BlackLine moves on NZ with first country manager

BlackLine, a provider of cloud-based finance and accounting solutions, has appointed Simon Frew as the company's first ever New Zealand country manager.

In this role based in Auckland, Simon will be responsible for accelerating the company's sales momentum and working with partners to support mutual success in New Zealand.

Frew joins BlackLine with more than 25 years' experience including almost two decades of experience in enterprise software sales and support.

During this time, he has worked for global vendor organisations, including SAP and Hewlett-Packard.

Most recently, Frew worked for more than four years as a senior account executive at SAP New Zealand during.

Within this role, he managed a global team to execute highly complex sales and was instrumental in co-developing effective account strategies with customers to deliver value-based outcomes.

Prior, Frew was a global account manager for more than ten years at Hewlett Packard where he specialised in transforming IT as a business unit within end-user customer organisations.

He was also responsible for selling a portfolio of products and services with a focus on value and business outcomes.

"We are delighted to appoint Simon as our country manager for New Zealand," says Blackline ANZ regional vice president Claudia Pirko

"We sought to complement our existing skill set in the wider Asia Pacific region with an experienced New Zealand-based executive who has a great track record of championing winning IT deployments and creating successful relationships with leading enterprises.  We believe Simon has these skills and will be an excellent addition to BlackLine as we continue to build our presence in New Zealand.

BlackLine currently has more than 150 customers based in the Asia Pacific region, including many public and private sector organisations in New Zealand and has an expanding team of sales, professional services and technical support employees.

BlackLine was recognised by Gartner as a Leader in its 2018 Magic Quadrant for Cloud Financial Close Solutions and as a pioneer in the cloud market for enhanced financial control and automation.

"I'm looking forward to working with our customers and partners to support them with solutions which help to underpin their transparency and accountability," Frew says.

"The New Zealand market presents a great opportunity for BlackLine to help finance teams become a strategic partner to the business through  automating, centralising and streamlining  financial close operations, intercompany accounting processes and other key F-A processes.