Staff

The team at Radfords includes Visual FoxPro and VB.Net analyst developers, support specialists and administrative staff:

Phil Radford
Chief Executive Officer
Phil has been the chief architect and developer of many of our applications. He has been supplying software to the horticulture industry for over 20 years. Working with a wide range of clients gives him a unique understanding of the post-harvest sector and its requirements for dynamic inventory management and grower payment systems. More recently, Phil has stepped back from the keyboard to focus on the strategic projects and directions for the company.
Kathy Ashton
Financial Manager
Kathy has been with Radfords since 1996 and over the years has had a variety of roles including software sales and support, financial/business manager and is now financial manager. Since selling a hospitality business in 1983, Kathy has had a broad experience of the kiwifruit industry, from planting, pruning, picking and packing to heading the administration team of a large packhouse/coolstore complex for 6 years.
Les Dimond
General Manager
Les joined us in Aug 2008 in a full time capacity, having previously consulted to Radfords for a 5-month period. Although an accountant by qualification, Les' background is in general management of technology companies. Since arriving in New Zealand in 2004 he has also been involved in executive recruitment. His role with Radfords sees him overseeing and coordinating the application development function, as well as assisting in the strategic planning of the company's growth.
Andrew Stewart
IT Architect
Andrew joined Radfords in 1999 and during this time has worked in both permanent and consulting capacities. Holding a Diploma in Business Computing, Andrew has gained enormous experience in the kiwifruit and apples sectors over the years and has played a leading role in the development of several major software applications for the fresh produce sectors. In his current role, Andrew will provide technical leadership across the organisation, focusing on high-level design plans. He is a keen sportsman & competitive athlete.
Ian Vercoe
Client Service Manager
A man of many talents, Ian has led the KiwiPlus team for several years and is now an industry specialist in terms of inventory management for both the kiwifruit and avocado sectors. Trained as a Motor Technician and rising to a senior role in vehicle diagnostics in Australia, Ian has a passion for all things technical and builds hi-fidelity speaker systems in his spare moments. Ian developed a keen interest in the computer industry to the extent of tutoring in the subject at several national technical institutions.
Andrew Neil
Senior Applications Developer
After undertaking a Business Computing course at the BOP Polytechnic, Andrew joined Radfords as a Visual FoxPro developer in 2003. Since then, he has had a key involvement in KiwiPlus over the years, including our international version which is used in Italy, France, Japan & Korea. More recently, Andrew has led the team developing the new VB.Net version of Supply Chain Manager (SCM) and overseen the development, installation and support of our Avocado Payments application.
Craig Williams
Senior Analyst Developer
Craig joined us in 2009 bringing with him, nine years experience in development and five years in management of payroll applications. He has a key involvement with the development and support of our KiwiPlus payments application as well as our other payment related software. More recently he has been involved in scoping and development of the new .Net version of KiwiPlus and a part of the development team for the Hothouse application.
Julie Reiser
Business Analyst
Julie comes from a strong background in operations analysis and software development. She has a BSc in Computer Information Systems from the USA and has worked in senior analytical roles for a number of American companies, including Ingram Micro. Julie first came to New Zealand as a Rotary Exchange Student in 1987, returning here in 2006. Her role with Radfords has seen her involved in analysing and documenting several of our legacy products as well as playing a key role in the scoping and project administration of new products.
Sean Connor
Applications Developer
Sean has many years of IT experience, both in terms of software development and hardware. Comfortable with working in a variety of languages, Sean's recent specialty is in the area of online and batch-mode printing, especially the interface required to produce pack labels and bin cards for kiwifuit. As well as being a key member of the KiwiPlus and KiwiPlus International teams, Sean has been responsible for the Company's internal network and hardware.
Chris Brown
Applications Developer
Chris joined us in 2004 and is responsible for the "Apples" side of Radfords business, he has been redeveloping and refining the application over the last few years. He also specialises in Radio Frequency (RF) technology, where handheld devices and scanners interface with our main inventory software. Recently he has developed the KiwiRF Interface to track RFID product. Chris originally came from a career path in the construction industry but has been a computer enthusiast for many years.
Cristi Popa
Applications Developer
Another computer specialist with a different background, Cristi is originally a Mechanical Engineer qualified in Romania. He emigrated with his family to NZ in 2002 and initially worked in Whangaparoa before seizing the opportunity to move to the Bay of Plenty. Cristi is a Visual FoxPro developer and works on the local and international versions of KiwiPlus, as well as the avocado applications. He also specialises in Bin Management solutions for the produce sector using VB.Net and FoxPro.
Ross Jenkins
Applications Developer
Ross has a strong working knowledge of the kiwifruit, avocado and citrus industries. He has a large amount of experience in designing and building accounting, contact and time management applications. He works primarily on the VB.Net kiwifruit applications, including SCM (Supply Chain Manager) and Caboodle. He is also responsible for the development and maintenance of the Avocado Industry Council Spray Diary, a web-based application.
Joel Meikle
Applications Developer
Joel joined the Radfords team at the beginning of 2008 and has nearly 10 years experience in programming and application development. As a Microsoft Certified Professional, his specialty is in data manipulation and user interfaces. He has taken over our R600 Sampling application, developed Quality Manager and is a key part of the development team for our VB.Net applications. He has also taken the lead in designing several of our in-house administration tools.
Bobby Barnes
Applications Developer
Bobby is originally from the UK but has lived in New Zealand since he was 11. He has a Bachelor of Business Information, majoring in computing and systems development from Massey in Wellington. In 2008 he joined Radfords as an applications developer, he is heavily involved in our VB.Net applications and is rapidly becoming a specialist in our Caboodle suite of products. Bobby plays soccer and cricket competitively.
Lee Marshall
Support Specialist
Lee comes from a strong support background – prior to joining Radfords he spent 5 years supporting Print Management software. As well as providing key telephone & email support services to clients nationwide, he is also heavily involved in the pre-release testing processes for all updates and newly developed applications. Lee also arranges and delivers group training courses, on-site training sessions and generates comprehensive Help documentation for Radfords' software.
Lindy Adamson
Office Administrator
Lindy joined Radfords in 2002 and really does run the show! Aside from handling our busy switchboard and happily tending to numerous visitors, she also gets involved in some of the technical aspects of the business. She works closely with Chris Brown on the preparation of Pipfruit Master Data as well as taking responsibility for ordering and setting-up handheld devices for various clients. She is also involved in invoicing and general administrative functions.
Kirk Newson
Network Administrator

