Associate Education Minister, Nikki Kaye, has today announced Jack Matthews will be joining the board of Crown-owned company Network for Learning (N4L).
Mr Matthews is known in New Zealand as the driving force behind the rollout of Saturn’s (now Vodafone’s) hybrid fibre-coax cable network in Wellington and Christchurch. Most recently he was Chief Executive, Metropolitan Media at Fairfax Media in Sydney and prior to that he was Chief Executive of Fairfax Digital, which manages all online media, including TradeMe, for the group.
“Earlier this month Network for Learning (N4L), signed a contract with Telecom to provide a managed network for all New Zealand schools,” Ms Kaye says. “There is a huge amount of work to do and it was timely to complement the board with Mr Matthews.
“He has a combination of telco expertise and strong commercial online content experience that will be very valuable for the N4L board.
“The Government has made a significant $211 million investment towards the managed network for schools. We want to ensure the strongest governance for N4L to deliver on that investment,” Ms Kaye says.
Since the managed network was announced on 2 August, 1334 schools have registered their interest in connecting, that is, more than half of New Zealand schools.
Jack Matthews bio
Jack Matthews was, until recently, Chief Executive, Metropolitan Media at Fairfax Media in Sydney and previous to that was Chief Executive of Fairfax Digital, which manages all online media, including TradeMe, for the group. Prior to this he was involved in ventures in Japan and the United States, predominantly in the pay television industry. During a period of New Zealand residence, Mr Matthews was the driving force behind the rollout of Saturn’s (now Vodafone’s) hybrid fibre-coax cable network in Wellington and Christchurch. He therefore brings an end-user focus and a strategic understanding of digital media to the N4L Board. Mr Matthews is a current Crown director on the board of Crown Fibre Holdings Ltd. A New Zealand citizen of US birth, Mr Matthews is currently living in Sydney, but intends to establish a New Zealand base. Mr Matthews’ appointment will be up to 30 April 2016.
Other N4L Board members are: Helen Robinson (Chair); Mark Yeoman (Deputy Chair); Rick Shera; Linda Tame; Humphrey Wikeepa; and Martin Wylie.