Steven Newman

Steven Newman is a New Zealand technology executive who played a central role in building two of the country’s most significant tech exports: co-founding Navman and leading EROAD through its growth years.

Newman grew up in Auckland, attending Onepoto and Verran’s Road primary schools, Birkdale Intermediate and Northcote College, before studying engineering at the University of Auckland. His career began in 1986 as a project engineer at Hennessy Grading Systems, where he rose to R&D manager at the age of 23, leading a team of 35 engineers.

In 1993 he co-founded Navman with Peter Maire. Between 1993 and 2006, in his roles as COO and later CEO, Newman helped establish Navman as a leading international brand across marine electronics, fleet tracking, precision GPS modules and consumer car navigation. Annual sales exceeded NZ million before the company was sold to US firm Brunswick Technologies in 2003 for million.

Rather than step back, Newman took on a second major build. In 2007 he joined EROAD, the telematics company founded by infrastructure economist Brian Michie in 2000, as chief executive. Over the next 15 years he led its expansion into Australia and the United States, took it through a successful NZX IPO in 2014 and built it into a leading provider of road-user charging and fleet management technology. Interest.co.nz headlined his story as “this could be bigger than Navman”, reporting 2,800 per cent revenue growth.

Newman stepped down as CEO in April 2022, retaining a significant shareholding. He later returned as an independent consultant to the board’s technology committee: a sign that the company he built still values his technical judgement.

Newman’s profile is noteworthy because few New Zealand technology figures have led two companies of this scale. From Navman’s consumer GPS to EROAD’s fleet telematics, his career is evidence that the country can produce hardware and connected-vehicle businesses that compete at genuine international scale.

Steven features in our look at the NZ founders who built moats out of regulation.

Sources: Interest.co.nz · Morgo · TransportTalk