Technology top of mind for Kent Dapiere

Netgear's business development manager is a former psychology student and PC assembler

By Hamish Barwick, Auckland | Thursday, 11 March 2010
He says the variety of his previous roles has helped prepare him for working at a vendor.

“I think that is why Ryan was happy to bring me on, because I have reasonable experience in selling to retail. Softprint was largely a retail distributor.

“Retail is one prong of a multiple interest in growing the New Zealand business. We have our consumer brand which is predominately what we’re recognised for. Our heritage has been SMB, which is because we started off as Bay Networks selling hubs and switches. The third part is the telco play.

Dapiere enjoys meeting with Netgear’s resellers. “We continue to look for partners that we can support in the market. It is reinforcing our position in Harvey Norman, JB Hi-Fi and Dick Smith to continue to drive our consumer business. It is also about working with the more independent resellers, who are working in the consumer and small business space.”

He adds the company wants to build up a core of partners focused on the SMB, mid-enterprise and education space. “A lot of these resellers have bought Netgear product for the past nine years at various levels.”

Dapiere’s role involves growing the Netgear brand and going back to these resellers to ensure the company is supporting them in their business.

“A lot of resellers have known me from working at Ingram Micro. Building on existing relationships has been a strong point. Otherwise I’ve enjoyed getting out, meeting new resellers and building relationships from scratch, typically in areas that I haven’t been strong in, such as SMB.”

He has stayed in IT because it’s a fast-changing industry.

“I enjoy that there are new products coming through along with so much development, research and excitement in the industry. It’s ever-changing.

“My personal goal is to grow the Netgear business to a point where Ryan [Parker] will call me the New Zealand country manager and we can have a team of people.”

At present, Dapiere is the only local Netgear employee. “Ryan’s team in Australia is very supportive and they’ve been very helpful.”

Dapiere enjoys a variety of sports when he gets time away from the office.

“I’m a regular squash and indoor cricket player. I do a lot of outdoor running events, like the North Shore Challenge. The Coast to Coast in the South Island is a long-term goal.”

Dapiere has no family left in Christchurch as they have all moved north or overseas. “I go back for weddings and 30th birthday parties,” he says.