During a career spanning 35 years, Michael Murphy has undertaken a range of entrepreneurial, management, and board roles. He started his career as a consultant for several global firms before founding his own business, driving its rapid growth, and exiting to one of the top 5 IT companies in the world.
Murphy has built and managed multiple high-performing teams across sales, operations, and solution delivery, as well as established and run several innovation programs in the commercial and public sectors.
Murphy is focused on helping Aotearoa’s best and boldest entrepreneurs create truly world-class companies that will employ coming generations of Kiwis and underpin the economic and social development of New Zealand.
In addition to being the Chair of the More4Apps Board, Murphy heads up the Technology and Services sectors at New Zealand Trade & Enterprise, trade export agency, and the Chair of a start-up in the inventory forecasting space.
He is also on the Advisory Boards of kiwiSaaS, which is driving the growth of the SaaS community in New Zealand, and New Zealand Tech Story, which seeks to promote the capabilities of the New Zeland tech sector in across the globe.
Murphy and his wife Hilary live in St. Heliers, Auckland. They have two grown sons, John and Christopher.
Murphy enjoys keeping fit and active via long walks and has recently picked-up running (slowly). He is a big football fan and an avid supporter of Sunderland AFC (it’s the hope I can’t stand)!
Chris Meyer is a distinguished business leader, entrepreneur, and investor. He resides in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania but is originally from South Africa. Meyer moved to the States afer qualifying as a chartered accountant, solidifying his strong foundation in finance and business management. Armed with this expertise, he embarked on a path of entrepreneurship and leadership that has shaped his career.
As the former CEO of Excel4apps, a leading software company, Chris showcased his strategic acumen and exceptional leadership skills. Under his guidance, the company experienced remarkable growth, securing its position as a market leader, delivering innovative solutions to enterprise sized clients worldwide. In 2018, the Excel4apps successfully ended its journey and became what is now know as Insightsoftware.
Meyer’s ability to navigate complex business challenges, foster relationships, and drive organizational excellence cemented his reputation as a trusted industry expert.
In addition to serving on the Board of More4apps, Chris is a partner at Born Capital VC, a venture capital firm focused on early-stage investments in innovative startups. Leveraging his extensive experience and industry insights, he identifies and nurtures promising ventures, helping them scale and realize their full potential.
He has a keen eye for entrepreneurial talent, coupled with his ability to provide strategic guidance, which has played a pivotal role in the success of numerous companies in their growth trajectories.
Outside of his professional pursuits, Meyer has a passion for sports and the outdoors. He is an avid golfer who enjoys the strategic challenges and relaxation of the game. Additionally, Chris is a devoted fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Being from South Africa, he also has a deep love for South African rugby, embracing the spirit and excitement of the game.
His entrepreneurial spirit, business acumen, and passion for the outdoors have driven his success throughout his career. Meyer’s finance, leadership and strategic management expertise, coupled with his love for sport have shaped him into a well-rounded and respected professional.
Meyer continues to make significant contributions to the business and investment community, leaving a lasting impact on the ventures he supports and the people he inspires.
John has been the proud CEO of More4apps for many years, bringing his extensive Oracle knowledge from his successful career as an Oracle consultant.
Now the company has grown, John can take a step back from hands-on product development and focuses on overlooking the business plans and strategy to help guide the company into the future.John regularly meets with customers and attends Oracle OpenWorld in San Francisco and the OAUG Collaborate conferences to help stay abreast of where the IT world is heading.
John’s homeland is the luscious green countryside of Ireland, poetically known as the Emerald Isle but has spent the last 21 years enjoying the New Zealand lifestyle. In his spare time, John enjoys tending to his orchard and has a rather large garage to complement his love and passion for restoring vintage motor vehicles. A 1972 Land Rover and a 1969 International Pick-up truck highlight his proud collection.
Of course, being Irish, John enjoys most (if not all) music and is a big fan of Christy Moore. Even in his busy lifestyle, John relishes his time for a bit of ‘craic’ as the Irish would call it – otherwise known as good conversation, news, fun and entertainment.
