VivoPower appoints new Chief Operating Officer, Head of Global Partnerships and Financial Controller

VivoPower is pleased to announce the appointment of Gary Challinor as its Chief Operating Officer. The company has also named Matthew Nestor as Director, Head of Global Partnerships, and Iain Folley as Financial Controller (Asia-Pacific). 

Gary Challinor, Chief Operating Officer 

Before assuming the COO role, Gary served as VivoPower’s Director of Sustainable Energy Solutions (SES) for Australia-New Zealand. He led the designing, implementation, and upgrade of VivoPower’s IT architecture as part of the company’s hyperscaling initiatives.  

Over the past 19 months, the team adopted several new tools including Salesforce, Greenhouse Recruiting, Greenhouse on Boarding, and BambooHR. The company also rolled out NetSuite, a cloud computing software that provides a major link between Sales, Planning, and Finance.  

Under Gary’s guidance, VivoPower made significant advancements in our digital transformation efforts. He worked closely with various business and functional unit leaders to implement systems and processes. 

Gary recently took over day-to-day management of Tembo e-LV globally, serving as the company’s interim Managing Director. He oversaw several key development programs, including the newly sign Development Services Agreement with Toyota Australia. 

Matthew Nestor, Director, Head of Global Partnerships 

Joining the VivoPower team in 2020, Matthew first served as the company’s Sales Director for North America. He helped cement Tembo’s position as the premier global supplier of light electric vehicles for the mining industry. 

Matthew was instrumental in executing several multi-year agreements with partners around the world over the past 12 months. These agreements total many thousands of Tembo conversion kits for both the Toyota LandCruiser and Toyota Hilux.  

Matthew’s focus is growing VivoPower’s global presence. He works closely with partners across time zones, even if it means working into the early morning hours. Matthew’s commitment to VivoPower, Tembo, and his partners has served as the platform for his success. 

Iain Folley, Financial Controller for Asia-Pacific

Iain’s promotion takes him from Financial Manager & Analyst to Financial Controller for Asia-Pacific. Over the past 12 months, he took over the duties of managing our budgeting and forecasting processes, including cash forecasting. He also helped train new accounting staff for the company. 

As part of VivoPower’s adoption of NetSuite, Iain managed the conversion of all historical data from various legacy finance systems. He also provided the myriad of information necessary for the sale of J.A. Martin’s legacy business. His contribution helped make sure that the deal was a success for the company.