Who Are We
GBS was established on 1st July 2002 when two independent GIS consultants decided to capitalise on each other's strengths by forming a business partnership. This decision has paid off for directors Harley Prowse and Tony Elson with GBS now a thriving business, growing year on year.
To find out more about GBS please read our Company Profile (PDF)
Well, that's the official version out of the way. Now here's the one we tell our friends:
Well, that's the official version out of the way. Now here's the one we tell our friends:
Back in the day Harley and Tony worked on their own and were lonely, so they got together and formed GBS. After a couple of years they were tiring of each other. They wanted to mix it up a bit, so they decided to build a team of very clever people around them. In their travels they came across Shane and greatly admired his skills, so they asked him if he wanted to work with them too. Shane said "Ja, okay!". Next came Matt from the Mainland and Sam (who has since moved to Canada on his OE). After that, Loan and Ardeshir joined the crew, then Joanne, our Office Administrator followed by Jan to add to the international flavour (i.e South Islanders, South Africans, the Middle East and Germany). Lisa has seen the error of her ways and returned after a few years siesta at Auckland Regional Council/Auckland Transport, and has been joined by our new recruit Alfredo from Spain - Ola! Now that Lisa is managing the workload we have recruited David to assist our busy team.
Staff come and go and all leave their own unique mark on the company. Over the years Justin, Simon and Sam have done just that and then moved on.
So right now GBS are nine guys and two gals who are a truly international team and great at what they do and love doing it.
| Harley Prowse | |
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Harley has a background in physical geography (studying coastal management, beach processes, hydrology and river management) and a depth of experience in software design and development, and all aspects of GIS.
Before pursuing his own business goals, Harley worked in a number of GIS related roles for Environment Waikato, Genasys and Geographic Technologies Ltd. His extensive knowledge has since allowed him to provide GIS consultancy for a range of organisations and industry sectors, using different GIS systems.
Father to a gregarious 7 year old daughter and laid back 4 year old son, Harley is looking forward to the day when he can renew his passion for red wine, mountain biking ("not sure that is ever going to happen!") and skiing (oh, and the odd sleep-in). Apparently, Harley also enjoys the gym!
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| Tony Elson | |
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Tony's expertise in GIS, people and space (otherwise known as human geography) has made him a popular consultant and analyst in range of sectors for both public and private organisations. Tony's role is to provide our customers with strategic support and advice, project management and internal marketing strategies. He is also a dab hand at data management, integration & modeling, interpretation, application & database design and development & QA/QC integrity processes.
Tony probably spends as much time out of the office as he does in it, but is now also working more closely on the business and business development.
Outside of work, Tony is a rugby nut - long suffering Highlanders / Otago fan, a keen surfer and he is also involved in coaching soccer (and now playing goalkeeper for the best team in Drury). Tony is the misunderstood but proud father of four daughters!
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| Shane Pienaar | |
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Shane has clocked over 12 years experience in the GIS sector so far, eight of which he spent at Auckland Regional Council as a Spatial Applications Developer. When he joined GBS in mid 2007, his talent and passion for "making things work" quickly endeared him to the team.
As our resident ArcObjects and Web applications expert, Shane is the Yoda , .NET developer, ArcGIS server and Mobile GIS master. As Yoda once said, "...do or do not." Shane generally does.
He is also a huge sports (Bokke Bokke) enthusiast who spends almost all of his spare time either trail running in the regional parks, or snowboarding, swimming and hiking. Shane is now the proud father of Sam (who is already a Springbok fan).
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| Matt Simmons | |
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Matt has been with GBS for a bit now, hailing from the garden city of Christchurch. With a background in software engineering, his GIS experience was gained while working at the Christchurch City Council. Matt brings expert data modelling skills to the team as well as solid software development skills and experience. Matt focuses on real nerdy stuff around ESRI Desktop, Server and Mobile application development projects.
With a head for things mechanical – Matt doesn’t mind getting his hands dirty in the garage, tweaking anything with an engine.
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| Loan Burger (GBS Stig) | |
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Loan (pronounced Lu-han) immigrated to NZ from South Africa in 2008 with his wife and two children. After enjoying himself (or was that indulging) in the tourism and hospitality industry, Loan made a career change to software development - quite a quantum shift we think. Anyway, our resident speed king, likes to specialise in Silverlight, C# and SQL Server with some Flex development thrown in for extra fun. Loan had to hit the ground running and he hasn't stopped yet. Loan is an integral part of the team and he has certainly added some extra personality!
Before joining GBS, Loan gained lots of valuable experience in software development and analysis while working in the asset management industry back in SA, and then in the property management sector here in NZ.
When not working, Loan can be found on his mountain bike, motor bike or in front of the PS3, gaming away.
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| Ardeshir Gheidian | |
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Ardeshir joined GBS in early 2010. Not really getting a chance to breathe, Ardeshir was thrown into the deep end and is swimming magnificently with Silverlight. So with that, Ardeshir brings to the GBS capability package, another resource to develop those great rich internet application experiences.