Michael Whitehead co-founded, grew, and ultimately exited a highly successful data warehouse automation software company and a data and analytics consulting company.
While CEO of his software company, he expanded it from New Zealand to USA, Europe, and Asia. He had many leading organizations as customers, including Tesco, Costco, HSBC, Nike, Vodafone, VW, Fidelity Investments, Expedia, MGM, Kaiser Permanente, and more.
He won numerous export awards, like the Judge’s Supreme Award for International Business at the 2016 New Zealand International Business Awards.
Whitehead is a New Zealand Prime Minister’s Business Scholarship winner, a category winner in the New Zealand EY Entrepreneur of the Year Awards, recognized as a transformative and technology leader in New Zealand by CIO100, has judged the New Zealand International Business Awards, is on the Export New Zealand Advisory Board, was a member of the Government’s Trade for All Advisory Board, and is a Chartered Member of the Institute of Directors in New Zealand.
He has founded Tap in Ventures, a business advisory company that assists export-focused high-growth companies to scale and expand. To give back to the tech community, Whitehead actively supports the arts through initiatives such as the History Innovation Fund at the University of Auckland.
In his spare time, Whitehead is an unlikely distance runner. He has completed multiple marathons and ultra-marathons.
Picture this: Living in a beachside town on the side of an extinct volcano – That’s where David and his family live, enjoying a New Zealand outdoor lifestyle from surfing to mountain biking.
David joined the More4apps team in 2005 when he returned to New Zealand after spending time working in Europe and the USA. He manages the Solution Specialists team and assists the Product Development, Support and, Marketing teams. David enjoys the variation in his day-to-day roles with the ability to deal with people from all over the world. With a real commitment to the Oracle ERP space, he is currently the Co-Chair of the Oracle Applications and Technology User Groups Editorial Advisory committee.
Two people David would like to invite along to a dinner would be Frank Black and Iggy Pop both influential musicians with outrageous and unpredictable stage antics. Imagine what dinner could be like!
Brian’s passion for coaching whether in sales or sports combined with his 10 plus years experience of Oracle related sales part of his recipe for success. Brian’s entire career has been in sales and his curious nature to understand and improve business processes has resulted in the identification of the right solutions to More4apps customers far and wide. Brian embraces learning from other successful people regardless of industry or career and gets a real buzz seeing others succeed in all aspects of life.
Brian lives in North Carolina with his wife and two children and is a huge fan of the Carolina Hurricanes. Outside of work activities consist of supporting and cheering his kids at their various sporting events. After all of his coaching and support of others, Brian enjoys relaxing with a beverage (either a simple beer or vodka soda) on the back patio with his wife while listening to the Dave Matthews band.
Stephanie’s expertise lies in aligning global marketing tactics to the overall corporate go-to-market strategies. She is passionate about digital marketing, sales enablement, corporate branding and communications, and – most importantly – data-driven results. She has been certified for inbound marketing with HubSpot and for sales with Mindset Selling.
Stephanie resides in Pittsburgh, PA with her husband and their two children. Outside of work activities include participating in local half marathon races, volunteering with the local Chamber of Commerce, and spending time with her friends and family – usually over a glass (or two) of wine!
Stephanie received her B.A. in Communications and Electronic Media from Waynesburg University. She advocates for a strong corporate culture and a fun and collaborative environment.
Todd Herbay joins More4apps with more than 30 years of experience driving change and developing high-performance teams.
His background is in the finance industry, although he has an array of experience, such as managing global support teams, overseeing customer success communities, and leading integration projects.
As a senior leader, Herbay has been instrumental in helping organizations improve processes and ultimately scale revenue.
Herbay, his wife, and their four children reside in Pittsburgh, PA. Outside of work he enjoys running with friends and attending his kids’ events.
Herbay graduated from Indiana University of Pennsylvania with a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting. He is licensed and certified in Agile Project Management Principles and Project Management.
