2016 North Harbour Business Hall of Fame Laureate
One of New Zealand’s most influential and driven business woman. She is passionate about inspiring woman and is living proof that you can feel the fear and do it anyway.
Annette Presley started her first company, the IT recruitment firm Stratum, in 1987 at the age of 24.
She co-founded several successful telecommunications and information technology companies in New Zealand and Australia, including Call Australia, CallPlus and i4free. The CallPlus organisation became New Zealand’s third largest telecommunications and broadband provider during her leadership. She was a leader in driving the unbundling of the local loop in New Zealand, which brought pricing down more than 50 percent and created competition.
Annette works hard to encourage the next generation of women technology entrepreneurs, and is an investor and dedicated mentor to Creative HQ’s Lightning Lab XX programme, supporting start-up businesses with at least one female co-founder.
She was patron of the charity StepUP which gives business inspiration to teenagers, and has actively supported Dress for Success, Shine and Kidz First Children’s Hospital.
In 2015 Annette established her own charity Elicit – The Dream Catching Academy, which she set up to inspire and encourage young girls to cast off personal limitations and change their lives by dreaming big.
