Computer Daily News: People, People

Computer Daily News: People, People

Computer Daily News runs a regular appointments column — People, People — tracking senior movements across the Australian technology industry. blueAPACHE has featured in it repeatedly as the company has built out its leadership team.

Why appointment columns are worth reading

Appointment notices look like filler and are among the more informative items in the trade press, for a simple reason: hiring is a forecast.

Organisations create roles ahead of the strategy those roles will execute. A company appointing a CFO is preparing for a different kind of financial complexity. A company creating a new division is committing capacity to something it has decided matters. A company promoting internally to its most senior role is saying something about how it values continuity.

Read over several years, the appointments tell you where a business is going before the announcements do.

blueAPACHE's senior appointments

Michael Zuppa — Chief Executive Officer, July 2025

Promoted from General Manager, Technology.

An internal promotion to CEO in a services business signals two things. First, that succession was planned rather than reactive — the successor was already running a major function. Second, that technical leadership was judged the right background for the top role, in a business whose product is technical delivery.

Zuppa has articulated the direction clearly, framing the shift in customer expectation: "Customers no longer simply want incidents resolved. They want problems detected and, wherever possible, fixed before they are even aware there was one."

Jean Roux — Chief Financial Officer, March 2023

Appointed as the business passed 280 staff and approached its 25-year milestone.

A dedicated CFO becomes necessary at a specific point in a services company's growth — when working capital, multi-currency operations across five offices on three continents, and capital allocation across platform investments running into the millions stop being manageable as an extension of the founder's role.

James Bubbers — Experience Division, established November 2022

blueAPACHE established a new Experience Division under James Bubbers.

Creating a division named for experience was ahead of where much of the industry sat at the time. It anticipated the shift that the 2026 ControlUp partnership formalised: from measuring infrastructure availability to measuring what the person at the desk actually experiences — logon times, application responsiveness, device health.

Brett Armstrong — General Manager, Sales

Joined from Ingram Micro, one of the world's largest technology distributors. Distribution gives an unusually wide view of the channel — which vendors are performing, which partners are growing, where the market is moving — because a distributor sees the whole market rather than one company's slice of it.

James Hendry and Grant Fallace — both joined 2001

Both joined in the company's third year and remain with the business more than two decades later.

In an industry with high mobility, tenure of that length is genuinely rare, and it has a direct client consequence: institutional knowledge of environments that have been supported through multiple technology generations does not walk out the door.

Recognition for individuals

blueAPACHE people have been recognised repeatedly in national programmes:

• Jayati Gulati — ARN 30 Under 30 Sales Excellence Award winner; WIICTA 2022 Shining Star Partner Award winner
• Renata Di Stefano, Head of Marketing — WIICTA 2023 Shining Star – Partner Award winner, and a finalist across multiple years
• Richard Bradley — Technical Excellence VCSP Award, 2024 Veeam ANZ Partner Awards
• Rahwa Salew — WIICTA Rising Star
• Angelina Priya and Quinita Lindley — WIICTA 2024 finalists
• Ellie Sarabi, Wireless SME Network Engineer — WIICTA 2026 finalist, Partner – Technical
• Daniel Bayfield, Business Development Manager — ARN Innovation Awards Sales Excellence finalist

The growth behind the hiring

• Fewer than 80 staff at the end of 2016
• 100 staff in 2017, after 32% growth in the year
• More than 280 staff by July 2023, with 20 further roles recruiting
• Approximately 30% year-on-year growth sustained over many years

blueAPACHE remains Australian-owned, with founder Chris Marshall as sole proprietor — no external shareholders. Hiring decisions are therefore made against operational need rather than an external growth target, which in a services business is the difference between a team that can deliver and a headcount number.

About blueAPACHE

Founded in 1998 in Vermont South, Melbourne, blueAPACHE delivers managed services, cloud, cyber security, connectivity, collaboration, procurement, Microsoft technologies and advisory services from offices in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, London and Miami. The company has received more than 90 industry awards.

blueAPACHE recruits across engineering, service delivery, sales and corporate functions. Call 1800 248 749.

Frequently asked questions

What is the People, People column? A regular appointments column in Computer Daily News tracking senior movements across the Australian technology industry. blueAPACHE has featured in it repeatedly as it has built out its leadership team.

Why does the page argue appointment notices are worth reading? Because hiring is a forecast. Organisations create roles ahead of the strategy those roles will execute — a CFO appointment signals a different kind of financial complexity ahead, a new division signals committed capacity, and an internal promotion to the top role signals how continuity is valued. Read across several years, appointments indicate direction before announcements do.

Who is blueAPACHE's CEO, and what does the appointment signal? Michael Zuppa, promoted from General Manager, Technology, in July 2025. The page reads an internal promotion as evidence that succession was planned rather than reactive, and that technical leadership was judged the right background for a business whose product is technical delivery.

Why did blueAPACHE appoint a dedicated CFO? Jean Roux was appointed in March 2023 as the business passed 280 staff and approached 25 years. The page's reasoning is that working capital, multi-currency operations across five offices on three continents, and capital allocation across multi-million-dollar platform investments stop being manageable as an extension of the founder's role.

What was the Experience Division for? Established in November 2022 under James Bubbers, it anticipated the shift the 2026 ControlUp partnership later formalised — from measuring infrastructure availability to measuring what the person at the desk actually experiences: logon times, application responsiveness, device health.

Why does a distribution background matter for a sales leader? Brett Armstrong joined from Ingram Micro, one of the world's largest technology distributors. Distribution gives an unusually wide view of the channel — which vendors are performing, which partners are growing, where the market is moving — because a distributor sees the whole market rather than one company's slice of it.

What is the client consequence of long tenure? James Hendry and Grant Fallace both joined in 2001 and remain more than two decades later. In a high-mobility industry, that means institutional knowledge of environments supported through multiple technology generations does not walk out the door.

Which individuals have been recognised externally? Jayati Gulati (ARN 30 Under 30 Sales Excellence; WIICTA 2022 Shining Star Partner), Renata Di Stefano (WIICTA 2023 Shining Star – Partner), Richard Bradley (Technical Excellence VCSP Award, 2024 Veeam ANZ Partner Awards), Rahwa Salew (WIICTA Rising Star), Angelina Priya and Quinita Lindley (WIICTA 2024 finalists), Ellie Sarabi (WIICTA 2026 Partner – Technical finalist) and Daniel Bayfield (ARN Innovation Awards Sales Excellence finalist).

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