Lou has more than 25 years experience in several HR roles and industries. Having been self employed as a consultant for many years, she is adept at fitting into different teams and ensuring her advice is practical and delivers for the organization.
Lou’s strengths include HR strategy and subsequent action planning, development of policies and procedures, project management of HR initiatives, outplacement support and measuring employee engagement.
Since earning her MSc (Organizational Psychology) from Otago University, Lou has spent many years in primary industry, specifically dairy, meat and horticulture, and retail, engineering, and veterinary sectors. Lou enjoys working with SMEs where she feels HR has a greater impact and positively contributes to the business.
Lou approaches her work with absolute commitment. She is outgoing and enjoys working with different people and companies.
Born and bred in Hamilton, New Zealand, Brad started his career working in varied office systems before taking on more accounting type roles. Fast forward a few years and he’s supporting and enhancing Oracle E-Business suite, add private contracting into the mix you can see how busy Brad enjoys to be. With an extensive breadth of knowledge in Oracle technical, functional and accounting, Brad is not short of answers when it comes to helping customers find solutions to their business problems.
This flows on to what he loves most about his job – helping others and where the idea for our products was born. Our super charged founding shareholder Brad is full of energy as you would expect from an active person. Brad is an energetic player in all aspects of life, whether it’s out and about with friends and family or engaging in one of his many extra-curricular activities. From driving balls down the fairway, watching (these days) rugby and coaching others to get more out of the game of squash he’s also taken up the sport of rowing (sculling) at the age of 50.
You’re unlikely to catch him on the water at 5am though as he’s too wise for that! A recent highlight is that “one time” he, along with good friends, rowed 204km along Canal Du Midi through the south of France dodging boats and navigating tight corners and 43 locks along the way. When prompted with the question what would be your choice of karaoke song to sing, “Us against the World” by Coldplay was the answer, however he also insisted that no chairs would be turning around if he sung it on the “Voice”.
Gavin brings an extensive background in both Oracle and Excel applications. Starting as an implementation consultant, he worked as a Business Analyst, Project Manager, and Support Manager before finding his happy place in Product Management in 2015. He is curious and creative and loves crafting fantastic customer experiences.
Gavin grew up in Johannesburg, South Africa. He received an Honors degree in Business Science (Information Systems) from the University of Cape Town. After completing an Executive MBA from Henley Business School, Gavin and his family moved to Pittsburgh, PA, and settled in Raleigh, NC, USA.
When he isn’t working, Gavin spends most of his time with his wife and two kids and their activities like Ballet and Boy Scouts. Given a free moment, you may find him on the tennis court or walking a nearby trail. If the weather is bad, then he can be found listening to music or playing guitar.
Steve is fascinated by the unique mission, accomplishments, and culture of More4Apps clients. He sees the world from their perspective and invests time up front to explore and understand their goals. This insight allows him to understand their needs and, along with his team, build a foundation on which to help them create successful outcomes.
Steve builds high levels of engagement with employees, customers, and partners by creating a supportive team environment. He enjoys engaging with all levels, from front-line employees to C-suite executives. Steve loves to learn as well as to teach. He is skilled at making complex issues easy to understand and loves to share his knowledge with others. His personal mission is to enable people and organizations to achieve, create, and invent that which makes everyone’s lives better.
Steve lives in Huntington Beach, CA, with his wife Amy and twin daughters. He’s a “sports dad” and enjoys watching his daughters compete in gymnastics, crew, and swimming. He and his family love the ocean and enjoy all that the beach has to offer. Steve loves deep sea fishing and sharing his catch with family and friends.
After having tremendous success with More4apps products in his previous role with a different company, joining the More4apps team was the perfect path for Dennis to get back to what he thoroughly enjoys.
Helping people has always been something close to the heart for Dennis. His hard work, consistent professionalism, and attention to detail have allowed Dennis to help business users do their jobs more efficiently. “You reap what you sow” is a great quote to explain the type of person Dennis is, always putting his best step forward and going the extra mile to help wherever he can.
