NZME appoints Guy Horrocks to join board next year as an independent director

Tech entrepreneur Guy Horrocks will join the NZME board in February next year. Photo / File

New Zealand Media and Entertainment (NZME) has today announced that international Kiwi tech entrepreneur Guy Horrocks will join its board as an independent director.

NZME chair Barbara Chapman said she was delighted by the appointment.

"Guy brings a background in successfully growing digital businesses, strong capability in the commercialisation of data and a focused entrepreneurial mindset to our board."

Horrocks established himself as an early pioneer of the mobile app industry, co-founding the world's first commercial iPhone app company in 2007, Polar Bear Farm.

He is one of a number of high-powered, experienced New Zealand entrepreneurs who have built internationally successful digital enterprises – only to return to New Zealand to escape the worst of the impacts of Covid-19 on their adopted homes.

"I'm delighted to be home in New Zealand with my family and I'm extremely excited to be joining the board of NZME, especially at a time where the company is so uniquely placed to avail itself of the opportunities of this changing environment," Horrocks said.

With clients including Expedia, DreamWorks, HBO, OREO, CNN, Time Magazine as well as the New Zealand Herald, Horrocks helped launch over 100 mobile apps with his mobile agency Carnival Labs, many of which were featured by Apple.

Horrocks originally set up Carnival Labs to target casual gaming, entertainment and advertising apps but then swiftly broadened Carnival Labs' scope to also including high profile work for global brands like Nestle, Pepsi, DreamWorks, Kraft Foods and Taco Bell.

Carnival subsequently launched a mobile marketing automation platform that was acquired by Sailthru in 2016.

Horrocks has since launched a new real-time data warehouse called Solve.

NZME chief executive Michael Boggs welcomed the arrival of Horrocks.

"Guy will bring an incredible level of depth and understanding to support NZME to best connect our wide range of digital platforms with our significant and growing audiences and our loyal commercial partners," Boggs said.

Horrocks will take up his role as an independent director effective from Monday, 8 February, 2021.