by Energy Mad, which involves monitoring, analysing and developing recommendations to ensure the business maintains it's quality improvement cycle for product and service.
Sara enjoys fitness, family, socializing, having a good laugh and making continuous improvements at work and play.
Hamish Ewan, BE(Hons) - General Manager Carbon
Hamish Ewan has a background in project management, with an honours degree in Mechanical Engineering. Previous roles include Development Engineer for new product development with Winstone Wallboards (part of the Fletcher Challenge Group), and Project Manager for Downer Engineering.
Hamish joined the Energy Mad team in 2007 to manage the monitoring of project results from the various Energy Mad initiatives, including the electricity savings, peak electricity network load reduction and carbon dioxide emission reductions. More recently Hamish has been very successful in generating large Ecobulb orders in Australia.
Kyla Dimmock, BBusMgmt - Group Accountant
Kyla Dimmock had seven years at Grant Thornton in Christchurch, progressing from senior accountant through to team supervisor and then to business management. At Grant Thornton Kyla's workload shifted from a compliance-based role to a management accounting and business management one. This involved supporting a number of "A" clients in the production of their management reporting, along with risk reviews, sourcing finance and restructuring processes.
Kyla was also involved in business acquisitions and disposals, mergers of businesses, management of businesses in cash flow crisis, forensic audits of client information and due diligence assignments. Kyla also managed the financial accounts for Energy Mad while at Grant Thornton.
Since joining Energy Mad in mid 2009, Kyla has led the improvement in Energy Mad's financial reporting, the development of detailed financial projections, and the establishment of separate profit centres within Energy Mad.
Steven Miller - General Manager North America
Steven Miller is an experienced executive in the energy efficiency and commercial efficient lighting sales sectors. Steven joined Energy Mad to develop and grow the North American Ecospiral operation. Immediately prior to joining Energy Mad he was Director of the Conservation Services Group in Boston, with his role focusing on developing and delivering over 600 commercial efficient lighting projects.
Prior to that Steven had nine years in various commercial energy efficient lighting sales management roles. Starting with the first performance based Demand Side Management programs in New England, Steven developed commercial and industrial energy efficiency projects for a large range of enterprises, from paper mills to universities. Specialising in efficient lighting and becoming the subject matter expert for Enron Energy Services, Steven brings a proven business and technical background to Energy Mad.
At Energy Mad, Steven has managed Energy Mad's relationships with electricity utilities and product retailers in the United States since 2008, and was successful in securing the first Ecobulb project in New York.
Ken Hillman - Retail Development Manager North America
Ken is a graduate of Williams College and started his career with Procter & Gamble in 1985 in their sales training program before moving to the Dannon company. After eleven years as a senior Executive with Daymon Worldwide (the leading sales and marketing company in the world, dedicated to store brands) Ken has spent the last eleven years as an independent consultant focused on helping companies find profitable new markets in the United States.
Ken currently lives in Cary, IL (a suburb of Chicago) with wife Bridget, children Harry, Emma and Sam and dog Koko (a Labradoodle).
Peter Watt, BCA (Econ) - General Manager Europe
Peter Watt is a vastly experienced executive in the electricity utility and energy efficiency sectors. Immediately prior to joining Energy Mad he was responsible for the New Zealand Electricity Commission's Compact Fluorescent Lamp programmes, and consequently worked closely with Energy Mad. Previous roles involved a period with the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority managing their solar water heating, small renewable and demand side management response initiatives.
Peter also had four years as Marketing Communications Manager for the Northwest Territories Power Corporation in Canada, and five years as Public Relations Manager for TrustPower where he managed a 15,000 home residential energy efficiency program.
Since joining Energy Mad in 2007, Peter has led initiatives to secure Ecobulb projects in Australia, Asia, the United States and now Europe.
