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Leadership Team

At Planit, we pride ourselves on the quality of our people. And quality starts with leadership. Our senior testing team are active members of the testing community, and in leading roles in key industry associations such as the ISTQB, ANZTB, TMMi Foundation, Standards Australia - part of the International Organisation for Standardisation, and many more.

Meet the team Contact US

Leadership Team

At Planit, we pride ourselves on the quality of our people. And quality starts with leadership. Our senior testing team are active members of the testing community, and in leading roles in key industry associations such as the ISTQB, ANZTB, TMMi Foundation, Standards Australia - part of the International Organisation for Standardisation, and many more.

Meet the team Contact US

Leadership Team

At Planit, we pride ourselves on the quality of our people. And quality starts with leadership. Our senior testing team are active members of the testing community, and in leading roles in key industry associations such as the ISTQB, ANZTB, TMMi Foundation, Standards Australia - part of the International Organisation for Standardisation, and many more.

Meet the team

    Tomohiro Yamazaki<br>NRI Australia President

    Tomohiro Yamazaki
    NRI Australia President

    In 2023, Tomohiro relocated to Australia when he was appointed President of Nomura Research Institute (NRI) Australia Holdings. Prior to that, he was a Group Manager and Senior Consultant with NRI at Tokyo for over 14 years.

    Fumihiko Sagano <br> NRI Senior Managing Director and Board Member

    Fumihiko Sagano
    NRI Senior Managing Director and Board Member

    With 10 years of experience as an IT infrastructure engineer, Fumihiko then spent 15 years in account management in the system consulting division. Leveraging his expertise in IT services for the industrial sector, Fumihiko has also led global digital transformation initiatives.

    Yoshihiko Sunaga<br>NRI Senior Corporate Managing Director

    Yoshihiko Sunaga
    NRI Senior Corporate Managing Director

    Based in Tokyo, Yoshihiko oversees NRI's finance and corporate administration functions. Prior to joining NRI in 2020, Yoshihiko spent 21 years at Nomura Group in a variety of senior roles in Finance, Risk Management, Investment Banking and Corporate Planning domains.

    Mike Weale<br>Chief Executive Officer

    Mike Weale
    Chief Executive Officer

    With senior management experience in the IT industry, such as Managing Director of Sapphire Technologies, Mike joined Planit as Chief Operating Officer in 2004. Mike is now responsible for ensuring our clients receive the best-in-class services, solutions, and training every time.

    Alex Edwards<br>Chief Operating Officer

    Alex Edwards
    Chief Operating Officer

    As an executive in Planit’s business, Alex’s focus is on the implementation of the company’s vision and strategy, focusing on quality of delivery and exceptional CX and QX. He has over two decades of testing experience. Since joining Planit in 2008, he built the company’s technical testing division and held key roles of Technical Test Director, CTO, CTIO, and now COO.

    Simon Peach<br>Chief Financial Officer

    Simon Peach
    Chief Financial Officer

    With over 35 years managing finance departments, Simon has developed extensive experience across a broad range of industries and sizes of companies. Simon joined Planit in 2018 to drive change and focus through providing structured quality information which is easily accessible and relevant to business needs.

    Joel Deutscher<br>Executive General Manager, Technology & Innovation

    Joel Deutscher
    Executive General Manager, Technology & Innovation

    Joel enables a team of amazing talent to drive quality leadership across Planit's practices, innovative offerings, and technology services. In his 20+ years within the quality industry, Joel has covered a range of roles including consulting, team management, technical innovation and driving organisational strategy. Joel's technical experience and enables him to rapidly comprehend complex issues, and his business background helps him to understand requirements and devise quality solutions and outcomes.

    Andrew Simister<br>Executive General Manager, Solutions & Services

    Andrew Simister
    Executive General Manager, Solutions & Services

    Andrew joined Planit in 2008 and was responsible for establishing the company’s scalable, on-demand, outsourced quality assurance solution, which become the Digital QA centre and labs in Australia and India. He is responsible for using Planit’s global expertise and experience to provide right-fit, sustainable solutions.

