David Kelly - A Biography

David leads the team at Zeald and plays a major part in setting the company’s strategy, and carefully planning the execution of those strategies by the Zeald team.

To be young chief executive of a highly successful and fast growing company is no mean feat. But for those who are familiar with David’s talents and abilities, this achievement comes as no surprise.  David is a dynamic, inspirational leader, a powerful speaker and a big advocate of the Internet and the results it can bring. David aspires to be a Level 5 leader and continually looks to develop himself and the people around him towards that goal.

“The leaders who work most effectively never say 'I'. And that's not because they have trained themselves not to say 'I'. They don't think 'I'. They think 'we'; they think 'team'. They understand their job to be to make the team function. They accept responsibility and don't sidestep it, but 'we' gets the credit. – Peter F Drucker

David has been a high achiever from an early age – gifted academically, athletically and musically.  On top of this, he possesses a huge amount energy, as well as perseverance and determination. His family moved around New Zealand a number of times during his childhood including stints in Auckland, Ngaruawahia (near Hamilton), Auckland again and Wellsford before settling at the beach in Mangawhai Heads. David completed his college education from home via correspondence (New Zealand Correspondence School) where he obtained bursary (7th Form) and promptly set off to the ‘big smoke’ (Auckland) to attend university.

David completed a Bachelor of Information Sciences at Massey University in Albany receiving the prestigious top Massey scholar award at his graduation. He then attended Excel School of Performing Arts to pursue one of his other passions – performance music – completing a Certificate in Performance Music in bass guitar and vocals.

During his time at university David was fascinated by the emergence of the Internet and the way that it was changing the world in many different areas – especially sales and marketing.

It was this fascination, combined with a strong interest in commerce, which resulted in David founding Zeald in the year 2000 with two business partners – his cousin, Hamish Braddick and his brother, Brent.

David leads the team at Zeald, playing a major part in setting the company’s strategy and planning and assisting in the execution of those strategies by the Zeald team. He is hands on, taking an active part in developing the capabilities of the business and its people. David is passionate about running, growing and maintaining a business that is truly ‘world-class’ and all the facets that come with that endeavour.

David is happily married to Lisa and they have a little girl called Eden and a two little boy's Ezra & Ike.  He has a love affair with the sea and enjoys all water activities including surfing, fishing, boating and scuba diving. He also enjoys many land-based sports including touch rugby and cricket.

David has been very active in music over the years playing in many different bands including the popular NZ rock band Mozelee and the Sarah Brown Band. However over the past few years, this activity has had to take a back seat to the Zeald business.

David is also very active in the martial arts holding rankings in Ninjutsu and Brazillian Jiu Jitsu. He is desperately trying to learn how to play golf so he can keep up with those many other Zeald golfers like  Ron and Brent, to name just a few!