Kirk joined us at the beginning of 2009, taking responsibility for the upgrade and ongoing maintenance of our local area network and the various network services that we offer clients. He has made great strides already and we now have brand-new servers in place, running the latest business environment. Kirk comes from a systems engineering background, is a Microsoft Certified System Administrator and has a National Diploma in Computer Engineering.

Paul Fox
Web Developer

Paul emigrated to New Zealand from the UK late 2010 and is enjoying life in the Bay of Plenty. Originally employed in the engineering industry a career change saw him complete a BSc in Computing with the Open University. He is an ASP.net developer with five years web development experience with UK local government. Being a keen surfer he has spent as many hours as possible with the volunteers helping to clean up the beach after the Rena disaster. 

David Draffin
Applications Developer

In 2005 David completed a Bachelor of Science and Technology degree at the University of Waikato majoring in Computer Science. He worked as a GIS web developer in Hamilton for three years before moving to Japan for a further three years and continued working on GIS web applications. Radfords welcome his knowledge and core strengths in web mapping applications, primarily in ASP.net and C#. In his spare time he enjoys rugby, cricket, skiing and fishing.

Sandra Roberts
Software Documentation and Support Provider

Sandra has a strong empathy for horticultural industries having been raised on a kiwifruit orchard. She has been involved in the kiwifruit Post Harvest sector since the introduction of electronic file transfer to the Kiwifruit Marketing Board and more recently has 13 years experience as an EDI Manager. Her role with Radfords will include software documentation, user acceptance testing, software support and she will be involved in many of the new projects.