    Colin Nicholls<br>Executive General Manager, Operations

    Colin Nicholls
    Executive General Manager, Operations

    Colin joined Planit in 2002 and was responsible for the delivery of a number major programs of work for some of the most recognisable Australian and international companies. This led him to the leadership position of the new Brisbane office in 2015, where he continues to oversee the successful growth of the entire Queensland region.

    Raman Sethi<br>Executive General Manager, New Zealand

    Raman Sethi
    Executive General Manager, New Zealand

    Raman joined Planit from the United Kingdom in 2013, bringing over his knowledge and expertise in IT consulting and Quality Assurance across multiple sectors to the team in New Zealand. He has worked both in test leadership roles and in a strategic account management capacity to now be responsible for our Auckland and Hamilton teams.

    Reg Prasad<br>General Manager, Advisory

    Reg Prasad
    General Manager, Advisory

    Reg is a career consultant with over 15 years experience across various sectors and domains in Leadership & Exec roles. He was with Qual IT for over eight years where he setup the Consulting & Advisory practice for Qual IT until it was acquired by Planit in 2022, and is now responsible for the growth, improvement, and innovation of our New Zealand business for the Advisory space.

    Kate Ellery<br>General Manager, Operations

    Kate Ellery
    General Manager, Operations

    Kate Ellery is responsible for driving the direction of our valued consultants, ensuring we have the right number and skills levels across New Zealand to meet our growing client needs, while working closely with her peers to collaborate and improve processes across the entire company. Prior to joining Planit in 2011, she was a Lead Test Analyst at Vero Insurance for nine years.

    Rebecca Ryan<br>General Manager, New South Wales

    Rebecca Ryan
    General Manager, New South Wales

    Rebecca joined Planit in 2022 as NSW Portfolio Director before being named General Manager for the same region a year later. As General Manager, she is responsible for bringing the value of our quality, performance and security across the enterprise to our client-base in the NSW market.

    Marco Denni<br>General Manager, Victoria

    Marco Denni
    General Manager, Victoria

    After initially joining Planit in 2007, Marco spent five years working at some of Australia's largest companies before returning in 2015. He is skilled in all facets of software testing, with extensive experience in operational management, strategy, employee management and project delivery.

    Chris Ward<br>General Manager, Queensland

    Chris Ward
    General Manager, Queensland

    With over 25 years of experience in the testing industry, Chris has delivered testing solutions worldwide, including in Australia, Europe, India, and the United States. Since joining Planit in 2012, he has held various key roles, most recently serving as the Account Director for Queensland. In this capacity, Chris has leveraged his deep industry expertise to deliver testing solutions across diverse technologies and domains. He is now responsible for driving business growth and managing all operational aspects of Planit’s Queensland division.

    Jason Stannage<br>General Manager, Western Australia

    Jason Stannage
    General Manager, Western Australia

    Jason joined Planit from Scotland in 2014, bringing almost two decades of testing experience to the Planit team in Perth. He went on to be the local Operations Manager before taking over responsibility for business growth and all operational aspects of the Western Australia division.

    Michelle Green<br>General Manager, South Australia

    Michelle Green
    General Manager, South Australia

    Michelle has over 25 years of financial institution experience specialising in digital banking. She joined Planit in 2021 and is responsible for the Adelaide office delivering successful outcomes to our growing community of clients in South Australia.

    Neil Kennedy<br>General Manager, United Kingdom

    Neil Kennedy
    General Manager, United Kingdom

    Neil has 30+ years experience within the IT Industry, successfully delivering and implementing Quality Assurance and Quality Engineering across multiple industries. Joining Planit in 2022 as our Customer Solutions Director for the UK, he quickly proved himself as a champion for quality engineering and leader for the local business, and was promoted to General Manager of our United Kingdom operations.

