Executive Profiles

Prior to founding Mobile Mentor Denis spent 15 years with Nokia in a variety of management positions worldwide. His career spanned product development in Finland, project management in Sweden, account management in New Zealand, and General Management in Switzerland. His final role was as a Director of Nokia New Zealand. Whilst at Nokia Denis built long-term partnerships with the leading mobile operators including Vodafone and Orange to position Nokia as the sole supplier for GSM and 3G networks and associated professional services.

Denis has a proven ability to develop sound strategies, then build and lead high-performance teams across different cultures. He has successfully built and managed large business units with annual sales over Euro 100 million and has a strong operational focus to ensure that results are achieved.

He was educated first in Ireland obtaining a 1st Class Honours Degree in Electronic Engineering from the University of Limerick, then a Master's Degree in Telecommunications Systems from the Helsinki University of Technology in Finland and in 2003 he took a sabbatical and completed an Executive MBA from IMD in Switzerland. Denis also speaks Finnish and French.

Brian has been involved in the telecommunications industry for 30+ years both in New Zealand and now in Brazil. Prior to moving to Brazil in the mid 90's he was a senior executive in Telecom New Zealand, responsible for the sales and channel distribution of mobile phones.

In his initial years in Brazil, Brian was Managing Director of two mobile phone companies, plus was Sales and Marketing Director in two other mobile companies - all focusing on growing the telecommunications industry, which today has 124 million mobile phone users.

In particular, during the last 4 years, Brian has been a Director for Accenture, Brazil within their Communications and High Tech Group and more recently running his own Wireless Consulting business. He is currently a Board Member of the Brazil Beachhead Committee for NZTE, is also Chairman of the Board for a Mobile Marketing joint venture in Brazil, plus is a Board Member for a New Zealand dairy farm joint venture operation in central Brazil.

Today, Brian continues in Brazil as President of Mobile Mentor Brazil, as he now has extensive governance/management experience with operating companies within Brazil.

Paul Vodanovich is a well rounded commercial manager and chartered accountant (CA member of ICANZ) with over 20 years experience in increasingly senior financial control and project management roles.

The majority of Paul's industry experience has been gained in substantial multinational marketing, distribution, technology and financial services organisations including Thomas Cook / Travelex, FUSION Electronics, Zespri International and ORIX New Zealand.

Paul has gained considerable international experience through commercial roles in London England (3 years), mainland Europe (Antwerp Belgium - 1 year), Sydney Australia (4 years) and Auckland New Zealand.

Bheki Gumede studied for a B. Proc degree at the University of KwaZulu Natal, Durban He has a Diploma in Project Management from the Executive Education, South African Study Centre of the Newport University, California, USA. He is also a certified Qualitative Researcher by the RIVA Training Institute, Bethesda, Washington DC, USA.

He worked at the University of Zululand as a full-time Street Law and Democracy-For-All Co-ordinator at the Faculty of Law, Centre Legal Studies. At the Centre for Socio‑Legal Studies he directed the national Qualitative Research Programme in collaboration with the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs.

During the above period he was invited and accepted participation in the IDP Education Australia Programme in 1997 and a Fulbright International Visitors Programme in 1998 in the US. He participated and presented papers at various democracy and human rights workshops and conferences in Mozambique, Tanzania, USA, Swaziland, Benin Republic and France. Mchunu Mashinini and Associates assigned him to the core team that led the development of the Nigeria electronic voters register. He worked on voters register exercises in Mozambique, Swaziland and Lesotho. He participated in electoral electronic assignments in Tanzania, Ghana, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, etc. He is highly skilled in the delivery of large-scale project, namely, the design and deployment of user-friendly IT systems.

He is currently the Managing Director of the Mobile Mentor South Africa responsible for the telephony projects; business development and innovative services. The starting of the Under-Serviced Area Networks in South Africa raised his mobile phone interest. He has pursued individualized technology services as a development tool.

He is an avid reader and an enthusiastic squash player.