But this is not in the traditional sense of hammers and drills; it is more about making the likes of mobile phones as a tool for communication.
“I like building tools to enable people to do things,” John Williamson, who joined Dunedin’s ADInstruments this year as chief technology officer, says.
His resume is impressive, having been at the forefront of consumer technology for more than 25 years, helping to invent push email, the cellular mobile data networks that carry it, the first smartphones, mobile apps and app stores.
Now he is at ADI, a largely under-the-radar but wildly impressive Dunedin success story which creates powerful data acquisition software and equipment for life science researchers and educators around the world.
And he is putting down roots, having moved with his family from Taiwan and settling in the city, already buying a house here.
It was 18 years ago that Mr Williamson was on his honeymoon and the newlyweds thought it would be nice to live somewhere around the Southern Lakes (Queenstown, Wanaka, Arrowtown) area. He set up a job alert on Linkedin and it took the intervening years for it to “ping”.
A year ago, he had an interview for a job in Auckland and, while that role fell through, it put New Zealand more on his radar, given the number of “world-class companies hiding away here”. And then the role at ADI came up.
A technologist at heart, his career had been dedicated to building hardware and software products that empowered people to communicate, create and work more effectively.
He thrived on developing high-performing teams to deliver innovative solutions both within established companies or in entirely new markets and he has led teams through acquisitions, IPOs, restructuring and building companies from the ground up.
Mr Williamson grew up in Sydney and always knew that he wanted to build things. In the mid-1990s, he was technical product manager for Sendit, a Swedish company that built the world’s first cellular-internet email gateway and was the first European company to be acquired by Microsoft.
He was later CTO at i-mate, which founded the first smartphone OEM (original equipment manufacturer) and had an IPO on the London Stock Exchange’s AIM, the exchange’s market for small and medium-size growth companies, in September 2006.
Later roles included head of product development at Polaroid and director of mechanical engineering at HP, both in Taipei. It was in Taiwan that he learned how to build teams and energise teams to take new things to market.
Mr Williamson found similarities living in Taiwan and New Zealand. Taiwan had a large number of universities, a lot of very key niche industries and it was also going through a transition to a younger generation with different ideas.
The Taiwanese people were fantastic, as was the food, and he also enjoyed the mountainous environment, particularly making the most of that during Covid-19. The couple’s twin daughters were both accomplished hikers.
The Kiwi outdoors and variety of things to see and do here was a big drawcard for the move to New Zealand, he said.
He came to Dunedin on a school trip when he was 12 but his memories of that time in the South were very hazy.
Mr Williamson was enjoying living in the city, citing the world-class scientists at the university, the thriving student scene and ADI itself.
He liked ongoing sustainable businesses and, with ADI preparing to celebrate 40 years next year, that fitted the bill.
“From employees that had been there from three years to 30 years, there was a very dedicated, passionate team.
“It’s [ADI] extremely strong worldwide. We’re making a difference to people. It’s no longer me building things, it’s me helping teams build things and extending it to our customers to really help educate and train the next generation of doctors.”
“I love building things but networking and helping people . . . seeing people grow to their own potential is fascinating. Just as much fun as building the actual tools themselves.”
sally.rae@odt.co.nz