    Anushi Agarwal<br>General Manager, Mumbai

    Anushi Agarwal
    General Manager, Mumbai

    Anushi brings 20 years of experience in testing and has previously led quality assurance practices for numerous leading IT organisations in India and UK. After starting with Planit as Account Director in 2018, she is now responsible for running our Mumbai business.

    James Boyle<br>General Manager, Operational Governance and Compliance

    James Boyle
    General Manager, Operational Governance and Compliance

    James joined Planit in 2017 with over 25 years of experience in executive leadership, technology and testing. He is responsible for ensuring compliance across the commercial, contractual and operational elements within Planit, thereby maintaining our high quality delivery and enhancing our reputation as the top choice strategic partner.

    Linda Agnew<br>General Manager, People and Culture

    Linda Agnew
    General Manager, People and Culture

    Linda joined Planit in 2019, bringing almost two decades of HR and recruitment experience to the Planit team in Melbourne. She is now General Manager of People and Culture for the entire Planit group, ensuring our entire workforce has a satisfying and rewarding career journey.

    Leanne Howard<br>General Manager, People Agility & Excellence

    Leanne Howard
    General Manager, People Agility & Excellence

    Leanne is responsible for accelerating Business Agility transformation for our global client-base by implementing industry-leading standards and better ways of working. She is recognised worldwide as a thought leader in the Agile space, frequently speaks publicly at conferences and events about the methodology, and is an ANZTB board member, a member of the Australia Standards Committee, and a certified TMMi Lead Assessor. She favours a pragmatic, outcome-focused way of working that helps the team to succeed in their goals, challenging them to optimise, putting the customer at the centre, encouraging continuous learning and collaboration, and sharing her knowledge so that others benefit from her wide experience, thus succeeding first time.

    Eric Holmstrom<br>General Manager, Business Systems

    Eric Holmstrom
    General Manager, Business Systems

    Since joining Planit in 2008, Eric has been instrumental in supporting the rapid growth of the organisation from an IT infrastructure and support perspective. With a workforce that is largely based off-site or mobile, operating in the dynamic IT sector, this means Eric has significant and constantly changing demands for which to cater.

    James Pennefather<br>Director of Training

    James Pennefather
    Director of Training

    James utilises his strong sales and people skills to effectively run Planit’s training division. Additionally, James holds a Masters in Marketing and works at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) as an assistant lecturer, teaching students business planning and strategy.

    Tomohiro Yamazaki<br>NRI Australia President

    Tomohiro Yamazaki
    NRI Australia President

    In 2023, Tomohiro relocated to Australia when he was appointed President of Nomura Research Institute (NRI) Australia Holdings. Prior to that, he was a Group Manager and Senior Consultant with NRI at Tokyo for over 14 years.

    Fumihiko Sagano <br> NRI Senior Managing Director and Board Member

    Fumihiko Sagano
    NRI Senior Managing Director and Board Member

    With 10 years of experience as an IT infrastructure engineer, Fumihiko then spent 15 years in account management in the system consulting division. Leveraging his expertise in IT services for the industrial sector, Fumihiko has also led global digital transformation initiatives.

    Yoshihiko Sunaga<br>NRI Senior Corporate Managing Director

    Yoshihiko Sunaga
    NRI Senior Corporate Managing Director

    Based in Tokyo, Yoshihiko oversees NRI's finance and corporate administration functions. Prior to joining NRI in 2020, Yoshihiko spent 21 years at Nomura Group in a variety of senior roles in Finance, Risk Management, Investment Banking and Corporate Planning domains.

    Mike Weale<br>Chief Executive Officer

    Mike Weale
    Chief Executive Officer

    With senior management experience in the IT industry, such as Managing Director of Sapphire Technologies, Mike joined Planit as Chief Operating Officer in 2004. Mike is now responsible for ensuring our clients receive the best-in-class services, solutions, and training every time.

