CEO/CTO
Chris is the founder and CEO of ADVANCED BusinessLink, an international software company headquartered in Seattle, WA. Born in South Africa, raised and educated in Australia, he now leads BusinessLink and venue360 from his home in Australia.
Chris has served as CEO of BusinessLink for the past 30 years and has led his team to design and develop many award-winning software products for clients globally. He also serves as Executive Director for Attunga, a not-for-profit Christian camp in the Southern Highlands of NSW, Australia and lives onsite with his wife, Meri, where they are both actively involved in the day-to-day ministry.
Where did you grow up and where do you live now?
I was born in Cape Town, South Africa. My parents moved our family to Sydney Australia when I was 7, so that's where I've spent most of my life so far. We currently live in the Southern Highlands of NSW.
What other parts of the world have you lived in?
We lived in Seattle WA, USA for 12 years before returning to Australia in 2006.
How did you get started in the camping industry and how are you involved today?
I started going to holiday camps in my early teens and first met my wife Meri at camp at age 16. It was such an incredibly formative time on so many levels, building my faith in God and my passion to give back by contributing to the great work that camps do. During high school that was by volunteering as a leader in various ways, then in 1992 we moved to the NSW Southern Highlands to run Attunga, a 300 acre campsite in a beautiful wilderness location that we still call home. Attunga is a non-profit ministry that I love being involved in and personally leading key aspects, time permitting. It's also the first early adopter for all things venue360, so it's great to live and serve in an environment powered by the software our team is building and experiencing all the benefits first hand.
What do you love about your role at venue360?
There are so many answers to this question but most of all I love building effective teams and seeing the growth in team members. I also love building a values and principles based staff culture and watching clients experience that in day to day interactions. It's also great fun to steer the design and architecture of innovative software that solves real-world customers problems and makes camps more effective, and listening closely to customer feedback and include their ideas in the ongoing product vision.
What do you do for fun?
Fishing, fishing, fishing! lso cooking for family and watching rugby.
What places do you most like to visit?
Love spending summer time at Jervis Bay on the NSW south coast and Port Douglas in far north Queensland during the Australian winter.
Favourite meals?
Veal parmigiana, spaghetti marinara, char grilled fish or squid I've just caught with cassava chips
