Tait's talented boss resigns
The former Londoner established a career in the electronics industry internationally before moving to Tait Communications a few years after firm founder Angus Tait died in 2007.
Stuff.co.nz reports that Frank Owen has resigned as chief executive of Christchurch's Tait Communications for personal reasons.
Tait Communications is one of the city's largest employers, with about 600 staff in Christchurch and 200 overseas.
Based in Wairakei Rd, the company is establishing a new "collaborative campus" in the area behind Wairakei and Wooldridge roads.
Owen worked for giants Philips and Tyco, and others, in the last 25 years.
Tait Communications board chairman Peter van Rij said Owen had resigned as managing director at the end of last month.
The board had been disappointed to lose a talented chief executive, who had made an immense contribution to the company.
While Owen had resigned as chief executive, at this point he remained a director of Tait, van Rij said. Asked if the resignation had been a surprise, van Rij said: "Well it's his personal circumstances, as they became more clear.
"So it wasn't so much of a surprise as a disappointment . . . we're losing a great CEO."
Tait underwent some tougher times under Owen's leadership.
Last year about 70 positions went at the firm as it refocused on being a service provider to clients rather than simply a hardware manufacturer.
Before working for Tait, Owen was credited with building manufacturer GPC Electronics in Christchurch into a larger, more successful player, helping add to sales growth.
Owen was appointed by the Tait board in March 2009 to take the helm from Michael Chick, who had a managing director role.
At that time, Owen had said life in Canterbury was slower than he knew it in France, the Netherlands and Silicon Valley in the United States, but it was good for family life with his wife Heidi and two school-age children.
Tait's mobile radio communications are used by utility and emergency services companies. Often they are used for communication between fleets of vehicles and personnel such as police, ambulance and fire engine crews, and bus drivers.
The police force is one of Tait's core customers in New Zealand.
The company has annual revenues in the order of $170 million.
Van Rij said Tait had begun a global search for a replacement for Owen. David Wade, the company's chief financial officer, has been named interim chief executive in the meantime.
"We are searching as you would expect for a replacement CEO, but that's just going to run its ordinary course."
The search time for a new chief executive would depend on the field of applicants, van Rij said