    Alex Edwards<br>Chief Operating Officer

    Alex Edwards
    Chief Operating Officer

    As an executive in Planit’s business, Alex’s focus is on the implementation of the company’s vision and strategy, focusing on quality of delivery and exceptional CX and QX. He has over two decades of testing experience. Since joining Planit in 2008, he built the company’s technical testing division and held key roles of Technical Test Director, CTO, CTIO, and now COO.

    Simon Peach<br>Chief Financial Officer

    Simon Peach
    Chief Financial Officer

    With over 35 years managing finance departments, Simon has developed extensive experience across a broad range of industries and sizes of companies. Simon joined Planit in 2018 to drive change and focus through providing structured quality information which is easily accessible and relevant to business needs.

    Joel Deutscher<br>Executive General Manager, Technology & Innovation

    Joel Deutscher
    Executive General Manager, Technology & Innovation

    Joel enables a team of amazing talent to drive quality leadership across Planit's practices, innovative offerings, and technology services. In his 20+ years within the quality industry, Joel has covered a range of roles including consulting, team management, technical innovation and driving organisational strategy. Joel's technical experience and enables him to rapidly comprehend complex issues, and his business background helps him to understand requirements and devise quality solutions and outcomes.

    Andrew Simister<br>Executive General Manager, Solutions & Services

    Andrew Simister
    Executive General Manager, Solutions & Services

    Andrew joined Planit in 2008 and was responsible for establishing the company’s scalable, on-demand, outsourced quality assurance solution, which become the Digital QA centre and labs in Australia and India. He is responsible for using Planit’s global expertise and experience to provide right-fit, sustainable solutions.

    Colin Nicholls<br>Executive General Manager, Operations

    Colin Nicholls
    Executive General Manager, Operations

    Colin joined Planit in 2002 and was responsible for the delivery of a number major programs of work for some of the most recognisable Australian and international companies. This led him to the leadership position of the new Brisbane office in 2015, where he continues to oversee the successful growth of the entire Queensland region.

    Raman Sethi<br>Executive General Manager, New Zealand

    Raman Sethi
    Executive General Manager, New Zealand

    Raman joined Planit from the United Kingdom in 2013, bringing over his knowledge and expertise in IT consulting and Quality Assurance across multiple sectors to the team in New Zealand. He has worked both in test leadership roles and in a strategic account management capacity to now be responsible for our Auckland and Hamilton teams.

    Reg Prasad<br>General Manager, Advisory

    Reg Prasad
    General Manager, Advisory

    Reg is a career consultant with over 15 years experience across various sectors and domains in Leadership & Exec roles. He was with Qual IT for over eight years where he setup the Consulting & Advisory practice for Qual IT until it was acquired by Planit in 2022, and is now responsible for the growth, improvement, and innovation of our New Zealand business for the Advisory space.

    Kate Ellery<br>General Manager, Operations

    Kate Ellery
    General Manager, Operations

    Kate Ellery is responsible for driving the direction of our valued consultants, ensuring we have the right number and skills levels across New Zealand to meet our growing client needs, while working closely with her peers to collaborate and improve processes across the entire company. Prior to joining Planit in 2011, she was a Lead Test Analyst at Vero Insurance for nine years.

    Rebecca Ryan<br>General Manager, New South Wales

    Rebecca Ryan
    General Manager, New South Wales

    Rebecca joined Planit in 2022 as NSW Portfolio Director before being named General Manager for the same region a year later. As General Manager, she is responsible for bringing the value of our quality, performance and security across the enterprise to our client-base in the NSW market.

    Marco Denni<br>General Manager, Victoria

    Marco Denni
    General Manager, Victoria

    After initially joining Planit in 2007, Marco spent five years working at some of Australia's largest companies before returning in 2015. He is skilled in all facets of software testing, with extensive experience in operational management, strategy, employee management and project delivery.

