About Radiola

Brent loves all things electronic and has worked in the industry since 1975. He reckons it’s the most stimulating industry to be involved! Brent is constantly impressed by the ability of those in the New Zealand industry to work with continuous technological developments, and to sell their products and services around the world.

Brent has been involved in the company since the very beginning (1993). He became the Managing Director of Radiola Aerospace after the employee buyout of the aviation services business from Radiola Corporation in 2003.

Brent has a background in finance and management and was a NZ Chartered Accountant in a former life!

As Chairman of the Board, he works with the Chief Executive and senior staff on strategic matters and planning and governance.

“I love working with the team at Radiola who are so talented, and who contribute so much to the success of the company.”

And when he’s not at the helm of Radiola he can be found spending time with family… and when he gets the chance, flying his small aeroplane

At a young age Richard remembers the thumping noise of newly acquired RNZAF Iroquois helicopters flying over his small coastal Otago village. This turned out to be the start of a long interest in aviation and his career.

After Joining the Air Force in 1978 (as an avionics engineer) Richard quickly discovered that the flying side of aviation was his real passion. He retrained in the air electronics field and became a member of 5 Squadron operating the Orion aircraft.

After leaving the Air Force Richard trained as a flight inspector which suited his passion for operating electronic equipment in aircraft while traveling to interesting places.

Richard joined Radiola back in 1993, when it was Radiola Corporation (later renamed Radiola Limited).  Initially working in the Defence and Aerospace Division then later becoming Manager of Defence and Aerospace, Richard led the business development of the ground-based air navigation business including installations, maintenance and flight inspection in both the domestic and international markets.

In 2003 he became Executive Director of the newly formed Radiola Aerospace – a staff buyout of the previous Defence and Aerospace division of Radiola Limited.
Richard has a breadth of experience which includes avionics engineering, air electronics, flight inspection of navigation aids combined with his astute project management and business development expertise.

He just loves finding new business, coming up with solutions to difficult problems and operationally challenging situations and satisfying end-user requirements.

Richard is passionate about the New Zealand brand while projecting the New Zealand ‘can do’ attitude to the world.

Outside of work Richard can be found in the outdoors either walking trails, or on his boat, or travelling to exciting new places.

Carole forged her aviation career in the 1980s at a time when women in aviation were relatively rare in the air navigation technical field. Succeeding in this male-dominated field presented some interesting challenges that she overcame with her ‘get things done’ attitude, perseverance and tenacity.

Carole studied for and achieved her NZCE (New Zealand Certificate in Engineering) and requalified as a flight inspector in late 1980s which led to travelling around New Zealand and the Pacific Islands certifying navigation facilities. At the time she may have been the only female flight inspector in the world.

Later Carole trained as an aeronautical instrument procedure designer which complemented her existing technical and operational skills.

Carole has been with Radiola since 1995 when she returned to the flight inspection profession. She has been in the industry for 30+ years and is a member of New Zealand Women in Aviation.

Carole loves leading deployments to all corners of the globe. She has travelled to more than 110 countries both with work and for pleasure.

Flying in and out of remote locations across the globe is all in a day’s work for Carole who now heads up our flight inspection services.

She loves the customer interaction, visiting different countries, experiencing different cultures and working towards a positive safe outcome for clients. Carole is Radiola’s account manager in several large geographical areas with multiple clients.

Out in the field Carole can be found using electronics fitted to an aircraft testing terrestrial and satellite-based navigation systems, and when she’s back in the office, it’s full steam ahead on developing proposals, customer liaison and preparing for that next trip.

When work is over for the day Carole is into everything outdoors and loves running, hiking, cycling and water sports. Carole has competed in several triathlons and climbed Mount Kilimanjaro.

Every day is different for Derek our Manager of Quality Systems. He’s responsible for the oversight, and ensuring we comply with, the various international approvals that we hold.

Derek has been interested in all things mechanical ever since his grandfather taught him to repair old engines and cars at an early age. He has been in the aviation industry since 1990 when he joined New Zealand’s national airline and has worked in the industry worldwide since then.

He has a background in aircraft engineering and quickly discovered an interest in rules and regulations. This led to quality assurance roles starting with a fixed base operation in the United Kingdom, supporting a large fleet of both fixed and rotary wing aircraft operated in corporate roles. From there he was chief inspector on a small team that established the first private low-cost carrier in Saudi Arabia. Returning to New Zealand he took on a role as quality manager at a charter airline before joining the Radiola team in 2011.

As well as ensuring compliance, Derek monitors the industry for changes and trends, including relevant legislation, and is always there to lend a hand to others in the team. Derek enjoys the variety of his workload, the travel, and the people in the industry.

Outside of work Derek enjoys the great outdoors, spending time with family and repairing old equipment including his collection of vintage cake mixers!

Kit’s role as Commercial Manager is all about ‘making the boat go faster’. She joined our team in 2022 and is responsible for the financial and commercial management of the business – essentially helping to drive our success!

With over 25 years of senior management experience Kit has held roles in financial control, financial management and as chief financial officer for a multi-national facility maintenance and management company.

She holds a Bachelor of Commerce and Administration and is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of New Zealand and Australia.

Every day is different at Radiola with Kit’s work revolving around the challenges of the day and what lies ahead; working with the team to find solutions and provide strategic input.

It’s exciting! Kit loves the fact that nothing is guaranteed in the business world, nothing can be taken for granted, and what was good yesterday might no longer be the case today. “We have to continuously improve to be successful in business and have to always aim for excellence,” she says.

She says she’s very lucky to work with some amazing people and learning from them is a real joy.

Away from work Kit enjoys the simple things, especially taking time out to smell the roses.

Brent loves nothing more than tearing things apart to figure out how they work, recognising from an early age there would be a good future to be had in the emerging electronics industry.

He jumped at the chance to train as a data communications technician and spent 12 years in the Telco environment, initially as a fix it, installation man and then as a manager of a data communications engineering team.

Brent joined Radiola in 1996 as a product manager working on the microwave radio, multiplexer and land mobile radio products. It didn’t take long before he was managing aviation projects for our Defence and Aerospace division.

Working mostly offshore he was involved in installations of radio equipment for air traffic control systems, ground-based aircraft guidance systems as well as runway lighting systems. This work required coordination of civil works, electronic installations, and often flight calibrations and training services to finalise commissioning of the new equipment.

Brent enjoys a similar role today as Technical Director where he heads up a team of clever engineering staff that support our flight calibration and real time information system activities. He also manages flight calibration projects and helps out on-the-ground at airports whenever required.

He has a Technician and Supplementary Technician Certification, Electrical Service Technician Registration and qualifications in NZEng (Electronics) and NZIM Project Management.

Brent loves his job – the variety, the mix of travel and the brilliant people that he works alongside.

As busy as he is at work, Brent has plenty to keep him occupied at home.

He adores getting behind the wheel of old classic cars, saying the sounds and smells they conjure are fantastic and hard to match with the modern auto machinery. There is always an old car in his barn, usually one already on the road and one in bits!

Music is also a passion and during a moment of midlife crisis he bought an electric guitar to scare the animals with.

Brent and his wife are avid animal lovers so when not cruising around in their old muscle car they are busy looking after horses, cows, chickens, dogs, cats on their small farm.