Outside of work, Dennis enjoys spending time with his wife and watching his two sons play football and baseball. In his spare time, he prefers listening to music, socializing with friends and family, volunteering his time, and enjoying good chicken wings with an ice-cold beverage.
Kent is a part of the More4apps U.S. Sales Team and has experience in Cloud applications such as ERP, EPM, HCM, SCM, and CX, where he started his career selling this software.
In his free time, he is involved in his church community at the Austin Stone, enjoys working out and being active outdoors, and being around friends and family as much as possible.
A fun fact about Kent is that he is cousins with the country music singer Dierks Bentley!
Mike Elias has spent 20+ years in technology/software sales with the last 10 years in the Oracle Space. He joins our team as an experienced Senior Enterprise Account Manager. Throughout his career Mike has excelled in sales, surpassing targets constantly but has always put the needs of his customers first. “I have learned the hard way that if I don’t understand the goals and objectives of the customer, I don’t deserve a seat at the table.”
In his spare time he spends as much time as possible with his wife and 4 kids. During their summer vacation, you will usually find them at the Outer Banks of North Carolina.
When asked what advice he would give his younger self Mike says: “Be smart enough to listen and learn from the many people you meet along the way that want to help you. Don’t dismiss their advice and cast it off as “they really don’t understand my unique set of circumstances” – listen to them and they will save you a lot of heartache”.
Ian is part of the More4apps US Sales Team and has experience in ERP systems, where he started his sales career, and will focus on bringing the most out of Oracle ERP.
In his free time, Ian enjoys working out, playing with his two dogs, playing video games, and working with his hands. He enjoys working with his hands so much that he built several furniture pieces in his house, which include two aquarium stands and a workbench. Ian volunteers with Habitat for Humanity on Saturdays, building homes for his community.
Chase spent the last four years in the software sales space and the last two years acting as an Account Executive at Oracle NetSuite, so he is not new to the ERP space.
In his free time, he is outdoors as much as possible. He enjoys playing golf or fishing on the weekends and likes to travel with his girlfriend, particularly to Asheville, North Carolina.
A fun fact about Chase is that he loves to cook, specifically Indian and Asian dishes. Currently, he and his girlfriend reside in Cary, NC.
Brent Wyse is based in Overland Park, Kansas, and is a seasoned professional with over two decades of experience in software sales. Alongside his professional endeavors, he prioritizes his family life, spending time with his wife and three children (who keep him busy running from one activity to another).
Outside of work, Brent is an avid outdoorsman who finds joy in activities like CrossFit, hunting, fishing, and any outdoor adventures.
What do you get when you cross a Welshman with rugby, a hammer in one hand and microphone in the other singing along to Tom Jones? You get the man himself – Gareth. Our undercover rugby celebrity, yes that’s right, he played for the Wales 7’s team at the Commonwealth Games in 2002.
Gareth grew up in the Welsh village of Skewen, moved to London in 2005 and has been there ever since. A little over 4 years ago, Gareth entered the world of Oracle as a Recruitment Consultant but has recently changed tack, joining forces with More4apps in early 2016. While he gives off a tough exterior he finds enjoyment helping people and watching them succeed.
Nicholas Alvaranga joins More4apps as a Business Development Manager. He has worked in Business Development roles within the IT industry for the last eight years and has extensive experience coordinating complex solution sales. He enjoys identifying how and where he can add lasting value to his clients.
Additionally, Alvaranga’s skillset focuses on acquiring new logos and ‘net new’ business.
Before working in the IT industry, Alvaranga worked in the travel publishing industry and loves to travel. When he’s not working or traveling, he is reading, practicing martial arts, or hiking in the woods and nature reserves.
Alvaranga studied BA English and American Literature at Goldsmiths, University of London and lives in Chislehurst on the outskirts of London.
Josh brings a wealth of new business sales experience and will be spearheading the growth of the EBS offering across the UK & Europe.
In his spare time you will find Josh in the bars and pubs of London’s West End entertaining the public as a stand up comedian! No doubt the ability to tell a good story and handle a few rejections will hold him in good stead for this role!
