Rapidly growing technology services and software development company Lancom Technology has promoted its General Manager Priscila Bernardes to the position of CEO. In her new role, Bernardes will continue the strategic direction set by departing CEO Waruna Kirimetiyawa for the Auckland-headquartered trans-Tasman organisation.
Kirimetiyawa takes up the role of Lancom Group Managing Director and ANZ CEO for Lyra Technology Group, itself a division of Evergreen Services Group. San Francisco-headquartered Evergreen acquired Lancom Technology late in 2023.
Originally hailing from Brazil, Bernardes emigrated to New Zealand and started her first local employment with a scant knowledge of the English language. A highly driven and focused individual, she has parlayed initial experience as an office manager into a successful career in technology leadership.
Bernardes rapidly worked her way up the ranks while building on her bachelor’s degree in business management achieved in Brazil with a postgraduate diploma in business and subsequent MBA from the University of Auckland.
Bernardes says her mission is building on the legacy established by Lancom Technology founder Warwick Eade and Kirimetiyawa, to whom she reports and continues to work alongside. “It’s been quite a journey after arriving with no English and going from there,” smiles Bernardes.
“Today, as part of Evergreen, Lancom is part of a wider technology conglomerate with continued growth ambitions across New Zealand and Australia. The Melbourne office which Lancom established in 2020 serves as an ideal foothold from which we’ll continue expanding our managed services and software development capabilities into that territory.”
Bernardes has played multiple pivotal roles enabling Lancom Technology’s growth from a regional to nationwide and trans-Tasman technology services company. Joining as a Customer Experience Manager in 2015, she rapidly demonstrated a talent for ICT and a keen sense of the differentiators that matter to customers in a competitive market.
After motivating for and establishing the foundations of customer success as Customer Experience Manager, Bernardes subsequently served as Growth Manager and then Head of Sales and Marketing, before acceding General Manager in 2021, where she contributed to strategic direction, governance, and performance management alongside the senior leadership team.
Through her tenure working alongside Kirimetiyawa, Lancom Technology has consistently achieved annual growth between 20 and 30 percent, while completing acquisitions including Powernet IT Consultants NZ, Redbrick Technology, and Connect 2.
Kirimetiyawa, who has invested his entire career into Lancom Technology, congratulates Bernardes on her appointment. “Like me, Priscila has remained faithful to our company through thick and thin. She has an impeccable work ethic, a keen sense of what matters to customers, and is an inspirational leader for our technology and customer services teams. Working together, we’ve achieved multiple milestones for the company, and with her as CEO, it’s safe to say that this is just the beginning.”
Elliott Hyman, CEO of Lyra Technology Group, extends his congratulations to both Bernardes and Kirimetiyawa on their new ventures “We want to congratulate Priscila and Waruna as they embark on their new roles. Priscila, for the past ten years at Lancom, has demonstrated exceptional leadership skills and an obsession with customer success. We are looking forward to her leading Lancom to new heights. Waruna’s approach to relationships and business has been completely in line with Lyra’s culture of decentralization and autonomy. As Regional CEO, he will be the flag bearer for Lyra in Australia and New Zealand and we couldn’t have asked for a better partner for this next chapter.”
Bernardes credits her career progress to living the company’s core values of talent, continuous learning, humility, perseverance, and curiosity. “Warwick started our graduate program on the basis of these values, and Waruna joined the company in much the same way as I did – as an immigrant keen to create and add value.”
She adds that Eade and Kirimetiyawa’s mentorship, support and encouragement has seen many individuals within the company successfully advance their careers.
Bernardes says she’ll carry the Lancom legacy forward as an incubator for talent to succeed by creating and delivering innovative Technology solutions that drive businesses forward. “We’ll do that across ANZ,” she confirms – and hints at further expansion by adding ‘and other markets’. “We’re known for delivering quality and technology excellence across demanding and complex engagements. And we’re also known for customer loyalty, with our very first client still with us 36 years later – and amazingly, they signed on in the year I was born,” she concludes.