Enterprise software and services company, Mincom Limited has appointed Lieutenant-General, William (Bill) Leach as vice president Mincom Defence. Leach will help drive the company's defence-related activities in the United States and Canada.

The Victorian State Pearcey Award, designed to encourage fresh and innovative talent in the ICT profession, has been presented to digital audio innovator Graeme Huon.

Mobile internet provider Alacrity Technologies has appointed Andy Becker, former Electoral Commissioner of the Australian Electoral Commission, as a non-executive director. Becker's previous career includes eight years at the AEC as Electoral Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner and prior to that, 16 years as the South Australian Electoral Commissioner. At the AEC, Becker managed the 2001 and 2004 federal elections and oversaw the Constitutional Convention election and the 1999 referendum.

Supply chain management software provider Manugistics Group has appointed Kim McCarthy as account manager and Chen Meng as technical consultant for clients in Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand. McCarthy was a corporate sales representative for enterprise content management software provider Interwoven. Meng has previously worked in a number of contractual roles including most recently for the Capital Markets Cooperative Research Centre, a body formed in 2001 to bring together the best in innovative research and technology to the capital markets domain.

Gambling corporation Tabcorp Holdings Limited has appointed Finite IT Recruitment Solutions as one of three Suppliers to deliver specialist IT Recruitment services nationally.

Commercial law firm Phillips Fox has boosted its Technology Media & Communications (TMC) practice in Sydney with the addition of Dan Brush, special counsel. Brush has an extensive background advising clients in the North American technology industry on issues relating to telecommunications, e-commerce and media sectors, and has additional expertise in broadcasting law, intellectual property, competition law, and corporate and tax structuring. His understanding of global technology trends equips him to advise on the challenges facing Australian policy-makers, purchasers and content providers. Brush is well known in the Silicon Valley legal community.  Previously he was general counsel of Excite@Home Corporation, a California-based internet portal and broadband ISP with annual revenues in excess of US$800 million.  While at Excite@Home, Dan managed the growth of the company's broadband business, as well as its portal properties including excite.com, bluemountainarts.com and webshots.com. He was also general counsel for Versant Corporation, an object database company during its successful Initial Public Offering on NASDAQ. Prior to Brush's Silicon Valley experience he was in private practice in California and Sydney for over six years.  He is admitted in both jurisdictions.

The Australian Computer Society (ACS) has established a membership advocacy program to provide professional services and legal advice to members for matters that may arise in their working life, in attempt to boost its flagging membership.

Recruiter Ambition Technology has launched a new division specialising in recruitment for the ICT Vendor Market. Two new appointments to the Ambition Technology Division. Luke Singleton joins as manager and Rory Herity has been appointed as a consultant. Singleton joins Ambition from Trinity where he was in a managerial role in the IT practice. Herity has more than two years recruitment experience, specialising in placing contractors with ICT Vendors. He formerly worked for Michael Page. According to Ambition, there is an increasing demand for professionals across the ICT vendor marketplace as part of the general increase in demand for Ambition Technology’s recruitment services.

Web hoster and domain name registrar, Melbourne IT, was announced as the 2005 winner of the Small Enterprise Private Sector of the annual Awards for Excellence in People Management stage by the Australian Human Resources Institute.

Hitachi Australia has announced the restructure and appointment of new personnel for its marketing team. Hitachi has promoted Michael Mannasz to marketing manager and has appointed Evan Manolis, camcorder specialist; Maryanne Theouli, assistant product manager – Home & Life Solutions; and Elinda Sutopo, marketing assistant. Mannasz has been in the consumer electronics industry for more than 20 years and his previous role was product manager – Digital Media Products. Manolis was previously a Panasonic product manager.

Office products vendor, Fuji Xerox Australia, has appointed Anna Garbowska as office colour programs manager, responsible for developing and implementing product and marketing strategies for the colour multifunction device business. Prior to joining Fuji Xerox Australia, Garbowska was with the company's sister organisation, FUJIFILM Australia, where she was product marketing manager for nearly three years.  Previously, she held various marketing roles in Australia and overseas with Warner Home Video, CPM Marketing Services and Pepsi-Cola International.

Microsoft CRM developer, Snapdragon Consulting has appointed Michael Hoolahan as a systems developer, specialising in customising and extending the Microsoft CRM platform for enterprise clients. Hoolahan brings to Snapdragon nine years’ IT industry experience, including extensive skills in client/server web development, database development and web mastering. Prior to joining Snapdragon, he was employed as a CRM and SQL developer by Fuji Xerox Australia, responsible for developing the company’s CRM system. Prior to that Hoolahan developed client web applications at Webit Technologies, and before that was Webmaster for government department, State Forests of NSW.

Contact solutions provider, Aspect Software, has named Michael Woodham country manager for Australia and New Zealand. Woodham, who will be based in Sydney, brings more than 15 years of IT industry experience in Australia and New Zealand to the top regional job at Aspect. Since 2001, Woodham has held a variety of roles at Aspect Communications, including sales manager for Australasia. Prior to joining Aspect Communications, Woodham spent ten years at SSA Pacific, most recently as sales director for the Northern Region with responsibility for sales in Queensland and New South Wales. He also spent one year as NZ Country Manager for SSA Pacific with full revenue responsibility for New Zealand, and before that in various sales management and sales positions where he engaged in strategic planning, partnerships, systems integration and solution selling activities.