    Chris Ward<br>General Manager, Queensland

    Chris Ward
    General Manager, Queensland

    With over 25 years of experience in the testing industry, Chris has delivered testing solutions worldwide, including in Australia, Europe, India, and the United States. Since joining Planit in 2012, he has held various key roles, most recently serving as the Account Director for Queensland. In this capacity, Chris has leveraged his deep industry expertise to deliver testing solutions across diverse technologies and domains. He is now responsible for driving business growth and managing all operational aspects of Planit’s Queensland division.

    Jason Stannage<br>General Manager, Western Australia

    Jason Stannage
    General Manager, Western Australia

    Jason joined Planit from Scotland in 2014, bringing almost two decades of testing experience to the Planit team in Perth. He went on to be the local Operations Manager before taking over responsibility for business growth and all operational aspects of the Western Australia division.

    Michelle Green<br>General Manager, South Australia

    Michelle Green
    General Manager, South Australia

    Michelle has over 25 years of financial institution experience specialising in digital banking. She joined Planit in 2021 and is responsible for the Adelaide office delivering successful outcomes to our growing community of clients in South Australia.

    Neil Kennedy<br>General Manager, United Kingdom

    Neil Kennedy
    General Manager, United Kingdom

    Neil has 30+ years experience within the IT Industry, successfully delivering and implementing Quality Assurance and Quality Engineering across multiple industries. Joining Planit in 2022 as our Customer Solutions Director for the UK, he quickly proved himself as a champion for quality engineering and leader for the local business, and was promoted to General Manager of our United Kingdom operations.

    Anushi Agarwal<br>General Manager, Mumbai

    Anushi Agarwal
    General Manager, Mumbai

    Anushi brings 20 years of experience in testing and has previously led quality assurance practices for numerous leading IT organisations in India and UK. After starting with Planit as Account Director in 2018, she is now responsible for running our Mumbai business.

    James Boyle<br>General Manager, Operational Governance and Compliance

    James Boyle
    General Manager, Operational Governance and Compliance

    James joined Planit in 2017 with over 25 years of experience in executive leadership, technology and testing. He is responsible for ensuring compliance across the commercial, contractual and operational elements within Planit, thereby maintaining our high quality delivery and enhancing our reputation as the top choice strategic partner.

    Linda Agnew<br>General Manager, People and Culture

    Linda Agnew
    General Manager, People and Culture

    Linda joined Planit in 2019, bringing almost two decades of HR and recruitment experience to the Planit team in Melbourne. She is now General Manager of People and Culture for the entire Planit group, ensuring our entire workforce has a satisfying and rewarding career journey.

    Leanne Howard<br>General Manager, People Agility & Excellence

    Leanne Howard
    General Manager, People Agility & Excellence

    Leanne is responsible for accelerating Business Agility transformation for our global client-base by implementing industry-leading standards and better ways of working. She is recognised worldwide as a thought leader in the Agile space, frequently speaks publicly at conferences and events about the methodology, and is an ANZTB board member, a member of the Australia Standards Committee, and a certified TMMi Lead Assessor. She favours a pragmatic, outcome-focused way of working that helps the team to succeed in their goals, challenging them to optimise, putting the customer at the centre, encouraging continuous learning and collaboration, and sharing her knowledge so that others benefit from her wide experience, thus succeeding first time.

    Eric Holmstrom<br>General Manager, Business Systems

    Eric Holmstrom
    General Manager, Business Systems

    Since joining Planit in 2008, Eric has been instrumental in supporting the rapid growth of the organisation from an IT infrastructure and support perspective. With a workforce that is largely based off-site or mobile, operating in the dynamic IT sector, this means Eric has significant and constantly changing demands for which to cater.

    James Pennefather<br>Director of Training

    James Pennefather
    Director of Training

    James utilises his strong sales and people skills to effectively run Planit’s training division. Additionally, James holds a Masters in Marketing and works at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) as an assistant lecturer, teaching students business planning and strategy.