Damon Kelly, Chief Executive Officer at Enlighten Designs

Damon is Founder and CEO of Enlighten Designs. Damon has a passion for people, business and technology. Immediately after his graduation in 1998, Damon founded Enlighten Designs. Where in Silicon Valley start-ups are created in garages, the New Zealand equivalent of this was Enlighten beginning in a caravan, in Damon’s backyard.

Damon wanted to create a company that valued creativity, learning and connecting with its customers all while having fun doing it. Enlighten attracted a technically brilliant and client focused team that would deliver great technology solutions. They do this through collaboration through discovery and design to craft the right digital experiences, but would also lead and challenge their clients to create the amazing outcomes.

Enlighten works across a spectrum of clients from start-ups to billion dollar companies with household names like Air New Zealand, Sky, Downer and LIC creating customer and workplace experiences through websites, intranets and mobile apps, business intelligence and custom software.

Enlighten has seen extremely rapid growth being ranked in the Deloitte Asia Pacific Technology Fast 500 multiple times, winning the Waikato Business Excellence Awards Innovation Award in 2007 and being recognised in the IT industry. Within the past nine years Enlighten have been winners or finalists at Microsoft Partner Awards with a total of 9 wins and 16 finalists positions.

Enlighten has locations in both Hamilton and Auckland. Still with the start-up vibe, they aim to prove each day what is possible when technology and imagination get serious about each other.

Damon graduated from Waikato University in 1998 with a double major in Psychology and Cognitive Science.