Ian McCrae Entrepreneur of the Year

25 November 2010

Ian McCrae of Orion Helathcare is the New Zealand Engineering Entrepreneur of the Year. Mr MaCrae was presented with his trophy at the New Zealand Engineering Excellence Awards in Wellington this evening. The event was hosted by Linda Clark and attended by more than 350 guests.

Ian McCrae holds a Master’s degree in engineering science and worked in a number of information technology-related roles until 1993. In that year, Ian took the bold step to form Orion Health, of which he is still Chief Executive and the majority shareholder.

Orion Health has enjoyed a high rate of growth with revenues approaching $100 million per year. Much of this arises from North American sales, with a rapidly widening global sales base. Orion now has a number of international offices including in North America, Europe and Australia, and staff numbers have grown from five to several hundred.

The basis of Orion’s rapid growth is the Rhapsody Integration Engine which allows healthcare organisations to transfer information internally and externally without having to replace existing information systems. The research and development activity carried out in New Zealand is driven by needs in the market – Orion can claim a global leadership position in electronic health record systems’ development.

Ian McCrae is central to the success of Orion Health. He continues to participate in research and development and more importantly, has developed and is executing a plan to take Orion products to the global market. He also played a major role in the formation of the New Zealand Health IT Cluster, a group of 25 companies collaborating to promote New Zealand’s unique software solutions overseas.

Ian is a loyal New Zealand entrepreneur, whose vision encompasses a New Zealand-based and -owned billion-dollar turnover health IT business, significantly raising our national prosperity through its success. He one of 11 members of the New Zealand Government’s Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Taskforce.

Initiated in 2005, the New Zealand Engineering Excellence Awards are the premier awards for the engineering professionals of New Zealand. The awards are presented in two major areas: Awards Recognising People, that recognise leadership, innovation, entrepreneurship and our young engineers; and Project and Product Awards, that recognise achievement in the various industry areas, together with a Supreme Award for the best of the Project and Product winners.