Former Nokia Siemens exec Ian Oppermann to head CSIRO ICT centre

Stuart Corner
Wednesday, 16 December 2009 07:32

IT Industry - Strategy

Dr Ian Oppermann, an Australian who has most recently been in a senior global role with Nokia Siemens Networks, has been appointed director of CSIRO's ICT Centre following what CSIRO says was "an intensive international search and selection process."


Oppermann, was formerly global head, SMC sales partnering and GTM (go-to-market) for Nokia Siemens Networks where he led the company's initiative to establish and develop 'global technology and sales partnering'. He takes over from group executive, information sciences, Dr Alex Zelinsky, who 12 months ago moved into his current role overseeing the divisions of Astronomy and Space Sciences; Mathematics, Informatics and Statistics; and the ICT Centre while maintaining his role as director of the ICT centre.

Zelinsky said: "[Oppermann's] role included taking overall responsibility for business strategy, profitability, cultural change and growth and development opportunities including finding companies to partner with to improve business outcomes...In addition to Dr Oppermann's extensive professional experience, he has been an active scientist holding senior editorial and conference organisational positions, supervising PhD students and contributing to a significant number of journal publications and books."
 
Prior to joining Nokia Siemens Networks, Oppermann was director of the Centre for Wireless Communications (CWC) – a self-funded innovation centre that is part of the University of Oulu, Finland. He holds a bachelor of science degree (majors in computer science and pure mathematics), a bachelor of electrical engineering and a PhD in electrical engineering (in mobile communications), from the University of Sydney, and an MBA in international business management (major in business strategy) from the University of London.

Oppermann was born in Maryborough, Queensland, Before commencing postgraduate studies, he was with OTC Australia (now part of Telstra). He was the founder and technical director of Southern Poro Communications, based in Sydney, a company that designed and implemented baseband CDMA transceivers and was heavily involved in UMTS network modelling.

He has been an editor of CDMA Techniques for Third-Generation Mobile Systems and associate area editor for Communications on the 1998 CRC Dictionary of Engineering Terms. He received the Sydney University Engineering Foundation Prize for Excellence in Teaching in 1995 and 1997.
 
Zelinsky said: "As the ICT Centre's new director, his aspirations are to help improve the level of international connectedness of the Centre and CSIRO, strive for greater engagement with local industry and help the Centre achieve its scientific and business goals...His appointment will be a real asset to the organisation and will lead our continued strategic drive of using ICT as an enabler of innovation for Australia's industries and multi-disciplinary research across the CSIRO."

Oppermann will take up his new role on 28 January 2010.