Orginally from Tehran, Ardeshir graduated with a MS in physics at Tehran University - so he is no slouch. He moved to NZ with his wife and daughter in 2003, working as an Oracle Developer, data analyst, email campaigns team member, C# / ASP.Net web developer, using Visual Studio, Javascript, HTML and SQL Server. Ardeshir is a code ninja dude and it seems he's done everything! And now learning GIS - what more could we want?
In his spare time, Ardeshir loves football (soccer), reading books (how to program in ArcObjects by Yoda), and swimming.
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| Joanne Degen-Smith | |
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Jo is yet another South Islander and a one-eyed Cantabrian, who previously lived in Wellington for a while before moving to Auckland 8 years ago. Jo has a background in Sales and Accounting and has joined us to take over the administrative tasks from Harley and Tony (so they can concentrate on what they do best - watering plants is not one of them).
Nicknamed MUM (or Male Unit Manager as she prefers to be called), Jo works on a part-time basis, helping the guys and generally creating some semblance of order. Jo's motto is 'Sort It' and loves to get those jobs done that have been piling up on Harley's floor or in Tony's wallet.
Jo is good at multi-tasking (what woman thinks they are not!). She has two children aged 6 and 9 and a long suffering husband who helps to pay the bills. In her spare time, Jo likes to go to the gym, shoe shopping, enjoys music and has mastered the art of sleep-ins.
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| Jan Roggisch | |
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Jan was plucked from the surf in New Plymouth to join us in the warm north. Born in Canada, raised in Bonn - Germany, Jan has been in the GIS industry since 2004 and arrived on our fair shores in early 2007 where he decided to stay and dip his toes into working as a GIS Developer for the local council. Jan is serious (well he is German after all) about GIS and developing in GIS.
Jan has many years of experience setting up and administering ArcSDE and ArcGIS Server and managing web mapping applications. While with the NPDC Jan gained experience managing the Council’s GIS data and setting up automated data management processes. Now with GBS, Jan will be focusing on web development as well as making good use of his GIS data management expertise.
One of the things Jan likes about living in Auckland is that it’s very easy to get into kite-surfing and one of his long term goals is to build and maintain an up-to-date map of the best cafes in and around Auckland based on extensive field work. (So far he is only up to 7 top cafes so he could be with us for a while!).
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| Lisa Read | |
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Lisa has returned to GBS after finally seeing the error of her ways.
She has 14 years experience in the GIS industry, in both the public and private sectors, as well as three years working in England. Lisa has changed roles during her time in the industry, having started out as a GIS Analyst initially, before moving into development for a few years, and then progressing into the Business Analysis side of things. She comes to us now as a Technical Project Manager.
She has worked predominantly in Asset Management in the past few years at the Auckland Regional Council, and has extensive knowledge regarding GIS and SAP Plant Maintenance Integration. She re-joins us now from her most recent position with Auckland Transport where she migrated out of the GIS world to work with Microsoft SharePoint in a development, support and testing role.
Outside work, Lisa has one main interest… football. Go the Mighty Rovers (Apparently they are in Glenfield somewhere!)
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| Alfredo Peret Vendrell | |
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Alfredo Peret Vendrell has two surnames in true Spanish style. Alfredo is originally from a small town in Valencia and grew up surrounded by orange trees – yes those famous Valencia oranges. He has a Bachelor’s degree in Technical Surveying Engineering (Topography), and a Masters’ degree in Engineering in Geodesy and Cartography, which he completed while in Prague.
An avid Lord of the Rings fan, Alfredo decided to cross the world in his search for hobbits and orcs. (Is that another name for GIS Consultants?) He started with an internship with Eagle Technology before joining the GBS team.
In his spare time, Alfredo enjoys all kinds of sports – tennis, squash, going to the gym, cycling, running and playing his guitar. He was a member of a band (classic Spanish type stuff - nah, actually hard rock!) in Spain and also enjoys novels and cinema so we think NZ will keep him entertained for a while.
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| David Aalbers | |
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David comes from four years in local council starting as an analyst in the late Waitakere City Council, and moving into a development role during the amalgamation to the “super city” Auckland Council in 2010. He has experience mostly in Flex and .NET development, and enjoys a bit of python on the side, amongst other things. OK, enjoying a bit of python on the side sounds a bit odd, but if it fits, it works!
In his spare time he enjoys a range of sports and outdoor activities, including soccer and tennis. His summer soccer team, the “Don Buck Beavers”, won the third division this year, but more importantly has won the “most social” award two years in a row, mostly due to the amount of time spent at the bar after games – ergo David is fitting into GBS wonderfully. David is also a big fan of travelling, and has spent time backpacking through Asia and the US. He also likes to think of himself as the next Bear Grylls, and claims he could out survive any other member of GBS in the wild. (David hasn’t spent much time in South Auckland obviously).
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