Kimbal Riley Named Vista Group CEO

Bookmark and Share

Wed, 01/24/2018 - 13:18 -- Nick Dager

Vista Group International has announced that Kimbal Riley will take over as group CEO from Murray Holdaway. Holdaway will take up the position of chief product officer and will continue in his role as an executive director on the Vista Group board. This has taken place as part of a succession planning process. The transition takes effect April 3.

Riley has had an extensive career in senior executive roles in the IT and services industries in New Zealand and overseas. He joined Vista Group four years ago and for the past two years has served as CEO of Vista Entertainment Solutions.

Vista Group chairman Kirk Senior praised Holdaway for his exceptional leadership of the company, which he co-founded in 1996.

“Murray has shown great vision and expertise in leading a team to create and grow Vista Group, one of New Zealand’s top performing technology companies,” said Senior. “His strengths continue to lie in product innovation and customer service and with the diversification of Vista since our 2014 public listing, we want him to focus in the area where he has traditionally provided the greatest value, which is product innovation. This is core to the Group’s success, the heart and soul of what we do. Now, after more than two decades building and leading Vista Group it is time for him to hand the leadership reins to Kimbal Riley, his natural successor. We are extremely fortunate that we will retain Murray’s expertise and critical strengths in his new role as Chief Product Officer.”

Riley said, “Murray has one of the best understandings of the film industry’s data and information flows of anyone in this business. The company has a number of exciting challenges ahead this year, as we continue to develop world-leading software that delivers innovation for cinemas and distributors. This will unlock the potential for big data insights that will create more exciting experiences for movie goers. I enjoy helping build businesses and with someone like Murray as product visionary it makes the job twice as exciting.”

Holdaway says he is looking forward to taking on the CPO role, which will enable him to support Vista Group’s CEO’s and their teams by working across the company’s product divisions to boost innovation and expand offerings to its global customer base.

“This transition comes at a pivotal time in our development, when some of the companies in the Group are ready to introduce new products and service offerings to the industry,” he said. “In light of that, supporting product development and execution is critical; I will be focusing on the product direction of the Group at a time when a number of significant new and generational changes are progressing in individual companies, as they evolve their products to meet the needs of our customers and the wider market. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who have supported me as CEO over the past 22 years. We have a passionate and talented team at Vista Group and it’s been my privilege to lead them.”

Vista Group International www.vistagroup.co