There is a rumor that Stu is More4apps biggest fan. Over the course of 25+ years in the Oracle game, Stu has managed to be a user, implementer, consultant, seller and support for Oracle and More4apps products. After living and working in Auckland, NZ for 12 years, Stu spontaneously decided to move to Australia; no matter where he is, as long as there’s people to talk to he’ll be happy.
Day-to-day relationship building with people and businesses is how Stu gets by. In his true consultant nature, helping businesses with their problems and finding solutions is what he enjoys most about his work. He is a well-traveled man who likes to get stuck in and doesn’t mind roughing it a bit, especially when it comes to his motorbike, once riding 20,000km over the space of 45 days.
One thing he has never experienced while riding his motorbike is stopping off at a karaoke bar, but, if he happens to make another spontaneous decision his song of choice would be Delilah by Tom Jones.
Stephanie has marketing experience across a vast array of industries. Her skill sets range from customer journey implementation to fundamental marketing strategies. She joined More4apps in 2022 to take email marketing tactics to the next level – both internally and externally – and to redefine corporate communications within the organization. She is also the administrator for HubSpot and related automation processes and procedures.
In her downtime, Stephanie enjoys hiking and powerlifting. She is an animal lover and is a fur mom to a dog and three cats.
Stephanie graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with a Bachelor of Arts in Media and Professional Communications and currently resides in Philadelphia, PA.
Andrew, also known as the “Gooch”, has an extensive history working with Oracle EBS in Germany and in his homeland, New Zealand. In the last few years, Gooch has settled in the UK and works at More4apps as our technical lead in Europe.
Gooch enjoys creating and assisting our customers to implement robust software solutions that meet customers’ needs and will stand the test of time. In his spare time you might find Gooch down at the local football field playing 8 a-side footy (soccer) on a Sunday afternoon, or running on the streets for fitness; reminiscing of his days competing in national level athletics.
Alongside his passion for sports , Gooch has an interest in foreign language and also finds enjoyment in travelling (which is lucky, considering how much we fly him around the world!) . As one of our resident troubleshooters, Gooch isn’t afraid of a challenge and believes in making the most of the opportunities thrown his way . If Gooch was ever to head into a karaoke bar and offered the microphone, his song of choice would be “Love me do” from the Beatles ( it doesn’t require the range of an opera singer).
Rhea is a jack of all trades when it comes to marketing, but she is mostly passionate about data-driven storytelling. She is a digital, inbound, and content marketing maven who enjoys working with team members across various departments. She joined More4apps in 2024 as a Marketing Specialist where she will assist in social media marketing, sales enablement, and event management – among many other things.
In her spare time, Rhea enjoys powerlifting and has previously played rugby. She is an animal lover and has a real love for travel and adventure.
Rhea graduated from holds a BA from Symbiosis College of Arts & Commerce, Master of Arts from Savitribai Phule Pune University, and a Master of Business Administration (Marketing) from Babson F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business. She is also certified in HubSpot and Google Ads.
She currently resides in Boston, Mass. USA.
Excella is a social media guru, blogger, content writer/ creator, and spreadsheet wiz. Her energetic and charismatic personality helps her to connect and engage with target audiences around the globe.
She is in her garden when she isn’t wowing people with her creativity and posting on social platforms. Excella also loves to take long drives along the North Island of New Zealand in her eco-friendly car.
Excella resides in Auckland New Zealand. She earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Auckland.
Do you prefer summer or winter? Water or snow? Most of us prefer one or the other. Our outdoor extraordinaire Bruce enjoys the best of both worlds. You only live once right?
