Meet our leaders

At Catalyst, we value the power of teamwork and collaboration. The distinctive management style and team approach at Catalyst drive the success of our open source projects. Our directors lead by example, contributing to our exceptional service delivery track record and our ability to attract talented open source technologists to join Catalyst.

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Don Christie

Don is the Managing Director and one of the founders of Catalyst IT, a New Zealand-owned open source software company headquartered in Wellington. 

Don is a former President of the New Zealand Open Source Society and was on the Council of Internet New Zealand for two years. He recently resigned as co-chair of the Kiwi tech organisation, NZRise, after 12 years in that role. He was a developer once upon a time.

A passionate believer in the capability of his fellow Kiwis, Don has long supported and advocated for the digital sector of Aotearoa. Building national and local infrastructure, capability and cyber resilience is at the heart of Catalyst's vision and is enabled by the company's strong support for and use of open source software.

If you're working on a story and want to speak to Don, contact our team.

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Mike O'Connor (1958–2026)

Mike was a founding Director of Catalyst and one of the five friends who started the company in 1997.

Over nearly three decades, he played a central role in shaping Catalyst into the business it is today. He helped establish joint ventures and partnerships in education consulting, education product development, and broadband monitoring, and building the international network and client base that underpins Catalyst's global group of companies.

Mike believed deeply in open source technology and proved, through his work, that it could power serious, lasting IT businesses serving the corporate and public sectors. He was a cornerstone of our team and is deeply missed.

Godfrey Fernandez

Godfrey, a founding Director of Catalyst, has over 30 years of experience in bespoke development and IT. Godfrey now manages a key account and has oversight of our risk sub-committee, and Health and Safety.

Godfrey has been involved with supporting election systems for the New Zealand democratic process for over 30 years.

He has also been involved in other significant project work, including support, project management and account management for various systems and clients, greenfield systems development, content management systems delivery, financial system conversions, various Y2K projects and the implementation of meat and other agricultural processing systems, implementation and support of internal systems for various government departments, and implementation of corporate web-enabled applications.

Sara Brownlie

Sara Brownlie is an Independent Director. She also sits on the REANNZ (Research and Education Advanced Network of New Zealand), Upper Hutt City Council Risk and Assurance Committee and Mana Mokopuna Risk, Assurance and Finance Committee.

Sara is a Fellow Member of CPA Australia and a Chartered Member of the Institute of Directors (IoD) in New Zealand and of the Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand (CAANZ). Sara has had an extensive career working for the NZ public sector in senior financial management and now runs a consultancy business; Fargher Woods Ltd.

Gavin Thompson

Gavin, also a founding Director, also has over 25 years of experience in developing software systems in the manufacturing, engineering, financial and government sectors. Gavin manages Catalyst's hosting facilities and several key accounts and is an active advocate of open source participation and success.

Christine Loughnan, General Counsel

Smiling headshot of Christine. She has long blonde hair and wears a blazer

Christine, an experienced in-house lawyer specialising in commercial law and technology, brings a proven track record from her roles in London and New Zealand tech, telco and construction sectors.

As a finalist for both the ILANZ Private Sector Lawyer of the Year and the Artemis Innovation Award in 2024, Christine exemplifies integrity, drive, and creativity. A passionate problem solver, she takes pride in empowering others to navigate legal and commercial challenges confidently, fostering career growth and development.

Katrina Bassett, Chief Operating Officer

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Katrina oversees Catalyst’s technical delivery and is responsible for ensuring our teams have the tools and support they need to produce great software.

Katrina started her career in the not-for-profit sector before returning to study and gaining a post-graduate diploma in Computer Science. She joined Catalyst in 2004 and has held a number of different roles in development, technical architecture and management.

She is an advocate of continuous improvement and iteration to help teams achieve their goals at speed and with stability.

Anna Wilson, General Manager Growth & Commercial

Smiling headshot of Anna Wilson. She has long blonde hair and wears a maroon shirt.

Anna leads Catalyst's growth strategy, working together with clients and teams to build the trusted, long-term partnerships that deliver real commercial outcomes. With more than 20 years of experience across technology and professional services, she brings strong business acumen and a pragmatic approach that turns complexity into clarity.

A believer that technology only matters when it works for people, Anna starts every client conversation by asking one question: What does success look like for you? She is focused on building relationships and helping organisations achieve practical and valuable outcomes, aligning with their strategy and the communities they serve.

Elin Simes, Chief Financial Officer

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Elin leads the finance team and financial managers at Catalyst, actively managing financial performance, driving financial outcomes, strategic planning and risk management. She drives financial growth and operational efficiency. Her passion for innovation and strategic financial management helps guide Catalyst towards sustained success in this ever-evolving industry.

Elin also leads our people and capability function, developing and executing our human resources strategy to deliver value-adding organisational people solutions. Elin is a Chartered Accountant with an accounting degree from Cardiff University. She has a background in finance, audit and change management with more than 15 years of global experience across New Zealand and the UK.

Chris Cormack, Kaihuawaere Matihiko

Smiling headshot of Chris Cormack. He wears a pounamu and shirt that says mana Māori

As Kaihuawaere Matihiko, Christopher Cormack (Kāi Tahu, Kāti Māmoe, Waitaha) is passionate about making Catalyst a better place for Māori to work at, and for Māori and Māori organisations to work with. He facilitates the integration of Māori values, perspectives, and practices into Catalyst's culture, processes, and projects.

Chris also works to increase the participation and representation of Māori in the IT sector by supporting Māori-led initiatives, mentoring Māori students and professionals, and advocating for Māori interests and rights. He has special interest in Māori data sovereignty and has spoken on the topic nationally and internationally.

Jason Ryan, Chief Information Officer

Jason began his career in New Zealand working with the eGovernment Unit at the State Services Commission. When that function was moved to DIA, Jason remained to lead the Communications, Records Management, and Library Services teams.

In 2012, he joined Catalyst as Strategy and Relations Manager, where he led the development of our business strategies and engaged with the government around the adoption of open source. He also led several large public sector projects for Catalyst.

Today, Jason is responsible for the 24/7 operation of our infrastructure and leads the Operations, Cloud Native, and Internal Technical Support teams.

Sarah Ellison, Chief Technology Officer

Smiling headshot of Sarah Ellison. She has long brown hair and wears a collared shirt Sarah leads technology strategy, product strategy, and AI exploration at Catalyst. She is responsible for defining and executing the company’s technology strategy, commercialising new products, and ensuring Catalyst’s offerings remain relevant, competitive, and grounded in open source values.

She helps organisations build on solid foundations that serve their communities now and into the future. With almost three decades of expertise spanning data and business intelligence, enterprise architecture, cloud solutions, and global team leadership, Sarah starts with people and problems before technology. She is focused on collaboration and working alongside clients to explore challenges together, question assumptions, and define what success looks like. This means every technology decision is made with productivity, risk, and real-world outcomes in mind.

Sam Lewis, General Manager Learning Solutions

Smiling headshot of Sam Lewis. He wears a blue collared shirt and has a beard. Sam leads Catalyst’s Learning Solutions team, which delivers software and services for the education and corporate training sectors. These solutions support hundreds of our clients with both New Zealand and international operations. Sam is also involved in the governance and alignment of products and services with our international subsidiaries in the UK, Australia, and Canada.

A connector of people and ideas, Sam draws on over a decade of working across the Catalyst Group of companies and more than twenty years of international business development experience to understand what organisations need to succeed. Having seen how organisations solve similar problems across different operating environments, he focuses on sharing that knowledge and finding the best solution for every client.