CEO announcement

News · ALEXANDRA (New Zealand) · 4 July 2022

Xerra welcomes new CEO Trent Fulcher

Xerra Earth Observation Institute has announced Trent Fulcher as their new Chief Executive Officer. Trent joins the team from today and will primarily be based in Wellington, New Zealand. Like much of the Xerra team, his focus will be scaling the Starboard Maritime Intelligence platform globally.

Xerra launched Starboard commercially in 2021 with the New Zealand Ministry for Primary Industries as their founding customer. Since then they have grown into the Australian and Pacific markets.

“Starboard is at the start of a successful export journey. The maritime domain awareness application is both a software (SaaS) and data as a service (DaaS) product,” says Maria King, Chairman of the Xerra board. “Starboard is a great example of a weightless high technology and high value export for New Zealand.”

Trent has leadership experience both as a CEO and successful entrepreneur. He is likely to find some familiar opportunities with Starboard, as previous roles also spanned the realms of international market development, turning complex technology into marketable products, and growing high performing teams.

“Trent is an entrepreneur at heart and this, coupled with his extensive background in strategy and startups, will add significant value to our already amazing team,” says King. “I am thrilled to be welcoming Trent on behalf of the board and the team at Xerra and we’re all looking forward to working with him.”

Xerra was established with funding from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) in 2017. Trent will be replacing Steve Cotter who was Xerra’s first CEO and stepped down earlier in 2022 to support his family.

Trent has lived and worked in the US, Europe and New Zealand, and has most recently been working with New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (NZTE) where he was supporting kiwi export businesses navigating the complexities brought on by the COVID pandemic.

“Xerra is at an exciting stage of growth and they have achieved this through the innovation and intellect that clearly exists throughout the organisation,” says Fulcher. “The team’s passion for the cause that Xerra was founded on, is something I am looking forward to.”

Starboard has been particularly successful in supporting fisheries monitoring, control and surveillance (MCS) and there is opportunity for expansion in this market and other areas of maritime domain awareness.

“I’m excited about the potential for Xerra, both with its current focus on maritime domain awareness and also where we might be able to take this technology one day in the future,” says Fulcher.

More about Starboard Maritime Intelligence

Starboard supports governments, border security teams, NGOs, and fisheries organisations to navigate the vast amounts of maritime data available from satellite sensors and focus on the vessels that matter to them. Starboard is developed by Xerra Earth Observation Institute. Learn more about Starboard.