NEC Australia boss Mike Barber departs

NEC Australia on Monday said its Australian managing director Mike Barber has left the business but declined to specify the terms or nature of the separation.

Mike Barber, formerly of NEC

In a statement outlining executive moves, NEC said “a change in leadership approach” was appropriate after making changes to its business model and more closely aligning to NEC Japan.

Chief financial officer Tadashi Takahama will serve as interim managing director.

“Mike was a valued member and leader of the NEC Australia executive management team, and NEC APAC region over the years,” NEC said in a statement.

“Mike led and transformed NEC Australia to be one of the largest high technology companies in Australia. Under his leadership NEC Australia won numerous major deals with Commonwealth, State and Territory governments. NEC thanks Mike for his leadership and contribution to NEC Australia.”

NEC said recent changes leadership change is part of an effort to become more attractive for its growing global customer base. The changes were spearheaded by NEC global senior executive vice president Akiko Kumagai.

Barber joined NEC Australia in 2011 as general manager for services, eventually moving up to executive roles and was named managing director in January 2018.

Prior to that, he held roles with CSG, HP, EDS and the South Australian government’s office of information technology.