Bruce, one of our founding shareholders enjoys a range of leisure activities. His many tales could keep us enthralled for hours, including underwater adventures diving with Whalesharks, Sunfish and Sea Lions in the Galapagos Islands, exploring wrecks in the Solomon Islands and snorkelling with Humpback whales in Tonga. Bruce has a policy of visiting a new exotic dive location with friends every year. Not only does Bruce enjoy being underwater, he is also a windsurfer, rock climber, salsa dancer, skier and snowboarder, keeping fit for all of this by playing squash (we’re not sure this guy sleeps). He recalls one of his scariest experiences while snowboarding the back bowls of the Remarkables (New Zealand) Ski field alone nearly falling into a crevasse. Now that’s scary!
Bruce’s (best kept hidden) talent of singing, once brought him near childhood fame when he starred as Kurt in the Sound of Music, however these days you’re more likely to hear him singing Bee Gees hits in the shower.
Professionally, Bruce boasts humble beginnings as an auditor but quickly escaped into software development, writing numerous Dbase III based systems, eventually building a Job Costing system in Informix. Bruce has extensive breadth of knowledge in Oracle Projects module first working for Oracle New Zealand and then as an Oracle Specialist Independent Contractor in Dublin, Ireland. His role has evolved to that of Director of Research and Development at More4apps but he still keeps a programming hand in our Projects suite of tools. Bruce particularly enjoys software development because he believes it provides an outlet for creativity and the thrill of “walking into a room and seeing your software on everyone’s computer screens- it gives you such a buzz!”
Nigel has over 20+ plus experience in the Oracle Eco-system and understands the importance of accurate data, meaningful information and business accountability. He has extensive experience in designing and delivering outsourced business solutions to Corporate and Government clients in the areas of process workflow and document and data management.
Specialties: Product Management, Key Account Management, Business Development, Business Process Management solution development, Document Imaging and Workflow, Records and Knowledge Management
Rachana’s Oracle story started just after she finished studying Electronics Engineering in India. Following her degree, she moved to the U.S for Oracle E-Business Suite implementation and support services and has been working in this space for 15+ years. Her knowledge of EBS has taken her across many different customers across the world helping implement various modules.
Rachana decided to join the More4apps team when she wanted a change to the products world from the IT services sector. She enjoys working with different clients and businesses as they have a variety of challenges. When she’s not at work, she enjoys reading, watching Science or History channels with her sons, hiking, biking and exploring countryside trails. Never forgetting her roots, her song of choice at karaoke would be the very popular Bollywood classic – Chura Liya hai tumne jo.
Aurelie or Lily as most people call her joined More4apps in 2018 as part of the US presales team. She brought a 7 years-Oracle-experience to the company, having helped lots of customers implement and support Oracle EBS in France and New Caledonia prior to working at More4apps.
After a few years enjoying sunny California, she moved back to her homeland, France in 2020, bogging in cheese, baguette and croissants since then! Lily is a self described foodie – loves discussing food, cooking and gets grumpy if not fed on a regular basis!
When not eating, she enjoys outdoor activities, like climbing, kite surfing (basically using a kite to jump and spin, but in reality she spends more time crashing into the water), and wakeboarding (basically another sport that ruins your knees before you turn 35).
She also volunteers in a community garden and a few climate change focused organizations.
After working in New Zealand’s biggest city, Brent Moran wanted a change, to escape the big city life of endless commutes. 15 years later that change sees him as Development Manager at More4apps.
Moran was brought onboard to develop training tools such as videos and documentation for customers, along with programming. IT was not his original career choice, he studied and gained a degree in Physics.
When asked what advice he would give his 18-year-old self he comments “don’t do physics do IT!” But he also has found that doing your research and learning from others extremely beneficial and urges others to try not to be afraid to upskill on areas you may not be as strong on. An example could be joining toastmasters to develop skills in public speaking. Don’t underestimate the value of soft skills!
His advice for those new to software development is that a software product is much larger than the code. Support, maintenance, documentation, and testing are a much larger part of the product than the code itself. And, the quicker the code is written usually the more costly the product will be in terms of support and maintenance. Also, it is important to understand that there is a big difference between software that needs to work on hundreds of sites worldwide as opposed to in-house software and software for single sites.
And one final piece of advice “If you can’t look after yourself – you can’t look after your customers”.
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