With over 20 years’ experience in the IT industry and around 18 of those focused on providing security services and solutions, Gary Botha makes his way from South Africa to join the Advantage team in New Zealand as a Cyber Security Consultant, having worked for the company remotely for over 6 months.
“I have always felt that New Zealand is an amazing country,” Gary explains. “I have always been intrigued by the beauty of the country, the diverse cultures, and people. I am exceptionally privileged to be able to call it my home!”
Holding a Masters in Information Security and various security certifications, Gary’s security journey began in the secure payments space. This involved securing payment systems for mobile network operators, Petro-chemical companies, and major financial institutions. With customers based throughout Africa, Asia, and South America, this allowed Gary to see the world and some of the most unique information security challenges. His experience in the payments space then led to an opportunity to work for the most innovative bank in South Africa where he specialized in cryptographic solutions.
Gary’s career continued to progress within the bank, architecting various security solutions, including the banks first implementation of the SIEM and other strategic security technologies. He was appointed as the ‘Head of the Risk and Security’ portfolio for the branch and ATM networks and put together a team of security and IT risk professionals tasked with securing these environments across the country. After that, he continued in the wealth and investments division, defining, and implementing a security roadmap and security capability for the business unit.
Passionate about IT and IT Security, Gary chose Advantage because of its “unique approach to security, products and strategic services which enables clients to derive immediate benefit to reduce risk and improve the security posture of their business. Advantage prides itself on being a part of the customers journey and an enabler of the business growth through the security services they provide. There are very few companies where you feel like a family member and not an employee. Advantage is one of those companies and I am privileged to be a part of the Advantage family.”
As a business, we want to thank Immigration New Zealand and the Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment, for making the process of Gary’s move to New Zealand run as smooth as possible. With the work involved in their two tech sector groups IT Professionals New Zealand and NZ Tech, 600 tech workers were able to get a class exemption. This new process made things run smoothly and assisted greatly. Getting talented workers like Gary over to New Zealand with this new capability, allows New Zealand better protection against cyber security. We couldn’t be more excited to have Gary in New Zealand.
