Biographies

Mark Whittard
Managing Director, Toshiba (Australia) Pty Ltd

In his role as Managing Director of Toshiba (Australia), Mark oversees all aspects of the operation in Australia and New Zealand. This includes the Electronic Imaging, Medical, Information Systems, Research and Development and Corporate Services divisions.

Prior to taking on the role of Managing Director, Mark was General Manager of Toshiba’s Information Systems Division (ISD). In this role he grew the business over five years to an average turnover approaching $500 million per annum and positioned it as a clear leader in the mobile computing market.

In April 2007 Mark was instrumental in extending the Toshiba ISD business to include its audio visual (AV) products, ranging from high definition LCD televisions to DVD players. This range now blends both style and functionality and has positioned Toshiba as a key player in the Australian home entertainment market.

Mark first joined Toshiba (Australia) in August 1998. Throughout his tenure, his charter has always been to be responsive to the needs of customers and channel partners.

Mark’s previous roles with Toshiba (Australia) have included National Marketing Manager, responsible for marketing to industry and channel, product strategies and communications and Manager of its Retail Business Unit which now accounts for 65 per cent of total revenues.

Mark has more than 20 years experience in the Information Technology industry. Prior to joining Toshiba (Australia), he worked with Control Data, Digital Equipment Corporation and Compaq, where he held senior roles including Director of Product Marketing, PC and Workstation Marketing Manager, and several sales and business development roles.

Mark grew up in Sydney’s Northern Beaches. His career began in structural engineering, where he was at the forefront of early computer aided design and manufacturing. He has studied at the Institute of Technology in Sydney, Harvard University and MIT. He has also completed executive management courses at Mount Eliza and Macquarie University graduate management schools.

Robert Wilkinson
General Manager, Toshiba (Australia) Information Systems Division

Robert Wilkinson is the General Manager of Toshiba (Australia) Information Systems Division (ISD), and is responsible for the overall operations for Australia and New Zealand. The division has turnover approaching $500 million per annum and is the recognised leader in mobile computing.

In his role Mr Wilkinson is responsible for the notebook business for the B2B and B2C segments, the Audio Visual (AV) business including an extensive range of LCD TVs, DVD and Blu-ray players and LCD/DVD combos, as well as the wide range of Toshiba Notebook accessories.

Prior to this role, Rob was the National Sales Manager for Australia and New Zealand. His portfolio included managing the AV business and IT transactional notebook business.

His career highlights at Toshiba include working with Managing Director, Mark Whittard to secure the organisations’ entry into the AV market in 2006 which Rob has grown aggressively in retail in the past few years.

Rob joined the organisation in 1997 as a Retail Account Manager, where he extensively grew the retail partner base and product range to become one of the preferred brands in the consumer channel.

Prior to joining Toshiba, he spent three years in the Consumer Business unit at HP and also worked in a number of roles at Harvey Norman. He began in the industry working for a computer reseller, selling to NSW Government and education.

Rob holds a Bachelor of Science majoring in Computer Studies and Statistics from UWS.

He is married with four children and is an avid football player and fan.

Justin White
Group Product Marketing Manager, Toshiba (Australia) Information Systems Division

Justin White has been working in the PC industry since 1985. He has a passionate interest in electronics and computing technology which has assisted his career in computing since then.

In the early 1990s he also worked for Sydney-based Osborne computers, in retail and corporate sales roles, gaining a solid understanding of desktop computing and networking environments. Since 1993 he has worked with Toshiba in many different roles including corporate sales, where he created mobile solutions for individual customer requirements and then with Corporate Marketing where he put together solutions for entire industries to gain the most of their mobile computing experience. Since 2001 Justin has been Product Marketing Manager for Pocket PCs, Projectors and Storage products. Added to his portfolio, he managed Toshiba’s range of business notebooks.

Justin is responsible for providing feedback into the design of these products as well as ensuring their success in the Australian Market place! Receiving training and technical information from Tokyo Justin has a wealth of knowledge to draw upon for the mobile world and AV market places.

Currently, as a Product Marketing Manager, Justin manages the product marketing team and oversees both the product planning and marketing of Toshiba’s IT and AV range of products.

Mariana Thomas
National Marketing Communications Manager, Toshiba (Australia) Information Systems Division

MARIANA THOMAS is a marketing communications and media executive with over 15 years of experience in communications, integrated marketing and media. She held senior management roles in Australia and overseas for the past 12 years throughout the communications, media and marketing fields in a variety of industries including IT, telecommunications, Information Management, infrastructure, government as well as consultancy, where she helped many organisations design, implement and manage their communications and integrated marketing plans and strategies. She provided advice and support on a variety of corporate communications and marketing matters to support business strategies. A major focus in her work is to manage brands to competitive levels in highly commoditised and price sensitive markets.

With her background in media and journalism and Masters in Communications, Mariana understands strategic messaging along with brand positioning and masters effective tools to communicate with a variety of audiences while capitalising on brand equity, which warrants success even in a very price sensitive market.

Since 2007, Mariana heads the Marketing department at Toshiba which incorporates all facets of marketing and communications including advertising, sponsorships, PR, through-the-line marketing, online communications and environmental management for Toshiba’s Information Systems Divisions.

Matthew Tumminello
Product Marketing Manager, Toshiba (Australia) Information Systems Division

Matthew Tumminello is one of Toshiba's Product Marketing Managers. His product portfolio covers Toshiba's range of notebooks for the business sector (B2B).

A Toshiba veteran for more than 14 years, Matthew was previously in the corporate sales team managing global and corporate accounts before joining the marketing team as Product Marketing Manager.

A father of three boys, Matthew is an athlete and has competed in the Triathlon Ironman event. He believes in the balance of work, personal life and family and in his spare time trains other people to achieve a healthier and fitter lifestyle.